Two recent decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada — Clyde River v Petroleum Geo-Services Inc. and Chippewas of the Thames First Nation v Enbridge Pipelines Inc. — are being hailed as landmark cases on Indigenous peoples’ right to be consulted about projects that threaten to damage their traditional territories.
On 26 July, the Supreme Court of Canada announced its decision regarding Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline. The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, located near London, Ontario, had argued that due process had not been followed in the government approving significant changes to the existing pipeline. The Supreme Court ruled against the Chippewas of the Thames, and in favour of the National Energy Board and, in effect, Enbridge.
The Kwantlen Student Association is contributing $6,000 to the project
With some financial support from the Kwantlen Student Association, the Kwantlen First Nation is planning a building project meant to throw an obstacle in the way of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
The KSA will contribute $6,000 towards a healing lodge that will be constructed on Kwantlen First Nation Territory, directly in the path of the planned oil pipeline. The build is expected to begin in August with the lodge to be fully functional by September.
Supreme Court to rule on historic Indigenous rights case on Wednesday July 26
20 July 2017 (OTTAWA) — Canada’s Supreme Court will deliver its ruling on the landmark Indigenous rights case Hamlet of Clyde River et al. v. Petroleum Geo-Services Inc. (PGS) et. al. next Wednesday, deciding whether or not it will allow a highly controversial oil exploration project in the Canadian Arctic to proceed against Inuit opposition.
Local politicians in Kamloops, B.C., voted on Monday to oppose a controversial copper-gold mine that would operate just outside of the city limits.
The city doesn’t have the authority to stop the Ajax mine, owned by Poland-based KGHM, but hopes federal and provincial governments will take Kamloops’s position into account, the city’s acting mayor, Arjun Singh, said. “We’d like, certainly, to be heard in what we are saying,” Mr. Singh said.
