Saturday morning started out wet and gloomy but that didn’t stop hundreds of people who were ready to paddle through the Peace River for a cause.

 

The 10th Annual Paddle for the Peace took place at the confluence of Halfway and Peace Rivers and many said it is a significant year due to the imminent threat to the area.

 

“This is the year that Victoria has said that they want to start building the dam. This is the year that so many people here in the Valley and across the province have said no you’re not going to build that dam,” says Joe Foy, National Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee.

 

Various environmental groups and First Nations united to Stop Site C construction which is scheduled to begin this month.

 

“This dam will obliterate and destroy the homes of Peace Valley residents that have invested generations of hard work into developing their agricultural interests,” says Grant Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of B.C Indian Chiefs.

 

Mayor of Hudson’s Hope, Gwen Johansson who was at the event says her and the district’s council wants the provincial government to re-examine their plan before destroying the area.

 

“We’ve asked for it to be referred to the B.C Utilities Commission because we feel that there hasn’t been a good look at whether the need for it or the cost of it or the alternatives to it.”

 

Renowned scientist Dr. David Suzuki who fought to stop the dam years ago was also in attendance to support the cause.

 

“We stopped the dam fourty years ago, why are we fighting it again? Because I believe environmentalism has failed fundamentally to use those victories to shift the way people see our place on the planet.”

 

Last week the province approved 24 permits which allow B.C Hydro to start ground work construction.

 

Karen Goodings, Director of Electoral Area B for the Peace River Regional District says the district wrote a letter to the province asking to refer the project to the B.C Utilities Commission because they want to know the justification for flooding the area.

 

“I just don’t want to lose it. I think there’s too many unanswered questions on a better way to produce the power and not lose the land.”

 

For many, the next step in this fight is to stand up for their beliefs and speak to authorities in charge.

 

 “It’s a terrible human rights abuse of the treaty 8 First Nations, it’s wrong to drown that much farmland, it’s wrong to waste that much money and on July 23rd we’ll be in front of the B.C Hydro tower to say that in Downtown Vancouver,” says Foy.