Halalt will carry on with road blockade

March 3, 2010

More than 50 members of Halalt First Nation – about half of the entire community – attended a gathering onTuesday (March 2) evening and agreed by consensus to continue with the blockade of Chemainus Road that passes through their land.
“This is a last stand for our water,” councillor Tyler George said after the meeting. “It was powerful to see so many of our young people saying that they were committed to protecting our most valuable resource.

“Our traditional lands have been taken away. Our fish have disappeared. Our clams are polluted. But we are drawing the line at our most valuable resource. No one is going to take away our water.”
The blockade will be manned 24 hours a day, “for as long as it takes,” said George. It was first set up on Thursday, Feb. 25 after young people became frustrated by the continuing work by the municipality of North Cowichan on a $6 million project to pump wells in the Chemainus River aquifer in order to supply water to residents of Chemainus.

The municipality started the project in 2003 because of turbidity in the existing surface water supply to the town. “Native people across Canada have been drinking dirty water for decades,” councillor Patricia Thomas said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Now they want to threaten our water supply for the people in Chemainus.”

A notice that was being handed out to drivers on Wednesday said:
“We apologize for any inconvenience this road blockade might be for you. But we do not apologize for defending our water, our aquifer and our fish.
“We respectfully are asking for three things:
• Meaningful consultation by all levels of government;
• A comprehensive watershed management plan for the Chemainus River watershed;
• Halalt hands ‘on the tap’ if this project continues in order to protect our most valuable resource.”

Halalt First Nation applied for a judicial review in BC Supreme Court in September of the process that allowed the wells project to go ahead. But the court date has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to be heard in May or June in Vancouver.

For more information, please contact councillor Tyler George at 250-246-4736