The Teslin Tlingit Council would like to see the Nisutlin Bay Bridge project reviewed by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.
It’s something the First Nation has called for since the beginning of discussions about the project began more than four years ago, according to a Wednesday news release.
“It was not until TTC found the tender documents on the YTG web page that we discovered that our requests were not being honoured by YTG,” the release states.
The Yukon government put the $14.5 million bridge upgrade project out to tender on April 2. It cancelled the project on April 11 after the community expressed concerns about it, said Kendra Black, a spokesperson for Public Works, earlier this week.
Now the project is in limbo, because it can no longer meet the deadline to use $6.75 million in federal money that had been earmarked for the project.
Public Works will try to find other uses for that money and try to find new money for the Nisutlin Bay Bridge project, Black said.
The Teslin Tlingit Council said that an environmental screening is “the only effective assessment process that applies to all of the lands in the Yukon Territory.”
What sorts of projects demand screening is determined by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act.
Ultimately it’s up to the government that would be permitting the project, in this case the Yukon government, to determine if a project must submit to YESAB, a spokesperson for the board said.