MEDIA RELEASE
November 18, 2005

IJC extends deadline to December 31, 2005, for parties to submit views on request from the Canadian Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishery Commission concerning the Grand Coulee Dam

Today, the International Joint Commission (IJC) extended to December 31, 2005, the deadline for interested parties to submit their views with respect to a request from the Canadian Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishery Commission concerning Grand Coulee Dam.

On April 25, 2003, the Canadian Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishery Commission (CCRIFC) asked the International Joint Commission (IJC) to issue such further Orders as may be necessary in order to require the Applicant for the IJC's 1941 Order of Approval for Grand Coulee Dam and Reservoir, the Government of the United States, to make suitable and adequate provision for protection and indemnification of the interests of aboriginal peoples in Canada whose fisheries are alleged to have been damaged by the construction and operation of the Grand Coulee Dam and Reservoir.

Copies of the IJC's Order of Approval and of all correspondence with respect to this matter are available on the IJC's website (see www.ijc.org/conseil_board/columbia/en/columbia_home_accueil.htm and www.ijc.org/rel/boards/ccrifc/request_ccrifc-e.htm, respectively).

After receiving confirmation from the Canadian government on June 3, 2004 that the CCRIFC can represent First Nations in this matter, and after then seeking further information from the IJC's International Columbia River Board, the IJC wrote to the CCRIFC on February 28, 2005 asking the CCRIFC to clarify within 60 days whether it is alleging that damage to the First Nations' fisheries for which a remedy is being asked was caused by raising the natural levels of the Columbia River at and above the international boundary, or whether it was caused by the construction, maintenance or operation of the Grand Coulee Dam, or by some other factor(s).

The IJC's letter also said that if the CCRIFC is not alleging that all the damage was caused by raising the natural levels of the Columbia River at and above the international boundary, the CCRIFC should provide arguments, directed, among other things, to the provisions of conditions 1 and 2 of the IJC's 1941 Order of Approval and to the penultimate paragraph of Article VIII of the Boundary Waters Treaty, on which those conditions are based, as to how the IJC has jurisdiction to grant the relief that the CCRIFC has requested.

After asking for and receiving a seven-day extension of the period for their response, the CCRIFC replied to the IJC on May 5, 2005.

Comments that interested parties may have with regard to this matter should be received by the International Joint Commission no later than December 31, 2005, at any of the following addresses:

Secretary, Canadian Section, 234 Laurier Ave. West, 22nd floor, Ottawa ON K1P 6K6; fax: (613) 993-5583; or e-mail: commission@ottawa.ijc.org.

Secretary, U.S. Section, 1250 23rd Street, NW, Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20440; fax: (202) 467-0746; or e-mail: commission@washington.ijc.ca.

For more information, visit www.ijc.org or telephone (613) 995-2984 or (202) 736-9000.

The International Joint Commission prevents and resolves disputes between the United States of America and Canada under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and pursues the common good of both countries as an independent and objective advisor to the two governments.

Contacts

Ottawa	Paula Fedeski-Koundakjian	(613) 995-0088
Washington	Frank Bevacqua	(202) 736-9024