Tag Archives: McLeod Lake Indian Band

Energy

Proposed B.C. coal mine gets axed over ‘significant’ environmental effects

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The federal and British Columbia governments have rejected a proposed open-pit coal mine over its environmental impacts.

The Sukunka open-pit coal mine near Tumbler Ridge, B.C., would have produced three million tons of coal per year to sell to steel manufacturers overseas, according to Glencore, the company behind the project. The federal government announced the rejection — based on B.C.’s environmental assessment process — on Dec. 21. 

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Forests

Canada signs onto global forest restoration challenge at COP15

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada promises to restore 19 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030 as international negotiations to save the world’s rapidly dwindling biodiversity carry on in Montreal.

The Dec. 12 announcement makes Canada the 62nd country to sign onto the Bonn Challenge, an initiative launched in 2011 by Germany and the International Union for Conservation of Nature that aims to restore 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030 to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.

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Community, Indigenous Nations

B.C. pays Blueberry River First Nations $65 million as 195 projects approved before court victory proceed

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Blueberry River First Nations signed an agreement with British Columbia Thursday, outlining first steps toward healing  the land and restoring the nations’ ability to exercise its Treaty 8  Rights, which the province breached by permitting and encouraging  industrial development on a vast scale, according to a B.C. Supreme Court ruling in June.

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Politics

How Is Proceeding With Site C Not Breaking A Treaty?

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By Roy L Hales

It has been eight days since the RCMP gunned down a demonstrator in Dawson Creek. According to the Independent Investigations Office, he “approached officers in an aggressive manner and when he did not comply with directions and commands, he was shot.” It is the latest in a series of  actions, which appear to have began with the BC government’s decision to break Treaty #8. Though this aspect of the project is not often talked about, the terms of the treaty seem clear. First Nations were to have use of the lands about to be submerged as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the river flows. So how is proceeding with Site C not breaking a treaty?

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Environment, Indigenous Nations

Mercury Contamination Stiffens Opposition to Site C Dam

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By Roy L. Hales

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Though construction on British Columbia’s W.A.C. Bennet dam began 54 years ago, fish are still so contaminated with mercury they are unfit for human consumption. Chief Roland Willson, of West Moberly First Nation, said BC started issuing health advisories after the dam was built. On May 11, 2015, he brought 200 pounds of contaminated bull trout to the legislature lawn for a press conference calling on the B.C. government to reverse its decision to approve the controversial $9 billion Site C dam. Willson said poisoning fish is a violation of Treaty #8.

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