Editor, The Times:
I read with interest letters in the Vanderhoof Omineca Express from Louise Burgener, June Wood, and Craig Hooper regarding the use and abuse of the Nechako River. Were it not for years of dedicated work, research, and protest by these people and others like them there would not be a Nechako River. If this seems a bit overstated go back in time and check it out. Read June Wood’s book “Home To The Nechako”.
It was only because of a great last minute ground swell of protest and a sudden dramatic change of government in British Columbia that the Kemano Completion Project was stopped and what was left of the Nechako River was saved.
Make no mistake. The health and welfare of the Nechako River and those who depended on it for subsistence was never a priority to Alcan. Looking back, the way the Cheslatta Carrier nation was treated was the B.C. version of the past U.S. ‘Manifest Destiny’ policy.
Now is the time for the citizens of Vanderhoof, and the District Council, to make it plain to Rio Tinto they have a corporate and moral responsibility to install a water release facility at Kenny Dam, which will restore and stabilize normal flows to the Nechako and Cheslatta river systems.
Bob Mumford,
Clearwater, B.C.