Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the ongoing discovery of unmarked graves throughout Canada only further highlights the atrocities of a colonial system which has negatively impacted Indigenous people since European contact. The community of Rocher River was abandoned in order to provide a clearer path for the Taltson Hydro Electric Dam. This is a sad tale that can be told across Canada where the scores of Indigenous nations forcibly evicted from their ancestral homelands to make way for industrial development to benefit incoming colonial settlers. The history of Rocher River is complex. With the school burning down in 1950s, which triggered the sole deportation of residents from the community. The government did not support the community of rebuilding the school, which ran programming since the 1920s causing people to leave in order to receive education for their children. Those that stayed faced additional challenges as the Taltson River Hydro Project was greatly impacted impacted the hydrology of the area, impacted traplines, known trails, and their overall environment. These changes resulted in the history of losses to our residents making the practice of the traditional way of life near impossible.
The history of Indigenous people and colonialism and of the people not being able to return to their homelands and traditional lands use areas. Elders in my communities tell me these stories and how the Taltson dam is the reason the school was never rebuilt and why the community was lost.
Mr. Speaker, residents of Fort Resolution are still impacted by the loss of that community. The land has changed. The hunting and trapping has changed. Our people are still going into the area, or they speak of unmarked graves and need to ensure they are protected given the sensitive history of that region.
The government has made steadfast its plans to grow the size of the Taltson dam to further its industrial ambition in the Slave Geological Province. This type of major project requires a massive investment of infrastructure and risks further altering the landscape that people live in their traditional lifestyle. In addition of all of that, there is a risk of disturbing the important historical sites to Indigenous population throughout this region. We need to know that all the risks are being considered and mitigated. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement. Mahsi.
Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. As the government continues to advance the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project, however, I'm unclear if the overarching impacts that such expansions are understood being properly explained to the public. These grave sites of our ancestors are a critical part of our people's history. Right now as it is, those grave sites that were flooded when the Government of Canada made a decision to build this dam, it went ahead without consultation and accommodations with the people in that area. We got graves that are 60 feet underwater right now.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
