Indigenous Peoples

Another court challenge involving Enbridge’s $7.9-billion Northern Gateway oil pipeline project was filed Tuesday, bringing the total to 19.

The suit in B.C. Supreme Court by the Coastal First Nations group (representing several First Nations including the Haida and the Metlakatla) and the Gitga’at First Nation was added to a growing list of court challenges over the controversial project, which received federal approval last June.

All the other court challenges have been filed with the Federal Court of Appeal.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) is unsatisfied with the recent decision to dismiss their judicial review of the Federal approval of Shell Canada’s Jackpine Mine Expansion project, according to a press release. The ACFN argued the project approval process failed to uphold proper and adequate consultation and as result has harmed the nation and its rights.

With notes from: wildernesscommittee.org / vancouversun.com / rooseveltinstitute.org

Nine B.C. First Nations have now signed revenue-sharing agreements with the B.C. government or benefit agreements with the companies proposing LNG or LFG [liquid fracked gas] projects.

The Wet’suwet’en, Skin Tyee, Nee Tahi Buhn, Nisga’a, Metlakatla, Lax Kw’alaams, Haisla, Kitselas and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation.

On July 20, 2013, Bella Laboucan-McLean fell 31 stories off the balcony of a condo tower in downtown Toronto. She had been at a small gathering inside one of the building's many glass boxes. There were five other people in the condo that night.

A resident of a lower-floor heard the sound of her body falling and alerted the police.

Bella was 25 years old, Cree from Northern Alberta.

The police deemed the death "suspicious."

I'll say.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC) Recent media reports regarding the renewed calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women quote Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt stating "if the guys grow up believing that women have no rights, that's how they are treated" and "It’s a question of people pulling together, addressing the issue, and taking action." More shockingly, Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked “It isn't high on our radar, to be honest." 

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has dropped civil contempt charges against dozens of protesters who were arrested at an anti-pipeline protest near Vancouver.

The order came Thursday after Kinder Morgan acknowledged it had used incorrect GPS co-ordinates when it sought an injunction related to its Trans Mountain pipeline.

More than 100 people have been arrested on Burnaby Mountain, including Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, who crossed the police line earlier Thursday.

The company, Imperial Metals, asked the courts for an injunction to force the group to stop its protest.

On Wednesday, the courts agreed, but ruled the injunction would be only temporary and that it couldn't be enforced until Oct. 14.

Rhoda Quock, spokeswoman for the Klabona Keepers, called it an incredible victory, not only for those blockading, but for all indigenous nations facing similar situations.

The Federal Court of Appeal has granted leave to the Gitxaala Nation to apply for judicial review of the Northern Gateway pipeline project's approval.

The Gitxaala is challenging the federal cabinet's approval of the Enbridge project.

The court application argues that the federal Conservative cabinet did not consider the Gitxaala's aboriginal rights and title in approving the oil pipeline proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge.

Freshly fed with a wild salmon feast and stirred by drumming and anti-oilsands proclamations, a crowd of several hundred stood en masse to loudly sing Tsleil-Waututh Nation's anthem on Sunday.

Roughly 500 people crammed into the First Nation's North Shore community centre on the eve of what the band's culture and language manager Gabriel George dubbed an "historic event" -- the signing of an intertribal treaty against Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline through southern B.C.

Treaty makes Kinder Morgan Expansion Project illegal in Coast Salish Law

COAST SALISH TERRITORY, NORTH VANCOUVER, BC; SEPTEMBER 21, 2014 – Today, First Nations from the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and Washington State have come together to sign an historic treaty to protect the Salish Sea from tar sands oil and related threats, making the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project illegal under Coast Salish Law.