B.C. chief who occupied premier’s office expects arrests in biosolids blockade

MERRITT, B.C. – A British Columbia First Nations leader is anticipating arrests as a protest continues against the spreading of sewage-treatment waste in the Nicola Valley.

Lower Nicola Indian Band Chief Aaron Sam says a biosolids company has indicated it will send a truck through its composting site west of Merritt despite a blockade by First Nations members.

Sam was part of a group of chiefs who occupied Premier Christy Clark’s West Kelowna office earlier this month in protest of the waste being shipped from the Fraser and Okanagan valleys and distributed on farms and ranches and in forests.

The sit-in was ended when the province promised a high-level meeting, but the chiefs were not satisfied with the result and announced they were banning the practice.

Sam says BioCentral’s truck will likely be carrying equipment and many community members are OK with the truck going through considering it will not contain actual biosolids.

But he says other community members are adamant that the truck will not get through and says he expects arrests, depending on how Mounties react. (CFJC)