A Muskoka-region First Nation is stepping in to try to stop a controversial power generating station on the Bala Falls.
Members of the Wahta First Nation staged a protest at an historic portage route on Thursday morning.
Wahta officials say the project by Swift River Energy will have a negative impact on the route. They have sent a letter to the Prime Minister and the Premier arguing the route has historic and cultural significance.
Earlier this year, a similar argument was rejected by the courts but the Chief of the Wahta First Nation says his council was no consulted.
"We are sort of offended that we were not consulted, but we are not strangers to that. We are not consulted on many things, across the country there are many cases like this,” says Wahta First Nation’s Chief Phillip Franks. “We are affected, we are down the river, and there may be environmental effects we have not seen."
In an email from Swift River Energy on Thursday, a company representative told CTV News it consulted historians and paddling experts who say the land where the project will be located is not on the site of the historical portage.
Swift River Energy also told CTV News it was in talks with the Wahta First Nation when the project first started and they will continue discussions.
Construction on the site is set to begin in the fall.
