Hydro project will provide power for band's future

Don Cayo
Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 08, 2005

COMMENT: Chief Judith Sayers of the Hupacasath First Nation led much of the opposition to BC Hydro's Port Alberni Generation Project in 2001, but it was because PAGP was such a bad energy project - polluting, expensive, located right in town, and without significant local employment benefits.

When the China Creek micro-hydro project was proposed, it was a different story, and the Hupacasath are equity partners in the project.

Chief Sayers and the Hupacasath are also in the news for a lawsuit that will be heard from July 11-15th in Vancouver Supreme Court - "Kekinusuqs v. the province of BC and Brascan." In question is the decision of the Minister of Forests to delete some 70,000 hectares of land from TFL 44 without any notice, knowledge or consultation with Hupacasath, basically in secret until the announcement was made. Hupacasath are also challenging the decision to reduce the AAC without consultation. Chief Sayers invites anyone in Vancouver and interested in showing support to come and observe.

PORT ALBERNI - Little China Creek, roiling and tumbling out of the mountains behind this pulp mill community, never before played much of a role in the lives of the Hupacasath people here.

Even in the days when native Indians lived entirely off the water and the land, an impassable falls meant no fish were found for most of its length. Its channel is narrow and steep -- no place for a boat -- and much of its banks are hard to walk, carpeted by dense growth. It would still be dauntingly difficult to get to its upper reaches if not for a dirt road built to haul away logs harvested from its valley, or gravel dug from a nearby pit.

But this nondescript creek is drawing a lot of visitors these days as it's readied for a new role in providing for the Hupacasath band's future. It's poised to become the province's first new run-of-river hydro project, due to come on stream this fall.

Chief Judith Sayers says the 250 members of her small band agonized for two years before deciding the project was compatible with their values.

Although the reserve is right on the edge of Port Alberni, its members have never had much luck landing jobs in town. So the band has focused for a decade on creating its own work in areas like forestry, tourism and band services, moving from just six jobs in 1995 to 77 last year, although many were just seasonal or part-time.

The hydro project has more potential to produce revenue -- $1.5 million a year after the construction debt is repaid -- than jobs, so the decision to build it was a new direction for the band.

"We started by thinking it's so easy to say 'No,' " Sayers said. "But there's a need for power on the island, and we were offering no alternative ... So we started looking for a good site."

China Creek had the water, and good records were available of how much. It had roads, and, thanks to the falls, had never been home to salmon.

So the band set about leveraging $1.5 million of its own funds to win grants from Aboriginal Business Canada and Indian Affairs, as well as special funding for projects with climate change implications. It also recruited three partners -- Sigma Engineering (12.5 per cent), the Uclulet band (10 per cent), and the city of Port Alberni (five per cent). VanCity put together a lending syndicate of credit unions and the native-owned Peace Hills Trust of Alberta.

The band now holds 72.5-per-cent ownership in what has become a $13.5-million project to provide 6.5 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power 6,000 homes. Construction is employing 20 people, eight of them band members, and four permanent jobs will result.

What's more significant, however, is that this may be just the start of a whole new way for the Hupacasath to live off the land.

Only one band-owned boat remains active in the waning salmon fishery, and neither tourism nor the band's 235-hectare forestry operation, expected to expand to 400 hectares, can employ all the band members who need work, Sayers said.

So they're looking not only for more run-of-river hydro projects they can buy into, probably in partnership with other bands in the region, but also a massive super-quarry to provide crushed stone to California.

Eagle Rock quarry, on a natural harbour 20 kilometres up Alberni Inlet, is planned as a $110-million project that, over its 117-year lifespan, will level a huge granite hill. It's planned to fill two ships a week with a total of 16 million tonnes a year.

Polaris Minerals Corp. of Vancouver is spearheading the development, and the band intends to buy in for 10 or 15 per cent.

The area has no close neighbours or fish-bearing streams, and only second-growth forest, she said.

Blasting will be carefully controlled, the stone will be moved by conveyors instead of trucks, and sediment left over after washing the aggregate will be compacted and used for reclamation.

Still, "It was a hard decision for the community. I had to convince myself first -- I didn't want to think about jobs and benefits until I knew it was safe."

The project must still clear regulatory hoops, and a construction start is at least a year or two away. If it goes ahead, however, she foresees revenue of up to $4.5 million a year for the band, and at least 40 of the 80 on-site jobs for its members.

The agreement with Polaris contains a provision for the band to take over the whole operation in 25 years if it can afford to.

"In 25 years," Sayers said, "I think we'll have learned enough about the business that we'll be able to take it over. So I tell our people, you can learn to be the maintenance man, or to be the CEO."

dcayo@png.canwest.com