This Was Our Valley was a phenomenal success when first released in 1989, winning the Alberta Culture Nonfiction prize as well as the Silver medal for the Roderick-Haig Brown BC Books award. This Was Our Valley brought to light the changes wrought by the W.A.C. Bennett Dam that went online in 1967, from fluctuating water flow-levels to continued erosion of the banks, loss of forestry, damage to fish and wildlife habitats – effects that continue to be experienced. A second dam, Peace Canyon, built 16 miles downstream of the Bennett Dam, went online in 1980. The 2003 edition of This Was Our Valley detailed this dam's construction. With the announcement that a third dam, called Site C, would be built on the Peace River near Fort St. John, Shirlee Smith Matheson began work on this edition of This Was Our Valley. Wholly updated and redesigned, this new edition registers the voices that demand to be heard. Some are for the project, some against. This book tries to bear witness to all these voices. Winner of the Alberta Culture Non-Fiction Book Award Silver Prize winner of the Roderick-Haig Brown BC Book Prize - Honour Book Award