Socioeconomic issues: History
An overview
How much do we value the past? What responsibility do we have in preserving it for future generations? Consider the untold dinosaur discoveries that are now hopelessly lost under tons of water in the monstrous manmade Williston Lake and its counterpart, Dinosaur Lake. What about the First Nations' ancestral grounds and trade routes that are once again threatened by what is forecasted to be a short-sighted five-year stop gap in the province's insatiable thirst for more energy? Did you know that the proposed Site C dam is to be built on the exact spot where BC mainland's oldest European settlement began in the 1790s?
Brian Spurling's (1980) report for BC Hydro, "The Site C Heritage Resource and Inventory Assessment", lists 310 catalogued heritage sites (p.2). He states that:
"...(t)he loss or alteration of heritage resources in the Peace River as a result of the construction of the Site C dam will be considerable. The significance of this cannot be overstressed. Inundation will result in the large-scale destruction or disturbance of heritage resources representing minimally 6 000 years of the region's pre-historic and early historic periods. Slope regression and failure in high bank areas will probably erase resources dating to even earlier time periods. Losses to the important paleontological sites of the region will be sustained as well.
"The archeological and paleontological resources of the upper Peace River valley provide the only window (italics added) into an important and poorly documented period of time. Unmitigated, the differential loss of perhaps 10 000 years of prehistory could occur in the six years of construction required for the Site C dam. These losses would be irreversible and irretrievable.
"...An understanding of these important processes requires systematic, premeditated and sustained research; an option which will be foreclosed by the development of Site C dam" (pp.5-6).
How does BC Hydro propose to justifiably supercede the Heritage Conservation Act of British Columbia? Under this Act, all archeological sites are protected. Any unauthorized disturbance or removal of objects from such sites is an offence under the Act.
Can we rationalize such wanton destruction of a history that has such global importance?
Brian Spurling's (1980) report for BC Hydro, "The Site C Heritage Resource and Inventory Assessment", lists 310 catalogued heritage sites (p.2). He states that:
"...(t)he loss or alteration of heritage resources in the Peace River as a result of the construction of the Site C dam will be considerable. The significance of this cannot be overstressed. Inundation will result in the large-scale destruction or disturbance of heritage resources representing minimally 6 000 years of the region's pre-historic and early historic periods. Slope regression and failure in high bank areas will probably erase resources dating to even earlier time periods. Losses to the important paleontological sites of the region will be sustained as well.
"The archeological and paleontological resources of the upper Peace River valley provide the only window (italics added) into an important and poorly documented period of time. Unmitigated, the differential loss of perhaps 10 000 years of prehistory could occur in the six years of construction required for the Site C dam. These losses would be irreversible and irretrievable.
"...An understanding of these important processes requires systematic, premeditated and sustained research; an option which will be foreclosed by the development of Site C dam" (pp.5-6).
How does BC Hydro propose to justifiably supercede the Heritage Conservation Act of British Columbia? Under this Act, all archeological sites are protected. Any unauthorized disturbance or removal of objects from such sites is an offence under the Act.
Can we rationalize such wanton destruction of a history that has such global importance?