Day 16

Day 16 was filled with presentations from 

Biigtigong Nishnaabeg (BN)and rightfully so as they are the closest First Nation's Group to the project. ( approx 9 km) Most of the presentations today taught us about the past;,present and future of BN. The importance of culture, rituals and sacred lands were also presented. I found those presentations very meaningful and educational.

Towards the end of the day 2 presenters took the podium at the BN communication site and shared their organization's findings.

I found the presentations at some points to be misleading,inaccurate and lacking statistics. 

One of the presenters showed a map with a new road on it ( they failed to mention thar the road does not exist and was indeed penciled in)  Only when one of the panel members  specifically asked about the road did the presenter acknowledge that at this time the road is non existence.Furthermore the road is one of the option routes that were presented as a relief for the deadhorse area. No definite location has been decided on by the involved parties and the road may ir may not be built in 10 years. The presenter failed to mention all the routes that were discussed for a road as a form of mitigating the concern.

The second presentation spoke to the impact of the project on  4 different areas of the BN way of life. Before i share my opinion, I would like to acknowledge that these ways of life and the lands used to practice them on rightfully belong to BN. Having said that I  found it strange that every topic the presenter spoke off suggested thar the project will have an impact on an already stressed situation.

They did not acknowledge that the concerns  and stressess are there regardless of the existance or non existence of the project. The presenter failed to include how they determined the severity of the current  situation  or what specific mitigation are currently in place to improve things. They rated most of the impacts of the project to be moderate to high but did not mention how much will the reject add to an lready existing situation. 

Overall I enjoyed learning about the BN culture and thought all their presentation were very educational. When it came to the impact of the project on an imaginary road or an already stressed system their arguments did not win me over.

Again the panel members handled everything fairly and asked all the important  question.

GenPgm has done a lot of work to accommodate the different cultures that may be impacted by the project. 

Thank you

Sam