The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation quietly dropped their judicial review of the dam on July 16, court records show. The case was to begin in federal court July 20.

 

The two Alberta nations had filed suit against BC Hydro and the federal government over approval of the $8.8-billion dam on the Peace River. The bands argued an environmental review of the project did not consider downstream impacts on the Peace Athabasca delta, part of their traditional land.

 

The two nations, signatories to Treaty 8, said the delta has been devastated by drastically lowered water levels since the construction of the WAC Bennett dam in the 1960s.

 

The delta, declared a world heritage site in 1983, is home to a number of threatened wildlife species, and includes lands traditionally used by the nations for hunting and fishing.

 

Calls to the two bands, and their lawyer, have not yet been returned.

 

When the two nations filed suit in November 2014, Athabasca Chief Allan Adam said very little consideration has been given to studying the impacts of hydroelectric development on the Peace River.

 

BC Hydro completed the Peace Canyon Dam in 1980, and has said it hopes to break ground this July on the first phase of construction work on Site C, seven kilometres southwest of Fort St. John

 

“When they built the Bennett dam, no one thought about how the delta might be affected,” he said. “No one thought about how First Nations might be affected. Once the dam was built, it was too late to address our concerns. We are worried that history is repeating with Site C."

 

This is the second First Nations legal challenge against the dam to be dropped this month.

 

Earlier this month, the McLeod Lake Indian Band withdrew from a BC Supreme Court challenge against the dam. The band had joined with the Prophet River and West Moberly First Nations seeking to overturn provincial approval for the dam, but dropped out July 2, little more than a month after hearings in that case wrapped up in May.

 

A notice from the band at the time did not reveal why it left the lawsuit, only saying it had agreed with BC Hydro to withdraw its claims.

 

Justice Robert Sewell has not yet rendered his decision in that case.

 

Sewell did, however, dismiss a similar lawsuit July 3 made by the Peace Valley Landowner Association who argued the province ignored critical economic recommendations made by a federal-provincial review panel in approving the dam.

 

The landowners group will begin a separate federal challenge of the dam in court on Tuesday in Vancouver.

 

The Prophet River, West Moberly, and Doig River First Nations will also begin a federal challenge of the dam July 21 on the dam's impact on treaty rights. McLeod Lake also departed from that lawsuit.

 

-- with files from William Stodalka