Hydroelectric dams were built on the Bridge River beginning in the 1920s, but it would take 90 years for the aboriginal communities of the Lillooet Valley to connect to the grid and silence their diesel generators.
About 330 people in the remote villages of Skatin, Baptiste Smith, Port Douglas and Tipella were connected to the BC Hydro grid in late November, in a connection project started in 1993.
When the villages were electrified, Douglas First Nations Chief Don Harris noted the area’s formative role in the settlement of the province.
“A century and a half ago, Port Douglas was the centre of commerce in what was to become British Columbia,” Harris said.
“Until recently, the people in the Lillooet Valley were a forgotten people. That’s changing
now.”
Now BC Hydro has agreed to a financial settlement with the St’at’imc (stat-leum) people near Pemberton to compensate for development of a series of dams and river diversions that still represents five per cent of BC Hydro’s generating assets.
The settlement
must be ratified by the 11,000 members of the 11 St’at’imc bands in votes expected to be held this spring.
It would eventually pay up to $200 million to the people who collectively
own 75 reserves in the region and have an asserted territory of 1.6 million hectares.
Aboriginal Relations Minister Barry Penner said negotiations have taken 17 years, involving assessment of flooded hunting areas and damage to salmon runs from the three dams and associated works.
The settlement includes lump sum payments and ongoing funding from trust accounts earmarked for education, job training and spawning channel recovery works, Penner said.
The hydroelectric project was begun by private developers starting in the 1920s, stalled in the Great Depression and then completed after World War II.
