Tribal Chief Says Alcan Should Pay For Kenny Dam Flooding

Monday, July 06, 2009 03:57 AM

Prince George, B.C.- David Luggi, who is seeking re-election as the Tribal Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, says the approval of the final agreement between BC Hydro and the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation is a testimony of what can be done in obtaining compensation for flooded land on the Carrier's Traditional territory.

That deal offers compensation for the development of the Williston Reservoir and the W.A.C. Bennett dam. Under the final agreement with the Province, the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation will be provided with one-time payments totalling $20.9 million, most of which will be placed in an endowment fund. The First Nation will also receive annual payments of approximately $2 million in acknowledgement of the impact of the reservoir on the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation. The funds can be used to support a wide range of social, cultural and governance programs.

Luggi says the file dealing with Alcan Rio Tinto has been dormant too long “The file has been sitting for 10 years and I believe we need to get some action going on it. We were never consulted on the project and to make matters worse the settlement agreement of 1987 reduced the flows by 70%."

Luggi says the building of the Kenny Dam is the single biggest environmental disaster in BC. history. "We deserve a share of the $446 million energy deal between Alcan (Rio Tinto) and BC Hydro. We deserve a package similar to the compensation package offered in the Pacific Trail Pipelines deal."

The election for Tribal Chief takes place July 10^th. Along with Luggi, the other names on the ballot are:

Thomas Pierre

Colleen Erickson

Vince Prince

Tamara Ketlo and

Anne Sam

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Posted on Monday, July 06, 2009 03:57 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on July 6 2009 5:47 AM

Why not, just keep giving money. Never ends and never will.

Posted by: He spoke on July 6 2009 8:31 AM

Hey, Ok, if this is what they want. fine, then fire all the people with native blood in them from the company. Obviously they want to eat from both sides.

Posted by: baddawg on July 6 2009 9:51 AM

Here we go again. Someone gets a sniff of money and suddenly they "deserve a share of the $446 million energy deal between Alcan (Rio Tinto) and BC Hydro." Why do they always have their hands out? BC has done well to keep the NDP from getting power again and now the First Nations are trying to take their place. There's always someone trying to make us take steps back rather than moving forward. David Luggi, stop living the past and work towards making BC economically viable and not a First Nations bank account.

Posted by: nechakogal on July 6 2009 10:43 AM

I guess that is a piece of the 31 BILLION the taxpayers are being held up for by this government? I mean the directive from the liberals to purchase this power from private corporations like Alcan way above the market rate effectively setting up BC Hydro for bankruptcy and threatens are energy independence?

Please, please get educated on this issue. Mainstream media is the last place you will find the truth.

http://saveourrivers.ca/latest-news-mainmenu-38/385-press-release-0618

Posted by: metalman on July 6 2009 10:54 AM

With apologies to the average person of aboriginal extraction;
The Indian industry is alive and well in British Columbia. Lawyers and the chiefs are doing very well indeed. They make a lot of noise about deplorable living conditions, but those conditions are, in many cases, inflicted upon their people by the hierarchy of the band. The millions of dollars that the federal and provincial governments hand out do not reach the family with the mould in their house, so where does the money go? Why are'nt the chiefs held accountable for every dollar?
I'll tell you why; it is because the people who run these departments are spineless, they do not want to make waves, and they probably should'nt, for if you piss off the wrong minister or other bureaucrat, you might end up re-assigned to a dead end job in a dusty file room.
One thing is true, they have set precedent, now they will have to pay the Indian bands for the wrongs that were committed against them when the Kenney dam was built.
metalman.

Posted by: getajob on July 6 2009 11:19 AM

Just unreal....

Posted by: gus on July 6 2009 12:37 PM

The source is greenpeace, but the project facts are real with respect to the ability to build projects such as the Kenny dam in today's world.

BC is not alone in this. It is an international fact of life for mega projects that uproot people's lives and livelihoods.

http://www.newint.org/issue273/onemore.htm

Cheslatta http://www.firstnationsdrum.com/politics/fall98_pol.htm

This one deals with the notion that "agreements are typically done belatedly, as an afterthought with the project a fait accompli and with little negotiation." Opposition would have been fruitless. Natives were asked to surrender their land and resources in the interst of non-native development for the common good. Divide and conquer strategies have been commonly employed in treaty and hydro negotiations.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=6VbIJTDlZIoC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=cheslatta+compensated+for+flooding&source=bl&ots=fwCYXINAJz&sig=aU2bKXsormsVzWx21ajumrrR0Bg&hl=en&ei=YE5SSoe-A4_gsQOYjISrDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6

Posted by: gus on July 6 2009 12:42 PM

A federal government site about the Cheslatta evacuation.
http://culturecanada.gc.ca/keyrefsearch.cfm?query=veterans&pr=CHRWALK&prox=page&rorder=500&rprox=500&rdfreq=500&rwfreq=500&rlead=500&sufs=0&order=dd&mode=simple&cq=&lang=eng&cmd=context&id=4719b67f158

At the bottom of the page is this comment about the results of the flooding:
"Commissioners were shocked by this story. It seems to us highly unlikely that the government's arbitrary actions and abuses of power recounted by the Cheslatta would have taken place had the affected individuals been non-Aboriginal. This is a profoundly disturbing thought."

Posted by: kitkat on July 6 2009 1:18 PM

Give them everything. They deserve it. F**k the rest of the citizens. I'm tired of even hearing about this crap.

Posted by: metalman on July 6 2009 1:41 PM

Yeah but Kitkat, "everything" is subject to renegotiation every few years. Look at the Nis'gaa agreement (1992?) A few years ago they started making noise about needing more money, and that was supposed to be a final settlement, the type that most of us who are not in the 'industry' would like to see; "one last settlement, now you are on your own"
metalman.

Posted by: getajob on July 6 2009 1:53 PM

Genesis 1:26
By this written word,"Lands" belong to all!

This is getting out of hand. My question is where do i go to get my land pay out?

Posted by: lost it all on July 6 2009 4:04 PM

What about me? Do I qualify for a payout, as far as I know I'm a resident of Canada and my land was impacted. Where do I sign up as the more I think about it the more hardship it must have impacted me. Who knows the potential myself and my family would have had had this land not been flooded. That must be worth alot of money.

Posted by: gus on July 6 2009 11:53 PM

"A few years ago they started making noise about needing more money, and that was supposed to be a final settlement."

A final settlement? Did you ever buy something and then return it because you thought it did not fit your needs after all? Maybe it was too small. Maybe it wore out too soon. Hundreds of reasons why people return things and actually get their money back because they changed their minds or they were told one thing and it worked out to be different.

That was a contract. Contracts are broken every day in our lives no matter what race one might be.

Posted by: dow7500 on July 7 2009 12:42 AM

Get real Gus. we/they need closure on this.
After milions in legal fees and countless years....they still come back to the table to reshuffle the deck. This process of Balkanizing this province will be a huge economic anchore for generations to come. Renegotiating this supposed break through agreement goes over like a fart in church.

ENOUGH ALREADY!

Posted by: diplomat on July 7 2009 9:08 AM

As soon as large wind power projects are fully operational somebody will come along and sue because their traditional wind has been *stolen.*

Substitude solar, tidal, geothermal for the word wind (as in wind power projects) and one can see that the lawsuits and the collecting of *bonus* money will go on forever.

To hell with the common good! Who needs it anyways?

Money grows on trees and we have plenty of those...no problem.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on July 7 2009 3:54 PM

Very good question metalman,and it is one that a lot of people are asking,including a lot of first nations people who live in those mouldy houses!
Where DOES the money go?
Who IS accountable?

Posted by: caranmacil on July 7 2009 6:37 PM

There are contracts and there are contracts. Treaty settlements are not Walmart purchases. You dont get to change your mind and reopen them whenever you want. Thats not allowed in contracts unless there is justification (ie breach). If there was a clause in the agreement that stated the terms were open for renegotiation should one party feel like it i dont think it would have passed muster in the first place.