Bear Flat Dispatch: Changing the name

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — While perusing through the latest BC Hydro quarterly report on the Site C dam project, I noticed that some effort is being put towards coming up with new permanent names for the dam and future reservoir. 

I guess you can’t blame them, as “Site C” has acquired a fair bit of negative baggage over the last several decades. Of course, when that happens, the oldest trick in the book is to change names. For instance, the scandal-ridden SNC-Lavalin—who incidentally worked on Site C—changed its name to AtkinsRéalis. 

So, one could say that BC Hydro is following the lead of SNC-Lavalin.  They all have lawyers, so I didn’t say that, but one could. 

BC Hydro reportedly invited First Nations to participate in workshops that have resulted in a shortlist of naming suggestions that the government and BC Hydro will consider.

That made me think of an event that occurred in the winter of 2015 and 2016 when the protest camp at the historic Rocky Mountain Fort was happening. 

In addition to folks from the Saulteau Security company who provided general security for the Site C project, BC Hydro hired a separate security or investigative-type company to walk in and check on us twice a day.  They would video all such interactions and always wanted to know who was around. 

Local citizens, including members of the various local First Nations, constantly rotated in and out to help support the cause. One day, a member from Saulteau First Nation came in for the first time, and when they asked his name, his reply was “Keewee Seemac.” 

For the next few days that he was there, the security guys always referred to him as Keewee.  When we asked Johnny (not his real name) about this, he said he saw no good reason for BC Hydro to know who he was. He explained that Keewee Seemac, when loosely translated from Cree, meant “go away/ go home right now,” which he thoroughly enjoyed saying to the security guys.

I hope that the name suggestions being put forth for Site C by local First Nations can somehow capture the same sort of magical hidden gem that Keewee Seemac did at Rocky Mountain Fort.  Perhaps something that captures the madness of building a financially bloated and environmentally destructive megaproject that will devastate the valley and once again impede the Peace River’s flow. 

Also, please make it something easy to pronounce, perhaps two to four syllables, that people with limited vocabulary skills like me can master. Something like Keewee Seemac would be perfect. That might be a little challenging, but I sure hope they come through. I have one word of caution: don’t tell BC Hydro what the name really means!

BC Hydro and the government are probably hoping to put Site C on a fresh start with a new name and perhaps even banking on the limited attention span of many British Columbians when it comes to a project that is ‘out of sight and out of mind’ in the north. 

In the future, I can almost imagine some individual from southern BC who might say something like, “Yeah, I remember Site C.  It was a horrible, over-budget, corrupt, scandal-ridden, environmental train wreck of a project that sucked!  However, thank goodness there are some good clean energy projects like Keewee Seemac .” 

That is the marketing move that BC Hydro is going for…. well, kind of.

Written by Ken Boon