A B.C. First Nation isn’t surprised that an audit done for the energy regulator found rules for industry development in caribou habitat are being ignored in the province’s northeast.
The audit, conducted in 2014, was never released and the Fort Nelson First Nation didn’t get a copy until it received a leaked version.
The document concluded none of the pipelines or roads and only 38 per cent of well sites were following guidelines.
Band spokeswoman Katherine Wolfenden, who worked on the audit, says the findings didn’t surprise her.
She says companies are routinely exempt from rules that are supposed to protect caribou habitat.
Wolfenden says Fort Nelson band members use the area for hunting and other traditional practices and are becoming concerned about industrial impacts.
