{"id":110373,"date":"2026-11-09T16:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T21:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=110373"},"modified":"2026-11-09T16:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T21:31:11","slug":"alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta First Nation claims B.C. hydroelectric projects violate treaty rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta is suing the British Columbia and federal governments and BC Hydro, alleging that provincial dam projects were built without regard for their rights, culture and way of life. Chief Allan Adam filed a notice of civil claim on behalf of the First Nation in B.C. Supreme Court last week, claiming the projects have unlawfully interfered with the Athabasca Chipewyan&#8217;s treaty rights, dating from the 1960s when the W.A.C. Bennett Dam was built to the recent completion of the John Horgan Dam, formerly referred to as Site C. The lawsuit says the Bennett dam&#8217;s &#8220;potential downstream impacts in Alberta&#8221; were never communicated to the First Nation at the time. The lawsuit also says the John Horgan Dam had &#8220;measurable impacts&#8221; on the waterflows in&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F11%2F09%2Falberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta is suing the British Columbia and federal governments and BC Hydro, alleging that provincial dam projects were built without regard for their rights, culture and way of life. Chief Allan Adam filed a notice of civil claim on behalf of the First Nation in B.C. Supreme Court last week, claiming the projects have unlawfully interfered with the Athabasca Chipewyan&#8217;s treaty rights, dating from the 1960s when the W.A.C. Bennett Dam was built to the recent completion of the John Horgan Dam, formerly referred to as Site C. The lawsuit says the Bennett dam&#8217;s &#8220;potential downstream impacts in Alberta&#8221; were never communicated to the First Nation at the time. The lawsuit also says the John Horgan Dam had &#8220;measurable impacts&#8221; on the waterflows in... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F11%2F09%2Falberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alberta First Nation claims B.C. hydroelectric projects violate treaty rights - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alberta First Nation claims B.C. hydroelectric projects violate treaty rights - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta is suing the British Columbia and federal governments and BC Hydro, alleging that provincial dam projects were built without regard for their rights, culture and way of life. Chief Allan Adam filed a notice of civil claim on behalf of the First Nation in B.C. Supreme Court last week, claiming the projects have unlawfully interfered with the Athabasca Chipewyan&#8217;s treaty rights, dating from the 1960s when the W.A.C. Bennett Dam was built to the recent completion of the John Horgan Dam, formerly referred to as Site C. The lawsuit says the Bennett dam&#8217;s &#8220;potential downstream impacts in Alberta&#8221; were never communicated to the First Nation at the time. The lawsuit also says the John Horgan Dam had &#8220;measurable impacts&#8221; on the waterflows in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-09T21:31:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/09\\\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/09\\\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Alberta First Nation claims B.C. hydroelectric projects violate treaty rights\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-09T21:31:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/09\\\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":221,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/09\\\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/09\\\/alberta-first-nation-claims-b-c-hydroelectric-projects-violate-treaty-rights\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alberta First Nation claims B.C. hydroelectric projects violate treaty rights - 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