Site C breaks overall workforce record in April

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Site C has broken its monthly overall workforce record for the third time in a year.

The dam project had 5,705 people working on the project in April — a 472-person increase from March and 151 more than when the record was last broken in October 2022.

BC Hydro’s Site C Community Relations Manager Bob Gammer says the increase will help complete critical milestones needed before filling the reservoir, which could begin this fall.

“The latest increase is reflective of the start of the busy construction season as we work to ramp activities on site to achieve key milestones that need to be completed in order to achieve reservoir filling,” said Gammer.

Total employment is expected to decrease later this year as project milestones are completed, said Gammer.

According to BC Hydro, 959 people working on Site C in April were Peace region residents, accounting for 20 per cent of the workforce.

There were 3,812 people who were B.C. primary residents working on the project, accounting for 67 per cent of the workforce.

The number of apprentices increased from 243 in March to 290 in April

The report also provides the number of Indigenous people that worked on Site C, adding that workers voluntarily self-declared their Indigenous status to the employer. There were 464 Indigenous workers in April.

BC Hydro said 552 women worked on the dam project in April.

According to BC Hydro, the total workforce numbers include workers working off the dam site area, workers working from home and/or workers who may have been on-site at any one time in that month, who may have been on days off for other periods of time. Not all
workers were on site or in camp at one time.

Last year in its quarterly report, BC Hydro said it could begin the process of filling the Site C reservoir as early as this fall.

The process of filling the reservoir will take four months at a varying rate of 0.3 to two metres per day. Once completed, the reservoir will be approximately three times wider than the Peace River.

The deepest parts of the reservoir will be approximately 52 metres near the dam, with shallower areas around Hudson’s Hope being 18 metres.