Dam threatens indigenous culture: Amnesty International

Amnesty International Canada has launched a worldwide campaign to stop construction of a massive hydroelectric dam in western Canada. It says the dam violates Canada’s commitments to uphold the human rights of indigenous peoples.

“This is a dam that would block the Peace River and flood an area of land that is 83 kilometres long in the Peace Valley itself and it would back up the water in a number of tributaries…” says Craig Benjamin, campaigner for the human rights of indigenous peoples with Amnesty International Canada.

Few untouched areas for indigenous people

“While in the north it is an area that supports farmlands it is an area that has old growth forests, is an area that the indigenous people of the region still rely on to hunt, to fish and to trap. And this is where they carry out ceremonies.”

Benjamin notes that there has already been much oil and gas development in the region and that the Peace River Valley is one of the few places left where indigenous people of this area can practice their culture and way of life.

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Constitutional obligations to indigenous peoples

He adds that Canada has a constitutional obligation to preserve treaty rights to the land. Amnesty suggests the Canadian government itself admitted it did not consider whether building the dam was compatible with its legal obligations to First Nations people.

“The valley has very specific cultural importance,” says Benjamin. “This has been central to their culture for thousands and thousands of years. It is an area where their ancestors are buried…hundreds of sacred sites have been identified in the valley.

Stories tied to landmarks, locations

“And so many people told us stories of the people—stories of who they are, stories that encapsulate their knowledge, the teachings that they pass down to their children. These are all tied up with very specific landmarks and locations in that valley.”

Amnesty International is calling on people around the world to put pressure on the Canadian government to immediately stop work on Site C hydroelectric dam.