BC Hydro offers Crown land to First Nations to compensate for Site C construction

VANCOUVER, B.C. — BC Hydro has been ‘quietly offering’ Crown land transfers into the thousands of hectares to First Nations, in compensation for construction of the $8.8-billion Site C dam, as reported by the Globe and Mail.

BC Hydro declined to say how much land is being made available, but records from the court and regional district minutes from July 2013 show that BC Hydro offered more than 3,500 hectares to the Blueberry River First Nations as part of a Site C impact benefits agreement. The minutes state that the land transfers could take place once Site C construction had begun, and ‘in the interim, the land will be protected from disposition for other uses by a Section 16 Land Act reserve.’

The Globe says more than 5,000 hectares were offered to four of the eight First Nations in the region. All eight were made land offers, but details aren’t available for all of them.

The Saulteau First Nations reached an ‘impact benefits agreement’ with BC Hydro last summer that included land transfers, but it has not yet been signed and its contents remain secret.

“BC Hydro has been consulting and engaging with aboriginal groups about Site C since 2007 and offers of accommodation have been made to all of the First Nations significantly affected by the project,” Hydro spokesperson Craig Fitzsimmons wrote in an e-mail to the Globe. He didn’t say how much land is being offered, as negotiations are ongoing.

Questions are being asked about the transparency of the process, since it was kept quiet.

Jim Little, a BC Wildlife Federation member and former B.C. government land manager, is worried about the lack of transparency around the proposed transfers, as he says most people don’t know what the government is negotiating.

“If you were an individual applying for (Crown) land, you’d have to advertise in the newspaper that you are applying for such and such piece of land. It would be in the paper and the BC Gazette,” Little said, referring to a publication that contains legal notices and government proclamations.

“That’s a problem. There should be a message to the public (about these deals) rather than letting them find out after it’s happened.”

Some concerns that the deals could cut off roads and trails, reducing public access to other Crown land in the Peace River region.

BC Wildlife Federation spokesman Gerry Paille said the organization isn’t against bands getting land in compensation for a project like Site C, but he’s concerned that access trails and roads that go through the land could be cut off.

“The issue to us is if they don’t maintain access through those two pieces of land, it’s essentially going to block that whole valley off for other users,” Paille said. “Now for ordinary citizens of B.C., existing access has to be maintained even when there is a land transfer. But we’re hearing there are very sympathetic ears to give (the Blueberry band) control over it.”

He said two parcels covering thousands of hectares identified for transfer to the Blueberry River First Nations is of particular concern, because the land controls access to prime hunting areas in the Halfway Valley.

While responding to a court challenge to the project launched by regional First Nations, Hydro disclosed it had offered more than 2,000 hectares in total to the West Moberly, Prophet River and McLeod Lake bands. The land, along with payments of more than $48-million over 70 years, was to ‘directly accommodate the residual impacts’ of the Site C dam.

First Nations, environmental groups and local farmers are still fighting to stop the project because of concerns over treaty rights, the environment and flooding of farmland. Protesters at the Rocky Mountain Fort Camp site are expected to appear at B.C. Supreme Court on Monday to fight BC Hydro’s request for an injunctions against the protesters.

West Moberly First Nation’s Chief Roland Willson said he believes BC Hydro is trying to split First Nations by offering land and money in impact benefit agreements. His First Nation already rejected a deal because the band is opposed to the project, he said.

Willson added that he couldn’t remember how much land was offered but believed it was equivalent to the amount to be flooded by the Site C reservoir – which is about 5,000 hectares.

“But we are not negotiating. We are opposed to Site C.” he told the Globe. “The land being flooded is irreplaceable (because) there is nothing else like that in terms of its wildlife productivity.”

Blueberry River Chief Marvin Yahey couldn’t be reached for comment.