Live at Squamish was a great success By Maria Asselin-Roy, Staff Reporter ince Labour Day weekend is a S wonderful excuse to celebrate the end of summer, on this Labour Day weekend the first annual ‘Live at Squamish’ music festival was held. Live at Squamish was built on a five year business plan, and since the first year was such a success, chances are the same event will take place next year and in future years to come. Approximately 6,500 people attended on Saturday, and 7,000 or so on Sunday, with many people camping over night. The festival attracted all types of people: parents, children, teenagers, partiers and even some older citizens. This two day long festival offered three different stages, where forty artists preformed. The first and largest of the stages was titled the Stawamus stage (named after the Chief). The two smaller stages included the Clubzone stage and the Serf stage. The site of the festival took place on the Loggers Sports grounds and Hendrickson fields, and there was approximately a 350,000 square foot venue including mixes of food and beverage stations, various stores where festival goers could purchase clothing and other goods, (many of them hand made) as well as local art pieces. The Peak radio station had its own tent where you could buy CD’s or vinyl from any of the performing artists, whose proceeds went straight to the band. This is always a plus for the buyer and the artist because more money goes to the band and you pay less because the music doesn’t have to go through the processes of distribution. On Saturday, September 4", fans who live in the Squamish area as well as the larger populations of Vancouver and Whistler gathered to see musical artists including The Dudes, Jon and Roy, Said the Whale, Matthew Good, Z-trip and many other performers. Because this was a smaller festival Said the Whale in comparison to events such as Sasquatch, artists could happily and safely wander around the site without worrying about getting bombarded by fans. Many were even joining the huge swarms of people watching other artists. The crowds were pleased, the weather was a little windy but nevertheless comfortable. When the sun set and the weather started getting a little brisk, fans kept themselves warm by dancing to the crazy and wacky Devo. On Sunday, September 5" the rest of the musical artists preformed, including groups such as You Say Party, Civil Twilight, Kuba Oms, Dirty Heads, Mother Mother, Tokyo Police Club, The Decemberists, and fourteen other artists. There was a bit of an overcast feel hanging in the whether on Sunday but it was still a good time. In the end, the festival was a success, especially considering this was its first year of operation. Surrounded by British Columbia’s breathtaking mountains and forests, the area was beautiful to say the least. The people were energetic and outgoing, and the bands were spectacular. Next year’s show is expected to be just as good, if not better. Canoeing for a cause By Tim Drake, News Editor number of B.C.’s First At groups are sionately against the provincial government’s proposed Site “C” Dam in Fort St. John, and they’re planning to do something about it. As a form of protest against the possible dam expansion, if the project commences the dam will be the third of its kind on the Peace River, a contingent of First Nations members and other members of the northern B.C. community are planning to canoe to Victoria and organize a rally outside the B.C. Legislature in opposition to the project. The outline of the protest movement is being spearheaded by four Treaty 8 First Nations groups, the Doig River, Halfway River, Prophet River and West Moberly First Nations, all of whom allege that their treaty rights will be violated by the imposition of the proposed new dam. “Concerned British Columbians need to stand up now to make others, especially the B.C. Government, aware of how this so-called ‘green and clean’ dam will impact on our Treaty 8 rights, as well as the interests of all British Columbians,” said Tribal Chief Liz Logan of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association in a press release. “This is the third major dam project on the Peace River. If it goes ahead, it will destroy valuable river and wetland ecosystems, both in the Peace River Valley and further downstream in the Athabasca and Mackenzie Deltas.” The government and B.C. Hydro however, paint an entirely different picture of the development. According to the official website for the Site “C” Dam, officially dubbed ‘The Site “C” Clean Energy Project’, the construction of the site will be capable of generating enough energy to power over 400, 000 homes and should last for close to a century. B.C. Hydro has projected that in the next 20 years; the province’s energy requirements will grow exponentially, and will be up to forty percent more then the amount currently used. The company claims that such levels of energy consumption are unsustainable without the Site “C” dam. Should the plans to build the dam go ahead, by the time it is completed and fully operational, B.C. Hydro has estimated that the total cost of the development could cost up to $6.6 billion. At present time, the entire project is still under a lengthy regulation review process designed to evaluate the impact the project could have on the surrounding environment, and is expected to take two years to complete. The province is targeting sometime in 2020 for the dam to be up and running and to begin generating power. However, if the Treaty 8 First Nations groups have their way though, the dam won’t be open anytime in the future.