Tsleil-Waututh has message for Trudeau: no to Trans Mountain project

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation said Tuesday they have no intention of backing down in the face of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recently revealed support for Kinder Morgan’s $5.4-billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.

The National Post reported Monday that the prime minister has told his senior lieutenants to draw up plans to make the Energy East pipeline and the Trans Mountain expansion a reality.

But during last fall’s election campaign, Trudeau had promised First Nations more say in natural resource development.

First Nations in B.C. have also become emboldened in pushing land rights after multiple court wins, including a historic Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2014 that granted the Tsilqhot’in title to 1,740 square kilometres of traditional territory in the Interior. The ruling pushed consultation obligations for the government to a higher threshold.

“(Trudeau) can say what he wants, but we believe the Canadian constitution protects our indigenous rights. And we have been winning that right,” said George, who manages the Tsleil-Waututh’s initiative to oppose the Trans Mountain expansion.

He said as far as the Tsleil-Waututh are concerned there has been no substantial consultations with the federal government.

The Tsleil-Waututh have a case before the Federal Court which argues that the federal review is flawed and unlawful and puts Burrard Inlet and the people who live there at risk. The First Nation’s biggest concern centres on the effects of a possible oil spill.

There are other First Nations that have cited concerns over the Trans Mountain project, including the Musqueam and Squamish First Nations, but it is the Tsleil-Waututh who claim as traditional territory the area of Burrard Inlet, which is the terminus of the pipeline and where tankers are loaded.

During the 2015 election, Trudeau opposed tanker traffic on B.C.’s northwest coast, but has not said publicly whether he supports the Kinder Morgan project.

Trudeau has also talked about returning public trust to federal reviews, saying the existing system is broken and was designed to support the previous Conservative government’s objectives.

During Question Period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Trudeau brushed off a query from interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose on whether he would approve Energy East and Trans Mountain if they are given the go-ahead by the National Energy Board.

He said the government has a fundamental role in getting resources to market, “but in the 21st century … (that) means doing it responsibly for communities, for indigenous peoples and for the environment.”

Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Ali Hounsell declined to comment on the latest political development, saying the company could not respond to unnamed sources stating Trudeau’s position.

Kinder Morgan wants to twin its existing 1,150-kilometre pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to its terminus at Burnaby. That will triple capacity and is meant to open up new markets in Asia and the U.S. for Canadian oil.

Kinder Morgan has said it will mitigate increased risks of oil spills by increasing tug escorts in inland ocean waters and beefing up spill-response capacity.

with file from Postmedia News

[Top photo: Tugs assist a tanker at the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain terminal in Burnaby. JONATHAN HAYWARD / PNG]