In early May, evidence emerged that natural gas companies had built dozens of large dams during a poorly regulated building spree.
As many as 60 large earthen structures were bulldozed into place by fossil fuel companies without first getting the required authorizations from provincial authorities.
OTTAWA, ON. (NEWS 1130) – The country’s highest court has ruled against two First Nations hoping to delay the controversial Site C dam project. It will not hear appeals from the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations which had been asking for a judicial review of the mega-project which they feel was done without proper consultation.
From June 2-4, 2017, members of our Secwepemc nation hosted a Secwepemcul'ecw Assembly off-reserve on the land to take action under Secwepemc law against colonial corporate development impacting Secwepemcul'ecw.
A large crowd gathered outside BC Hydro’s offices in Vancouver to protests the Site C dam Thursday, and Gordon August says awareness of the project is growing.A large crowd gathered outside BC Hydro’s offices in Vancouver to protests the Site C dam Thursday, and Gordon August says awareness of the project is growing.
The Site C dam has become top of mind to British Columbians after a historic election that has left the project’s – and government’s – future in flux.
On Thursday, June 16t h, a tanker accident in the Upper Kennedy Lake area released approximately 3,000 litres of aviation fuel resulting in the shutdown of Highway 4 for approximately 24 hours. The spill has impacted the immediate site as well as the adjacent lake. Kennedy Lake is an important fish bearing site which is of critical importance to the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations.
Simogyet Malii is chief negotiator for the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs
There has been a lot of talk in Canada lately about cultural appropriation of Indigenous stories and imagery. This is a conversation that actually goes back to the origins of first contact between settlers and this land’s first peoples, and it is a conversation without end. The latest dust-up just happens to be a high point, or a low one depending on your point of view.
Dimitri L.: This is Dimitri Lascaris for The Real News in Vancouver, British Columbia. I'm here today with Eugene Kung, a staff lawyer with the West Coast Environmental Law Group. Eugene specializes in aboriginal and natural resources law. Thanks very much for joining us today.
Eugene Kung: Thank you for having me.
Dimitri L.: Eugene, why don't you just start by telling us a little bit about West Coast Environmental Law. What does the organization do? What is the nature of the practice?
Crude exports via supertanker from the Port of Vancouver fell 40 per cent between 2014 and 2016, a decline that has led critics of the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to challenge the need for the project.
In its report last year recommending approval of the Kinder Morgan project, the National Energy Board cited the company’s figures when it said the terminal typically loads five crude tankers a month. It forecast that, with the proposed pipeline expansion, that number could climb to 34 a month depending on demand from shippers.
Roland Willson is a practical man. As chief of the West Moberly First Nation in northeastern B.C., he’s got to be.
“The natural gas industry is the main source of employment,” Willson said over coffee in Victoria this week, before heading into meetings with the B.C. NDP and B.C. Green parties. “It’s a natural resource economy up there.”
