Yukon First Nation refutes claim there’s no opposition to grid tie project

Claims that communities along the proposed routes of the Yukon-B.C. grid connection have no qualms about the project aren't true, according to at least one First Nation. 

“It’s bull,” said Dylan Loblaw, chief of the Ross River Dena Council.

Earlier this week at the Geoscience Forum in downtown Whitehorse, the Yukon Development Corporation played up the megaproject, which comes with a price tag of about $4 billion. It’s a long way off. Even Premier-designate Currie Dixon has said so. That hasn’t stopped fanfare in the mining industry and across the territorial and federal governments, it appears.

Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced the grid connection as part of his list of “nation-building” projects. While Ottawa has put up $40 million for a pre-feasibility study, the only new money announced earlier this month was $139 million for B.C. Hydro to study the North Coast Transmission Line, to which the Yukon link would eventually connect.

Gary Gazankas, the president of the Yukon Development Corporation, said the prime minister’s announcement has made a splash.

Gazankas also said partnerships with affected First Nations are crucial and co-ownership of infrastructure could happen down the line.

Letters of support from nations, he said, have come in.

“The great news is there are still conversations happening and no one is opposed to this project,” Gazankas said.

Loblaw, the chief of the Ross River Dena, said that's a bunch of hot air.

"I'd just like to correct that record — let everybody know that the Ross River Kaska Nation did not provide out support for this type of project," he said.

A preliminary analysis by the Crown corporation states two transmission lines are feasible. 

Splitting at Watson Lake, they would travel north, to Faro — through vast Kaska territory. Then it would go west, to Whitehorse, ending at the Takhini substation.

Loblaw said this grid tie is really about powering the mines — among them, the colossal Casino project, which, as it stands, would be off-grid, meaning fossil fuels would be needed to power it.

Loblaw said the grid tie would fuel further harm to the land.