Enbridge approval ‘declared war’ on the rights Indigenous people

Three days after the federal government granted approval to the $7-billion Enbridge Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline, a group of women in Gitgaat First Nation held the first — albeit symbolic — blockade of the controversial project.

It is no doubt the first of many to come, as opposition continues amongst many First Nations in the province, who say they will never back down and allow the project through regardless of government rulings.

The June 20 plan is for boats from the northern B.C. community to stretch a massive chain of yarn buoyed by corks across the widest part of Douglas Channel, the proposed oil tanker route from Kitimat to Asia.

“The women and kids got involved and crocheted — man! — over 20,000 feet,” Gitgaat chief Arnold Clifton told Windspeaker. “It’s two miles from Hartley Bay over to the other side at the widest part of the Douglas (Channel).

“It’s not the first time our people have blocked the channel. The last time they talked about oil coming through our area they had a blockade … but they used boats.”

Clifton said that neither Calgary-based Enbridge nor the federal government consulted his community, and as a result they’re launching a lawsuit against the proposal alongside several other First Nations. The community is concerned about an oil tanker spill in their territories, which cover 90 per cent of the channel.
That legal action follows an announcement, distributed by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, that nearly 30 bands and tribal councils are putting the final touches on litigation to halt the project’s construction.

The colourful crochet action comes after the Conservative government in Ottawa granted approval June 17 to the Enbridge proposal, but only if the company could satisfy all 209 of the National Energy Board’s recommendations covering everything from increased pipeline and tanker safety to consultations with aboriginal peoples.

That is on top of B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s famous “five conditions” which additionally demand higher economic benefits for the province. Enbridge has satisfied only the first condition — passing the NEB’s Joint Review Process — but says it can meet all prerequisites within “12 to 15 months,” its leader Janet Holder told reporters on June 17.

Enbridge boasts the pipeline — planned to carry an annual 200-million barrels of oil sands crude from Alberta to B.C., and another to return chemicals used to dilute the bitumen — would create nearly 600 long-term jobs in B.C., on top of 3,000 in construction. The plan would see oil tankers navigating the northern coast of the province, raising fears of a catastrophic oil spill akin to the Exxon Valdez accident decades ago.

Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said the NEB “209 conditions” from last December would need to be met before the project is built, but the ruling represented a major hurdle the company has now passed.

“Consultations with Aboriginal communities are required under many of the 209 conditions that have been established and as part of the process for regulatory authorizations and permits,” Rickford said, according to a government statement. “The proponent clearly has more work to do in order to fulfill the public commitment it has made to engage with Aboriginal groups and local communities along the route.”

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the UBCIC, told a protest in Vancouver the night of the decision that B.C. is united in opposing the project — because it threatens both Indigenous people and non-Natives.

“The Harper government has declared war on the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples,” he said. “The Harper government has declared war on all the natural values and interests of British Columbians who have invested countless generations of hard work to create businesses that depend on the beauty of this province in terms of tourism, commercial fisheries, recreational and sports fisheries – everything that depends on the pristine beauty that makes this the most beautiful place in the entire world to live.”

Phillip said he and many others are prepared to go to jail in civil disobedience against the pipeline being built.

Enbridge CEO Al Monaco repeated the company’s unproven claim it has the backing of 26 out of 40 First Nations along the pipeline’s proposed route — representing the majority of the route’s Aboriginal population. But Native leaders dispute that figure and have called on Enbridge to release their names.
Monaco said the courts are not the company’s preference for addressing First Nations concerns.

“We’d certainly prefer to continue the dialogue in order to move forward rather than going through the legal process,” he told reporters in a teleconference. “But we recognize that others may have different views on that — we’re not naive, we are prepared for that eventuality.

“(However) this is not necessarily an endless process as some are suggesting. There is a definitive process for federal court matters, so I think there’s a definitive timeline in that this won’t go on forever in terms of endless legal battles.”

He said that regardless of pending lawsuits, the company’s efforts to win support from Indigenous communities would increase over the next year and he was confident their concerns would be addressed.

Marching in rush hour traffic in downtown Vancouver the night of the federal decision, Haida Elder Lois Rullin said the company’s efforts would never succeed in wooing Indigenous peoples because the risk of an oil spill or pipeline accident was simply too great.

“Harper is only protecting 30 per cent of the rivers and streams in Canada, and if we don’t protect the ones here in B.C., we’re not going to have any fish,” she said. “We need that fish, we need the wildlife, and we can’t keep destroying our land.”