Huu-ay-aht members prepare for Round 2 in fight against LNG

A core group of Huu-ay-aht First Nation members, with the support of their hereditary head chief, has vowed to fight a proposed multi-billion dollar liquid natural gas project in the Sarita River estuary.

Huu-ay-aht is one of 14 Nuu-chah-nulth nations on Vancouver Island. Their traditional territory is located on the south side of Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound, and the Sarita River is considered a sacred site, according to Huu-ay-aht member Stella Peters.

“When I found out where [the project] was located, I was very concerned. It’s right in the mouth of the Sarita River,” Peters said. “Then we found out it’s even bigger than we thought. That’s when I started the [Facebook page] SayNoToLNG.”

Peters said it seemed incomprehensible that, after working for decades to restore coho and chinook salmon habitat in the Sarita River, shellfish beds in the Sarita estuary and Roosevelt elk herds in the Sarita watershed, that Huu-ay-aht would want to inflict a massive LNG terminal right in the middle of this ecologically sensitive area.

Fellow Huu-ay-aht member Crystal Clappis joined a growing list of people who questioned the project.

“We started to voice our opinions on Facebook. Then we started to notice that there were a lot of non-Huu-ay-aht members, people from the Port Alberni community and also from the rest of B.C. that were also concerned about the project. They offered to support us,” Clappis said.

Clappis questioned how such a small group of people could approve such a massive project.

“It will affect all of B.C., and I don’t think it’s fair that we, as Huu-ay-aht First Nation, are the only ones who get to vote on this.”

The vote took place on Nov. 29 at the annual two-day People’s Assembly, which was held at the Best Western Barclay Hotel in Port Alberni. Peters and a small band of SayNoToLNG supporters had intended to picket the site, but plans changed when her cousin, Huu-ay-aht Tyee Ha’wilth (hereditary chief) Derek Peters arrived.

“He was accompanied by Ha’wiih from a number of the Barkley Sound nations and told us he intended to speak against the project,” Peters said.

As a matter of Nuu-chah-nulth protocol, Ha’wiih normally communicate publicly through a designated speaker. That a Tyee Ha’wilth addressed an assembly personally speaks to the magnitude of the issue, Peters said.

“As a sign of respect, we did not go ahead with the protest, because our Ha’wilth had voiced our concerns.”

Peters said, however, that while the Ha’wilth spoke movingly about the importance of Huu-ay-aht traditional territory and the potential threat posed by the project, he did not, as another matter of protocol, tell his members which way to vote.

In the end, band members voted 121-77 plus one abstention to move ahead with an environmental study and the purchase of 330 hectares of property on which the plant would be located. Huu-ay-aht is working with Steelhead LNG, a Vancouver‐based liquefied natural gas project development company.

There are many across B.C. concerned about the growing importance the province has been placing upon the LNG industry.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said with global prices plummeting for both oil and LNG, he believes it is time for the provincial Liberal government to stop promoting the “LNG fable” as a saviour for the B.C economy.

“My objections centre on the fact that we have upstream, mid-stream and downstream effects,” he explained. “While we are told about the downstream benefits in employment and revenue, we’re completely disregarding the impacts of quadrupling exploration and drilling in Treaty 8 territories in northeastern B.C.”

On Nov. 27, Phillip was arrested as part of the protest against Kinder Morgan’s test-drilling operations on Burnaby Mountain. The Texas-based company intends to double its pipeline capacity to ship Alberta bitumen to Asia.

“The LNG industry has to be mindful of what is happening with the heavy oil industry,” Phillip said, adding that the protest on Burnaby Mountain has attracted “an amazing cross-section of society,” including First Nations, professionals, academics, seniors and the multi-faith community.

Phillip said in light of the recent Tsilhqot’in decision, developers like Steelhead have to factor in First Nations interests along the entire 1,300-kilometre corridor from the wellhead to the shipping dock.

“In the aftermath of Tsilhqot’in, we are now moving from a paradigm of consultation to consent,” he explained. “I don’t think industry can get away with reaching agreements with single First Nations – tiptoeing past the graveyard, so to speak.

“The bar being raised to consent not only involves that single First Nation, but also the ones that are directly adjacent. There may be overlap issues, and in this case, it sounds like there are overlap issues.”

According to Steelhead CEO Nigel Kuzemko, the company must now undertake a comprehensive feasibility study, from environmental assessments and consultations with First Nations along the entire corridor to engineering details on the plant itself, right down to archaeological studies on the plant site.

“Then we’ll sit down and talk about it as partners, and ask, ‘Is it worth going to the next stage?’ We’ll make that decision in about 12 months.”

For Stella Peters and SayNoToLNG, the feasibility stage may be the last chance to convince Huu-ay-aht, and the greater community, that the project is not worth the sacrifice of the nation’s spiritual homeland.

“Now I guess we’ve got to get ready for Round 2,” she said. “For Steelhead, the real work begins now, and we have to do some work on our part.”