Media release
8 May 2018
Government tactics in Site C injunction hearing already at odds with BC’s commitments to respect Indigenous rights
https://witnessforthepeace.ca/
First Nations and human rights groups are questioning why lawyers for the government of BC and BC Hydro wanted to exclude important evidence about the Site C dam from an injunction hearing set to begin this July.
OTTAWA -- A number of Indigenous elders and demonstrators were arrested for trespassing Monday on Parliament Hill after breaching a designated perimeter for protests during a rally against the Muskrat Falls project in Labrador.
"The point we made here today is that it's poisonous; we're drowning," said Jim Learning, an Inuit elder from Cartwright, N.L.
Almost 20 protesters were escorted from outside of Centre Block to the East Block courtyard, where they were held for about 30 minutes.
The federal government has lost a court bid to overturn a NAFTA ruling involving a Nova Scotia quarry and marine terminal project, sparking renewed concerns about the trade deal’s effects on Canada’s environmental regime.
The U.S. firm that backed the proposed project welcomed the Federal Court of Canada decision, while environmental groups said it highlights how the North American Free Trade Agreement hamstrings Canada’s ability to protect its ecology.
Firm faces steep costs and “unlimited liability” for a Trans Mountain spill.
On April 8, Kinder Morgan Canada held an unusual Sunday conference call to announce an immediate halt to all non-essential spending on the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline, threatening to pull the plug on the project completely unless the escalating political conflicts over the pipeline could be resolved by May 31.
The organization representing First Nations in Ontario has joined a nationwide treaty alliance calling for a ban on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and other fossil fuel projects.
The Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 133 First Nations across the province, lent its support to the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, in a May 2 letter of support signed by Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day.
Amongst all the hooting and hollering over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, it’s easy to lose track of how on earth we ended up in this place of dysfunction.
