The Honourable Brian Tobin
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
fax: (613) 990-7292
copy to:
The Right Honourable Jean Chretien
Prime Minister
fax: (613) 941-6900
The Honourable Ron Irwin
Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs
fax: (819) 953-4941
The Honourable Sheila Copps
Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of the Environment
fax: (819) 953-3457
The general mailing address for these politicians is:
House of Commons, Parliament Hill
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6 Canada
Also, the Cheslatta would appreciate a copy of your letter as well:
Cheslatta Carrier Nation
P.O. Box 909
Burns Lake, B.C. V0J 1E0
Phone: (604) 694-3334
Fax: (604) 694-3632
*****************************************************************
February 1,1995
Province of British Columbia
Office of the Premier
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, British Columbia
V8V 1X4
Chief Marvin Charlie
Cheslatta Carrier Nation
P.O. Box 909
Burns Lake, B.C.
V0J 1E0
Dear Chief Marvin Charlie:
Last week, I announced my government's historic decision to stop
the Kemano Completion Project. This decision was a difficult one,
reached after one of the most comprehensive public reviews in
British Columbia's history.
The B.C. Utilities Commission report confirmed what many British
Columbians had feared: KCP threatened our important fisheries
resource. In reviewing that report, my government was faced with
a choice: we could accept a back-room deal that benefited
corporate special interests - or we could protect our rivers for
all British Columbians. We said no to KCP, yes to the Nechako, and
yes to the Fraser River system - the heart and soul of British
Columbia.
But, there is still an outstanding problem that must be resolved if
we are to complete the job and guarantee B.C.'s salmon fishery is
protected.
You know that in 1987 the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans provided
a letter to Alcan guaranteeing them the right to divert 88 percent
of the Nechako River. If this letter is not withdrawn and new
water flow levels established, Alcan can still divert 88 percent of
Nechako waters. That is completely unacceptable.
Minister Tobin's job is to protect fish and yet he will not take
the important step of withdrawing this letter to ensure the future
of our salmon fishery. Who is he protecting? The B.C. fishery and
the Fraser River system? Or Alcan?
I'll let you decide. But I must ask you for your help in changing
his mind.
This is not the time to stop fighting for protection of B.C.'s
Nechako and Fraser Rivers. This is the time to keep the pressure
on until the federal government fulfils its responsibility to
protect fish and change the water flow levels.
The focus now, for all of us, must be to urge the federal
government to revoke the 1987 opinion letter. Withdrawing that
letter and replacing it with new water flow levels is crucial.
I'm calling on you to help by immediately communicating your
request to Mr. Tobin to do this.
Brian Tobin was out here last fall, getting a first-hand look at
the Fraser's salmon stock shortfalls. He talked about working
together to tackle the issues. I believe Brian Tobin understands
the federal responsibility in fisheries. I believe that he, as a
Newfoundlander, understands the fish crisis.
I also think the federal government understands, or should, the
cost to fishers and to taxpayers of not acting. The federal
government is spending 1.9 billion dollars to pay Newfoundlanders
to stay home - because there are no fish.
I'm concerned that despite these danger signals in other parts of
the country, the federal government still hasn't taken the
necessary steps to protect the fish stocks here in B.C.
I know you share my belief that we must protect the Nechako and the
Fraser River systems for sound economic and environmental reasons.
I want to thank you again for your dedication to these rivers - for
fish, for agriculture, recreation, and our communities - and look
forward to your help in changing Brian Tobin's mind.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Mike Harcourt
Premier
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Penned notes on fax original of letter:
* Feds were full participants in the BCUC Review.
* What's Harcourt going to do if Tobin doesn't change his
opinion?
*****************************************************************
Cheslatta Carrier Nation
P.O. Box 909
Burns Lake, B.C. V0J 1E0
Phone: (604) 694-3334
Fax: (604) 694-3632
Memorandum
To: indig.canada@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Fax/Phone #: 604-828-1984
From: Dana Wagg; Writer/Researcher
Date: Thursday, 02 February 1995
Thank you for calling yesterday and speaking with John Hummel.
He said you'd like a short statement, before today's meeting of the
board, dealing with the following:
* What Cheslatta sees as unaddressed problems from Kemano 1 and
Kemano 2 and
* Our suggestions for actions on these problems.
To start with, Cheslatta is encouraged by the statement in
Premier Harcourt's Jan. 23, 1995 news release in which he referred
to the Kenney Dam Release Facility, which would allow for a
redirection of flows around Kenney Dam "meaning the Murray /
Cheslatta lands - flooded by the construction of Kemano 1 in the
early 1950s - could be restored and returned to the Cheslatta
Nation." The return and restoration of Cheslatta land in the
Murray / Cheslatta Watershed, land that was, and is, being flooded
by Kemano 1 and the short-term flows of Kemano 2, is the top
priority with Cheslatta and must be addressed immediately.
To elaborate, as well as to outline some other outstanding
Kemano-related issues, the list includes:
* The protection and restoration of Cheslatta cemeteries flooded
annually by Kemano 1's heavy flows and the recognition by the
B.C. government that Cheslatta Lake is, in fact, a cemetery.
It is hoped that a permanent solution to the desecration of
Cheslatta graveyards is now at hand since the announcement by
Premier Harcourt settled the fate of Kemano 2. A permanent
solution lies in having a suitable water release mechanism
built at Kenney Dam, which would end high releases of water
through the spillway.
* The need for a stabilized, healing flow through Skins Lake
Spillway of about 400 cubic feet per second - with the actual
flow to be determined pending scientific studies acceptable to
Cheslatta Nation. As a 1992 Cheslatta position paper noted,
if the Cheslatta / Murray system is to be restored, a steady,
consistent, undamaging flow must be discharged from the
spillway to maintain the Cheslatta system. "Like a wounded
animal, extraordinary care must be taken to nurse it back to
life. It will die without proper care. The Cheslatta system
+cannot+ [underlined] sustain itself without spillway water,
because of the extreme Kemano 1 damage to the river channel,"
noted the position paper.
* The construction of a Kenney Dam Release Mechanism, so the
heavy, damaging flows of Kemano 1 and Kemano 2 can be rerouted
around the Cheslatta system - with the actual design to be
determined pending scientific studies acceptable to Cheslatta.
The B.C.U.C. report recommended the release mechanism to be
built - even if Kemano 2 didn't go ahead. The B.C. government
must move quickly to implement this recommendation.
Construction of this release mechanism is long, long overdue
and planning should get underway immediately, in cooperation
with the Cheslatta and downstream communities. The design of
the release outlet proposed by Alcan has yet to be reviewed by
independent scientists.
* The Cheslatta Redevelopment Project.
Cheslatta believes its project to restore the Murray /
Cheslatta system, in cooperation with B.C. and Canada, is a
+mega-project+ [underlined] that will have long-lasting,
positive impacts for the Lakes District, the Nechako Valley
and British Columbia. Unlike Kemano 2, the restoration
project, which includes cleaning the shorelines of the massive
amount of debris left by Kemano 1, will build up and repair,
rather than further destroy. When considering the economic of
Kemano 2, it is only a logical a comparison be made with
Cheslatta's Restoration and Redevelopment Project.
* Alcan has said Kemano 2 would have created between one
to 12 full-time jobs - compared to Cheslatta Redevelopment's
20 to 40 full-time jobs. As well, the redevelopment employees
will be residents of the district while Alcan's employees
would have been based in an entirely different area. In other
words, 100 per cent of the Redevelopment revenue and
expenditures will be made in the immediate area and will help
sustain the local economy and inject welcome, long-term
revenue into the district.
* The Redevelopment Project is sustainable development
using an enhanced resource over an unlimited time, without
resource extraction, for the use and benefit of ALL people
forever. It's a wealth-creating industry but Kemano 2 would
have been a boom town project, creating specific wealth over
a limited period of time (during construction), as a 1992
position paper noted.
* The Redevelopment Project can only enhance and
increase the tourism infrastructure in the region. Kemano 2
would have inflicted +irreversible, permanent damage+
[underlined] to our tourism base. The public and governments
should be seriously considering the Redevelopment Project as
a positive mega-project with far-reaching, long-term benefits
for all Canadians forever.
SOME OF KEMANO 1'S IMPACTS ON THE CHESLATTA WATERSHED:
Ruth, I've drawn the following information from the 1992
position paper, which was written by senior Cheslatta researcher
Mike Robertson.
* It is not widely known, or understood, that the Cheslatta
River and Lake system is the headwaters of the Nechako River.
Two or three times a year, huge spills are made into this
system from the Skins Lake Spillway. These spills are made:
* To lower the Nechako Reservoir in the spring to receive the
snowpack and spring runoff. This spill is directed by the
B.C. Water Comptroller. Or,
* To release flows specified by the 1987 Kemano Settlement
Agreement to accommodate the annual salmon runs and/or to cool
the river during warm weather.
* As a result of these large, unnatural spills, many of which
have exceeded over 200 times the river's natural capacity,
Cheslatta River has experienced, and continues to experience,
devastating erosion. Water quality is severely impaired
throughout the system because of siltation. While passing
through the Cheslatta lake system, a filtering process takes
place, which impacts the annual spawn and hatch of freshwater
fish. As the water leaves the Cheslatta system, it is
remarkably cleaner than when it entered, proving the settling
of silt and debris in the lake.
* Cheslatta River watershed streams have been all but destroyed
along its 40-kilometre route. Stream entrances into the river
are simply no longer there. This has destroyed all natural
spawning patterns between the river and its watershed lakes.
This, in turn, has severely impacted fish stocks in many of
these lakes.
* The biggest percentage of resident fish stocks in the upper
Cheslatta River now enter the system from Ootsa Lake via the
Skin Lake Spillway. Prior to spillway releases, the Cheslatta
system was unique and totally separate from the Ootsa Lake
system.
* Absolutely no productive spawning areas now exist in the
Cheslatta River. Spawning and hatching coincides with
spillway releases. If eggs are spawned, they are either
washed away or covered up by silt from the tremendous spring
releases. If eggs are hatched, they are severely impaired by
the late summer releases.
* The gouging of the bed of the Cheslatta River has been
responsible for the movement of a conservative estimate of
over 40 million cubic metres of material (silt, mud, sand and
organic material), most of which has been deposited directly
into Cheslatta Lake. This is arrived at multiplying a 10-
metre-deep gouge X 100 metres wide X 40 kilometres of river.
In many areas the depth is over 40 metres and the width over
200 metres. This amount of material could build over 14
Kenney Dams or pave the Yellowhead Highway (12 metres wide) a
distance of 8,000 kilometres!
* The deposits at the bottom of Cheslatta Lake have raised the
lakebed in some areas as much as 30 metres and has completely
filled in two kilometres of its west end.
* St. Mary's Lake and a smaller unnamed lake, formerly situated
on the Cheslatta River to the west of Cheslatta Lake, no
longer exist. They were completely washed away by huge spills
in 1957.
* Due to large, unnatural spills, the level of Cheslatta Lake
fluctuates dramatically. This causes havoc to fish movement
and spawning capabilities in all lake tributary entrances.
Again, these lake fluctuations consistently coincide with
spring spawning patterns of the resident freshwater fish. In
other words, when spawners enter tributaries at high water,
they are often trapped when returning because of the
artificial lowering of Cheslatta Lake.
* Waterfowl nesting areas in this system have been severely
affected because of the irregular fluctuations of water
throughout the nesting season.
* Another result of the fluctuating lake levels is the
disruption of the insect production cycle, the main source of
food for the resident fish population. Insect breed and hatch
on and hear the lakeshores. When lake levels fluctuate, this
cycle is either drowned or grounded, thus destroying the
hatch.
* As recently as the summer of 1991, the level of Cheslatta Lake
rose 10 to 13 feet between July and August, flooding all
recreation areas and making the lake unreliable for most
activities. The lake has been known to rise or lower several
feet overnight. This floods many hectares of land and make
boat landings and campsites undependable and unsafe.
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