[3] Following the Second World War, the Canadian government invited the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) to explore the potential of various sites around the country for hydroelectric power generation.

Premier Byron Johnson introduced special legislation authorizing the provincial cabinet to do what it thought necessary to establish a new aluminum industry in BC.

[5]: 137  Chilko Lake in the Chilcotin region was the original proposed site for the Kenney Dam, but due to preliminary calculations by Fisheries and Oceans Canada showing that the Chilko Lake held up to three-quarters of the Fraser River's total sockeye salmon spawned in the region, the provincial government eliminated the site from the proposal.

[6]: 158  In 1948, following feasibility studies, Alcan decided to pursue a project on the Nechako River to power a large aluminum smelter to be located at the new townsite of Kitimat.

[2]: 76  Instead, Alcan signed the Kemano I agreement with the province on December 29, 1950 which granted the company rights to divert water from the Nechako above the dam and Nanika River downstream of Nanika Falls, permission to dam the Nechako and divert a portion of the original flow through a tunnel to a hydroelectric facility at Kemano, tax exemptions, and favourable water rental rates.

On the west side of the reservoir, a 16-kilometre (9.9 mi) long intake tunnel running through the Coast Mountain range brings water to penstocks for a 2,600-foot (790 m)[12] vertical drop to the 8 units of the 890-MW Kemano Generating Station.

[4] Villages were demolished and burned prior to the flooding with most families unable to return to collect their belongings and as water levels rose, it has been noted that coffins and skeletons from their traditional grave sites were washed away with skeletal remains being allegedly found in and around Cheslatta Lake.

[4] The Cheslatta T'En people were given approximately 10 days notice before they were relocated to live in overcrowded tents at a temporary location 30 miles north of their reserves in Grassy Plains.

[4] After months of living in poor conditions at the temporary location sites, the Cheslatta people were eventually resettled on marginal farms scattered over large areas, which proved disconcerting for this once close-knit community.

[4] According to DIA documents, the Cheslatta people asked for $108,000 in compensation along with payments for their new land, traplines and monthly pensions, however requests were denied and claims were dismissed.

[16]: 2 DIA records show unanimous support by the Cheslatta people for the surrender of their territory, however many band members state that no formal assent was conducted and the signatures on documents are forged by Indian affairs officials.

[4] It is also widely debated whether or not the legal rights of the Cheslatta people were presented as many claim that they were unaware of their power to refuse the requests of the Government of British Columbia, along with their ability to have a third-party advisor.

[4] In 1998, Members of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation filed a Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of British Columbia disputing all agreements and licenses issued to Alcan by the Federal and Provincial governments.

[2]: 42  In the first two years of operation, smelter emissions from the new Aluminum plant in Kitimat were believed to have caused further forest depletion, health problems for local workers, and harm on aquatic ecosystems.

[20] The staff at the IPSFC and the DFO surveyed the Nechako River and discovered that the loss of salmon spawning grounds would not be the main threat to sockeye populations in dam construction.

[6]: 173  Eventually both parties agreed to an extra spillway on Cheslatta Lake that would promote the natural flow of the river during these dry periods.

[6]: 173  The Cheslatta, a tributary of the Nechako, would hold a spillway and reservoir to supply the water needed in sockeye migration during the summer months.

By 1980 water temperatures in the Nechako River had risen above what Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) consider to be safe for migrating and spawning salmon.

[5] Controversies began in 1980, starting with the DFO and the federal government when they realized Alcan was going to go ahead with the Kemano Completion project without addressing the existing water level and temperature concerns.

[5]: 138  To avoid increased tensions Alcan accepted annual renewals of a court injunction setting water flows from 1980 until 1985, while the DFO performed studies on the potential effects on the Nechako's salmon population.

[2]: 268  In 1995, due to the potential and unresolved impacts on the salmon fishery, BC Premier Mike Harcourt announced the cancellation of the Kemano Completion Project.