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The downstream effects of the Kenney Dam weren’t felt right away. Growing up on the Saik’uz First Nation in the 1970s, Chief Priscilla Mueller remembers a time when the Nechako River was overflowing with spawning salmon in July and August. Elders would set nets and families would help clean the fish. Smoke shacks ran continuously, preparing the food for winter, and freezers would be filled with the abundant stocks.
A B.C. judge has rejected a bid by two First Nations to force Rio Tinto Alcan to change the flow of a river to benefit fish stocks decimated by the construction of a dam on the Nechako river. The Saik'uz and Stellat'en First Nations wanted B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nigel Kent to make the order — which would have been a first for a Canadian judge. But while Kent found there was no doubt the Kenney Dam's impact on white sturgeon and salmon populations had "hugely negative impacts" on Indigenous communities, he said Rio Tinto Alcan complied with plans approved by both provincial and federal governments — giving the company a valid defence against claims for damages.
