John Horgan was one of the biggest critics of the controversial Site C hydroelectric dam in northeastern B.C.
Now, the completed megaproject will bear his name.
The province announced Thursday that the dam — the third on the Peace River near Fort St. John — is being named the John Horgan Dam and Generating Station.
B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix says it’s a tribute to Horgan’s contributions to the province and his “difficult decision” to finish building the dam after becoming premier in 2017.
“He had lots of views on Site C over the years,” Dix said. “What made John a great premier was he considered all sides, engaged the debate fully. He really thought about it and then he made a decision in the public interest.”
The 83-kilometre long reservoir created behind the $16-billion dam is being named Nááchę mege, chosen by local First Nations and translated to “dreamer lake” in the Dane-Zaa language of the region.
The official naming marks the final milestone of Site C, which has drawn over a half century of debate, protest and court fights since it was first proposed in the 1970s, shelved in the 1980s, and revived in 2010.
As opposition energy critic and later NDP leader, Horgan called the dam a “$9-billion gamble” when Premier Christy Clark approved it in 2014.
He was once photographed alongside impacted farmers holding a sign that read “Site C sucks” and a contribution in his name was once made to a local campaign opposing the project.
Many hoped Horgan would cancel the dam after he formed government in 2017, and a B.C. Utilities Commission review revealed significant cost overruns and geotechnical construction challenges.
But Horgan said B.C.’s long-term need for Site C’s power outweighed the added billions it would have cost to put a stop to it at that point.
“Despite what many people thought, and what a few of our candidates may have said during the election campaign, we did not promise to stop the dam,” Horgan wrote in his 2025 memoir, John Horgan: In His Own Words.
Horgan lamented the environmental impacts and reflected on meeting with farmers who wanted him to cancel the project, and workers who feared losing their jobs if he did.
“I had so many positions on Site C over the years it could be argued that I experience the Kama Sutra of Hydro positions,” Horgan wrote.
“Building Site C was not something I would have done. I would have rather spent all those billions on alternatives because you can disperse them.”
But, he later added, “Is my party now glad we have Site C? Absolutely.”
Dix says the “evolution” of Horgan’s thinking reflected how he governed.
“He heard people, he listened to people, he made good decisions, and he stood by them and he stood up for them,” Dix said.
Site C faced years of lawsuits and protests from Treaty 8 First Nations and landowners over the flooding of farmland and century-old burial sites.
West Moberly First Nation fought the project in the courts, arguing the dam violated its treaty rights by flooding out traditional territories already impacted by decades of dam building and industrial development in the Peace region.
B.C. Hydro says 13 affected First Nations were invited to take part in naming discussions that began in 2023.
Some balked, and only Doig River and Blueberry River First Nations took part in the final selection process.
Several wayfinding signs have been placed along Highway 29 next to the reservoir to recognize Indigenous names for the creeks and rivers.
Controversial Site C dam to proceed
Former energy minister Michelle Mungall says discussions within cabinet and caucus on whether to continue the project were extensive.
“It was changing people’s lives up in the north forever,” she said.
Once opposed to the dam herself, Mungall says now “there’s no doubt in my mind that this was the right decision.”
Since Site C first started generating power in 2024, the province has made two major calls for new power.
“We need to be producing no-emission electricity. That’s just what we need to be doing going into the future,” Mungall said.
At the dam site, work is continuing to move out the former work camp and build an Indigenous cultural centre.
Public affairs manager Greg Alexis says B.C. Hydro is monitoring reservoir condition as it readies to open boat launches and public access to the reservoir this summer.
Horgan died in 2024 at the age of 65 after several fights with cancer. A new post-secondary campus named after him opened on Vancouver Island in September 2025.
Dix says Horgan would have reacted to the naming of Site C “with a smile of joy, but a smile of interest as well, and humour.”
Mungall says the late premier would have appreciated the public debate likely to follow.
“If some people think it’s a good idea and some people don’t think it’s a good idea, that’s wonderful,” she said. “John is looking down and saying, yeah, I’m watching that debate.”
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