SHARE ON: SD57 Building (photo by MyPGNow.com staff)
Both are requesting a forensic audit claiming over the past two decades their communities have sent millions of dollars to the district to pay for the education of their students but have not received a transparent response as to how the dollars have been allocated.
SD 57 Board Chair Trent Derrick wrote this statement and sent it to
MyPGNow.com.
“On January 15, 2021, School District No.57 (Prince George) Board of Education received a joint letter from the Mcleod Lake Indian Band and the Lheidli T’enneh Nation requesting that a forensic audit report be provided related to all targeted dollars and annual Local Education Agreement (LEA) dollars.
After much consideration, we have abandoned our decision to relocate north of Prince George and are now returning to our original site in the BCR Industrial Park, James wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
The CEO says a B.C. Court of Appeal s ruling in May on First Nations territorial boundaries means the company would have to do the extra work of negotiating with more Indigenous communities other than McLeod Lake Indian Band in order to have the facility built outside of Prince George.
He also wrote that many Prince George residents want the petrochemical facility to be built in town to offer job opportunities.
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SHARE ON: (Photo supplied by City of PG and Lheidli T enneh)
West Coast Olefins 5.6-billion dollar petrochemical plant relocation to Prince George has garnered differing views from Mayor Lyn Hall and Lheidli T’enneh Chief Clay Pountney.
Hall told
.
“We want to have people become interested in this community from an investment perspective and we’ve seen that and we have seen a great deal of that over the last five or six years.”
“We are seeing a tremendous amount of companies within Prince George providing services to the resource sector whether it would be mining, the LNG, pipeline construction and those sorts of things, it’s another one of those major pieces of the puzzle when you talk about restarting the economy. If you take a look at the project and the magnitude of it, the impact it would have on the economy when it comes to job opportunities for a number of people. This is really something we have talked about as a city.”
WCOL president Ken James has said reaching a benefits agreement with LTN was among the next steps following a decision, announced this week, to bring the proposed project back to the BCR. After first eyeing a site at the BCR, proponents then announced in May they were looking at properties near Summit Lake and Bear Lake. In June, LTN and MLIB announced a partnership to develop an industrial park near Summit Lake. In the statement, LTN Dayi Clay Pountney and MLIB Chief Harley Chingee said that despite a significant investment in time and resources, no agreement has been reached. It s time to move on and work with industry partners that understand and respect aboriginal rights, title and interests. MLIB remains committed to working with LTN in the development of the Shas-Ti Dlezeh Industrial Park, Chingee said. We share a common vision to bring new industries into the territories including the petrochemical industry to help diversify the local economy.” Pountney said talks