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Gitsegukla fed up with BC Hydro

The Gitsegukla First Nation is thinking about suing BC Hydro.

The Gitsegukla First Nation is thinking about suing BC Hydro.

Chief Cliff Sampare said the band council agreed to issue a permit to the utility company to carry out some work in 1965 but said further permission would need to be granted for future jobs.

Consultations for a new permit began a couple of years ago to allow BC Hydro to reroute some poles and install new service poles.

I’ve been meeting with them for the past two years and trying to work up some sort of agreement where we can work in collaboration,” said Sampare.

But they totally refuse to do that and they say they don’t need our consent. And yet we have all these documents that say they have to approach us.”

Donia Snow, executive director of aboriginal relations with BC Hydro, explained to The Interior News in an email that in order to improve power reliability in the area, they have undertaken a project to build a new segment of distribution line along Highway 16.

This line will provide reliable power to the Kitwanga and Gitanyow First Nations and the community of Cedarvale. The new configuration will reduce the number of outages caused by trees and will allow crews to access the line quicker when there is a power outage. The line replaces an existing line on Gitsegukla reserve lands, which would be removed,” Snow said.

Sampare said BC Hydro can’t just go onto their territory without the proper permits from the band council.

They have to ask our permission, I’ve tried to work with them before having to go to court. But now our lawyers are involved with it, Canada’s lawyers are involved,” he said.

The perfect scenario would be to work together, that we have an agreement in place and work in collaboration, maybe some of us can be trained, get compensation for land because we have no more lots to develop for homes,” said Sampare.

BC Hydro has more or less taken the best part of it. The new re-routing also damaged our scenery, it was beautiful, now it is damaged with poles along the riverbed.”

BC Hydro said their electrical system touches nearly every corner of this province and in doing any work on the system, they respect and take into account the rights and priorities of British Columbia’s First Nations.

In this situation, we reviewed the position taken by the Gitsegukla, and we are of the view that we have the appropriate property rights to undertake the work,” said Snow.

Over the course of this project, BC Hydro engaged in extensive discussions with Gitsegukla First Nation to ensure we understood and were sensitive to any impacts of the work. We remain optimistic that we can still find opportunities to accommodate Gitsegukla’s interests while balancing the overall costs of the project.”

The Gitsegukla First Nation is giving BC Hydro until the end of the month to come up with a new agreement and get permission from them to do anymore work.

According to our lawyers we have an open and shut case. We are just giving them notice, there is still time to come to the table and do an agreement,” said Sampare. “If not, charges will be laid and it won’t be cheap. There will be compensation, accommodation and the whole works.”

 



Marisca Bakker

About the Author: Marisca Bakker

Marisca was born and raised in Ontario and moved to Smithers almost ten years ago on a one-year contract.
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