[BCFSN] Fwd: Politicians responsible for Violations against Wildlife & Treaty 8 at Site C dam in BC

[Dawn Morrison]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "patricia white" <pwpwhite90 at gmail.com>
Date: Dec 17, 2017 1:24 AM
Subject: Politicians responsible for Violations against Wildlife & Treaty 8
at Site C dam in BC
To: <Catherine.McKenna at parl.gc.ca>, "John Horgan" <NDP at leg.bc.ca>, <
lawrence.macaulay at parl.gc.ca>, <min at dfo-mpo.gc.ca>, <
lana.popham.MLA at leg.bc.ca>, <michelle.mungall.MLA at leg.bc.ca>
Cc: "eva" <evalyman at gmail.com>, "Livia" <redliv50 at koronko.com>, "Vickey
Bischoff" <vicbischoff at gmail.com>, "janice billy" <jrdickbilly at gmail.com>,
"Dawn Morrison" <dmo6842 at gmail.com>, "Eddie Gardner" <singingbear at telus.net>,
"Greg Witzky" <gwitzky at alib.ca>, "Dave Smith" <jackdavesmith at gmail.com>

When our elected leaders have no conscience or care for anything except
private corporate profit they should step down in disgrace.  Please.  Just
quit.  Give your salaries to the ones working tirelessly to protect Canada,
BC, and those who love this land.  The Activists who you label
‘eco-terrorists.’   Jail the real terrorists: corporate capitalists.

These Wild Ones have no voice, but we do.  Let’s use it to protect them.


These politicians are responsible for violations against wildlife &Treaty 8
at Site C dam in BC:
Catherine.McKenna at parl.gc.ca - federal Minister of Environment & Climate
Change
Jim.Carr at parl.gc.ca  federal Minister of Natural Resources
george.heyman.MLA at leg.bc.ca  BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Strategy
justin.trudeau at parl.gc.ca  Prime Minister of Canada
  - John Horgan, Premier of BC – also
john.horgan. <john.horgan.mla at leg.bc.ca>premier at gov.bc.camla@leg.bc.ca
<john.horgan.mla at leg.bc.ca>
carolyn.bennett at parl.gc.ca Minister of Indigenous & Northern Affairs
lawrence.macaulay at parl.gc.ca  federal Minister of Agriculture & Agrifood
min at dfo-mpo.gc.ca federal Minister of Fisheries
lana.popham.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Agriculture
 Jody.Wilson-Raybould at parl.gc.ca federal Minister of Justice & Attorney
General
scott.fraser.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Indigenous Relations and
Reconciliation
michelle.mungall.MLA at leg.bc.ca  BC Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum
Resources
doug.donaldson.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Forests, lands, natural
resource operations and rural development
david.eby.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Attorney General
bruce.ralston.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Jobs, trade and technology
join Stop Site C Dam :https://m.facebook.com/groups/232682493744621?ref=
bookmarks or visit http://www.stopsitec.org/  Enquiries for the author of
this report contact Roslyn Cassells at 604-763-2510 <(604)%20763-2510>
(former Vancouver Park Board Commissioner and Canada’s first elected Green)

*Wildlife of the Peace River Valley Endangered by Site C Dam*

*"Mother Earth - militarized, fenced-in, poisoned, a place where basic
rights are systematically violated, demands that we take action," Berta
Caceres, Lenca woman assassinated for her fight against a dam in her
territory in Honduras in 2016.*

 There are at least 63 endangered, red-listed, blue-listed, at risk,
threatened and of special concern species of animals who make Site C in the
Peace River Valley in northeastern British Columbia, Canada their home. 30
species of migratory birds, 23 species of invertebrates, 6 species of
mammals, 2 species of raptors, & 1 amphibian species from this list will be
killed due to drowning, electrocution, starvation, loss of habitat, or
physical impacts causing injury.

Thousands of other species will also suffer and die due to the Site C Dam.
Wildlife will suffer great and irreparable harm, and the protections they
are entitled to under BC, Canadian, & International law are not being
enforced.  The provincial BC Wildlife Act, the Species At Risk Act (SARA),
the Committee On the Status of Endangered Wildlife (COSEWIC)-(federal), and
the Migratory Birds Convention Act (an international act Canada is
signatory to) are being blatantly ignored as politicians pursue their
political ambitions with complete disregard to these and other laws, and to
their duty to Canadians, Treaty 8 First Nations, and our precious and
vulnerable wildlife. (*Photo right: Marten by United States Fish and
Wildlife Service*)


The Site C Dam area is also home to many rare and unique plants of which 38
species of vascular plants are at risk (11 are Red-listed, 28 Blue-listed),
3 mosses are blue listed, and 5  lichens are Red-listed and 5 Blue-listed.

 The Peace Daisy and Persistent-sepal yellowcress are found only in the
Peace River Valley, and they would be extinguished by Site C Dam according
to the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resources; while
Herriot's Sage and Old Man's Whiskers are found only in the Peace Region -
their status increasingly imperiled. (*Photo left: Bull Trout by USFWS -
Pacific Region*)

The  Joint Review Panel which examined the Site C Dam project stated it
would cause "significant adverse effect on rare plants" and noted BC Hydro
made no attempt whatsoever to assess traditional medicinal plants used by
local First Nations. It further stated that some ecosystems would be
entirely lost to the project...such as riparian & floodplain forests, tufa
seeps, & mari fens which "cannot ever be recreated...their loss complete,
permanent, irreversible" and that some ecological communities, including
wetlands, would see their status become more precarious.
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/p63919/99173E.pdf

Site C Dam would result in the probable extirpation of 3 species of fish, a
reduction in fish health and survival, and habitat changes which will
effect fish genetics and long-term resiliency of fish populations.
Scientists deemed these effects to be "negative, large, irreversible and
permanent. They can't be fully mitigated."

BC Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resources said the Site C Dam would
likely push some species closer to extinction, and that species at risk
"have low resilience to disturbance"
Environment Canada called the Peace River region a "biodiversity hotspot"
and a vital east-west passage through the Rocky Mountains and the only one
below 1000 m in the Yukon to Yellowstone wildlife corridor - essential to
species' migration, large mammal movement, and biodiversity...a
conservation priority and core wildlife habitat.

Environment Canada also noted 3/4 of BC's 247 bird species use the Peace
region (of which 32 are at risk) before even considering migratory and
wintering species.  It also stated the project could cause mortality of
migratory birds by killing individuals or destroying active nests. This is
a violation of the Migratory Birds Convention Act which prohibits any
person from killing a migratory bird or disturbing, destroying or taking a
nest, egg or nest shelter of a migratory bird.


The Joint Review Panel scientists stated the Site C Dam project "would
cause significant adverse effects on migratory birds which cannot be
mitigated" and that "the region's wildlife has been already significantly
impacted by the previous two dams" and further that the losses of migratory
birds to be permanent and unmitigatable.

The Species At Risk Act lists Peace River Valley residents Canada Warbler,
Common Nighthawk, and Olive-sided Flycatcher as threatened species, and the
Northern Mountain Caribou, Woodland Caribou, Western Toad, Short-eared Owl,
Yellow Rail and Rusty Blackbird of Special Concern. (*Photo above: Western
Toad by Walter Siegmund*)

COSEWIC, the Committee On the Status of Endangered Wildlife lists as
endangered the Little Brown Myotis Bat and the Northern Myotis Bat, the
Barn Swallow as threatened, and the Horned Grebe, Bull Trout and Grizzly
Bear as of special concern.

The Fisher is blue-listed, as are the Broad-winged Hawk and the Short-eared
Owl.
The Eastern Red Bat is red-listed. Nelson's Sparrow, the Yellow Rail, and
five species of butterflies are red-listed. Le Conte's Sparrow and the
Eastern Phoebe are blue-listed.  The Baltimore Oriole and Sharp-tailed
Grouse are yellow-listed. Additional listed birds include Bay Breasted
Warbler, Black-throated Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Conneticut Warbler,
American Avocet, American Golden Plover, American White Pelican, Brant
Goose, Cackling Goose, California Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, Foster's
Tern, Great Blue Heron, Hudsonian Godwit, Red-necked Phalarope,
Short-billed Dowitcher, Wandering Tattler, and the Western Grebe...all
residents of the Peace River Valley and Site C Dam area. (*Photo below:
Short-eared owl*)

 Provincially listed fish include Arctic Grayling, Goldeneye, Lake Trout,
Pygmy Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Large-scale Sucker, Northern Pike Minnow,
Northern Redbelly Dace, Pearl Dace, Spottail Shiner and Spoonhead Sculpin.

The following provincially and federally listed species would see their
status worsen significantly due to the Site C Dam: the Western Toad,
Baltimore Oriole, Sharp-tailed Grouse,  Nelson's Sparrow, Bull Trout,
Yellow Rail, Eastern Phoebe, butterflies Old World Swallowtail, Alberta
Arctic, Striped Hairstreak, Great Spangled fritillary, Coral Hairstreak,
Common Wood Nymph, Uhler's Arctic, tawny crescent, & Arctic blue, Aphrodite
fritillary.

Woodpeckers would lose a significant amount of vital habitat. This has a
cascading effect on species which nest in old woodpecker tree hole
nests. The Northern Goshawk, Rocky Mountain Elk, Moose and Mule Deer are
listed as species of concern.

There are over 300 wildlife and over 400 plant species identified to date
in the Peace River Valley, although biologists suspect there are a number
of yet unidentified species present, largely due to the lack of basic
research funding over the years. Recent bioblitzes resulted in the
discovery of other endangered species resident in Site C, and some that are
new to science.

Who else lives here in the Peace River Valley and whose lives and homes
will be destroyed by the Site C Dam? A myriad of living beings, all
interconnected and essential to their and our collective survival. Little
insects, worms, spiders, beetles, flies, bees, wasps, dragonflies,
caterpillars, grasshoppers, salamanders, newts, snakes, mice, moles, voles,
wood rats, squirrels, shrews...burrowing beasts, raising their young deep
in the earth or high up in a hollow tree...the winged ones - bats, hawks,
owls, eagles, songbirds, thrushes, songbirds, woodpeckers, sparrows, duck,
geese, shorebirds...all of whom depend on the rivers, trees, and land  for
their homes, nests, foods, shelter, as a pit-stop in a lengthy migration.

 Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, lynx, fox, coyote, wolf, wolverine, martin,
weasel, fisher, beaver, river otter, cougar, muskrat, bison, mink, moose,
elk, deer, sheep, wild horses...how many will die as their world is
flooded? (*Photo left: cougar/mountain lion earthspacecircle.blogspot.ca
<http://earthspacecircle.blogspot.ca>*)

Who will die because they cannot flee the flood waters because they are too
little, not fast enough, not able to outrun the waters or fly away?

All of these animals' lives are equally precious. The rights and
obligations to our First Nations under Treaty 8 must be upheld. Fertile
farmland essential to our food security must be preserved, and we must
learn to coexist in harmony with our natural world and all our relations.
The billions of lives which will be ended, these vulnerable individuals,
species, cultures, families, and communities - will be destroyed if our
society allows political ambition to trump community, greed to trump
sharing, and killing to triumph over coexistence. *A better world is
possible, let's stand together to protect her!*

These politicians are responsible for violations against wildlife &Treaty 8
at Site C dam in BC:
Catherine.McKenna at parl.gc.ca - federal Minister of Environment & Climate
Change
Jim.Carr at parl.gc.ca  federal Minister of Natural Resources
george.heyman.MLA at leg.bc.ca  BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Strategy
justin.trudeau at parl.gc.ca  Prime Minister of Canada
premier at gov.bc.ca  - John Horgan, Premier of BC – also
john.horgan.mla at leg.bc.ca
carolyn.bennett at parl.gc.ca Minister of Indigenous & Northern Affairs
lawrence.macaulay at parl.gc.ca  federal Minister of Agriculture & Agrifood
min at dfo-mpo.gc.ca federal Minister of Fisheries
lana.popham.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Agriculture
 Jody.Wilson-Raybould at parl.gc.ca federal Minister of Justice & Attorney
General
scott.fraser.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Indigenous Relations and
Reconciliation
michelle.mungall.MLA at leg.bc.ca  BC Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum
Resources
doug.donaldson.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Forests, lands, natural
resource operations and rural development
david.eby.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Attorney General
bruce.ralston.MLA at leg.bc.ca BC Minister of Jobs, trade and technology
join Stop Site C Dam :https://m.facebook.com/groups/232682493744621?ref=
bookmarks or visit http://www.stopsitec.org/  Enquiries for the author of
this report contact Roslyn Cassells at 604-763-2510 <(604)%20763-2510>
(former Vancouver Park Board Commissioner and Canada’s first elected Green)
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