In the Fraser Canyon, north of Hope, an environmental time bomb is ticking away with no apparent action being taken to stop it. About a year-and-a-half ago a major truck accident happened there, spilling diesel into a formerly pristine tributary of the Fraser River.
It’s right where local children have been swimming every summer for years, in one of the hottest parts of the province.
And yet the truck wreckage has never been cleaned up, leaving local parents worried their children will spend another summer in the hot canyon without relief.
Every year, children from the Spuzzum First Nation flock to this creek, but the concern about the chemicals in the water has now driven them away.
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“There’s lots of chemicals in the water,” said young Cory Edwards.
A semi-truck is still wedged in the cliff above the water, after it collided with another transport truck near the Spuzzum Bridge in 2010.
Mats used to soak up the spill were also left behind along with chunks of the wreckage.
This part of the river is a salmon-bearing stream, but community members worry the fish won’t return.
Leaders here say they’ve asked ICBC along with the environment and transportation ministries to clean-up the site, but they still have no answers.
On Monday NDP leader Adrian Dix came to see the problems first-hand.
“The First Nations here have been advocating for a while, we’ve written letters, others have written letters, it’s been raised now in the legislature. I think there’s been a little bit of bureaucratic back-and-forth but in short, they’ve got to get it fixed,” said Dix.
The children and community leaders say they don’t want to lose another summer to the mess.
Chief of the Spuzzum First Nation James Hobart said he believes if the accident would have happened in somewhere more visible to the public, such as West Vancouver, it would have been cleaned up within the week.
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