This week, a year almost to the day since the ground-breaking Supreme Court of Canada decision affirming aboriginal title in the Tsilhqot’in case, another B.C. First Nation will be in federal court trying to prevent yet another destructive project that is being aggressively pursued without aboriginal consent.
Transition period: During run-up to deal, company has logged above its allocation in Great Bear Rainforest.
How would you expect a government and a car manufacturer to handle information that a certain car had defective brakes? Issue a recall, right?
VICTORIA — As the legislature resumed debate Monday on the B.C. Liberal government’s controversial deal with the liquefied natural gas sector, Finance Minister Mike de Jong addressed concerns that he and his colleagues were open to enriching already generous terms with the industry.
The suspicions emerged from a news conference in the provincial capital last week, where the industry association injected itself into the debate around the deal by suggesting the terms were still not good enough.
On July 15th 2015, officers of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police (RCMP) tried to enter Unist’ot’en territory. The Unist’ot’en have built a camp that stands in the way of several oil and gas pipelines. Camp supporters blocked the rcmp from entering.
The following day the RCMP threatened to arrest supporters at another checkpoint, but supporters responded by building a gate. The Unist’ot’en have requested physical support from allies. For more info on how you can help visit UnistotenCamp.com.
~~DAWSON CREEK — Anonymous, a loosely associated international network of activist and hacktivist entities, says it will use “vengeance if necessary” to seek justice for a man shot dead by police in Dawson Creek Thursday outside a public consultation meeting for the Site C dam.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C., a police watchdog, said the man had his face covered when he was shot by an RCMP officer. It will not comment on whether he was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, widely used by Anonymous, which claims the victim was one of its own.
Dissent: Green MLA Andrew Weaver is less reticent, accusing government of ‘selling out the next generation’ through deal with Petronas.
After all the buildup for the special summer session of the legislature, the key debate on the B.C. Liberal government’s controversial liquefied natural gas agreement came and went in short order this week.
Bill 30, the LNG Project Agreements Act, passed second reading, the stage where MLAs debate the merits in principle of a piece of legislation, after just three days on the order paper.
Wade Davis is an anthropology professor and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. Tom Rafael is a retired lawyer. Both live on Bowen Island, at the mouth of Howe Sound.
RE: UBCIC Calls for Two-Year Moratorium on Construction of Proposed Site C Dam and Referral to BC Utilities Commission
Dear Premier Clark, Minister Bennett, and Minister Polak:
We are writing to support the urgent request by Treaty 8 First Nations for a two-year moratorium on construction of the proposed Site C Dam until the end of 2017, and that the proposed project be referred to the BC Utilities Commission for review and consultation.
Bill 30 was introduced into the BC Legislature on July 13, 2015. An explanatory note in the Bill reports that it "authorizes the Minister of Finance to enter into LNG project agreements to indemnify persons from costs incurred as a result of specified legislative or program changes."
