Groups worried over world heritage park want Trudeau to revisit Site C approval
EDMONTON — First Nations and environmental groups want the federal government to revisit its approval of British Columbia’s Site C dam which they worry would threaten a national park that is a World Heritage Site.
Groups including the Mikisew Cree and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society say the risk to Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park from the dam and upstream oilsands development is so dire that they will ask UNESCO investigators to put the area on its list of threatened sites.
“Governments have continued to allow threat after threat,” Mikisew Chief Steve Courtoreille said Monday. “The results of the impacts are really destroying our way of life.”
Two UNESCO investigators have been in Alberta for the last week visiting the national park and talking to government, industry, aboriginal and scientific presenters. The investigators were invited to Canada by the federal government after the Mikisew contacted the agency in December and expressed concerns about the park, which has been a World Heritage site since 1983.