Chris Standing could have gone to see a cheap movie on Tuesday night, or trained for his advanced blue belt on Wednesday.

Instead, the 200,000-litre oil spill at Ocean Man First Nation made him decide to organize an anti-pipeline rally outside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s town hall event at the University of Saskatchewan. 

The Site C hydro dam in northeastern B.C. may be more than a year into construction, but the federal government still hasn’t determined whether the mega dam infringes on treaty rights — and, according to a Federal Court of Appeal ruling this week, the government isn’t obligated to answer that question.

The chief of the Ocean Man First Nation, Connie Big Eagle, says an oil spill on the band's land had to have occurred earlier than Friday, when the ministry of environment said it became aware of it. 

Big Eagle said a vigilant band member who has been working in the oil industry most of his adult life had reported smelling a strange odour and took it upon himself to seek out the source. Big Eagle said she was told that the person smelled the odour each time he drove by the area of the spill.

The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a legal challenged filed by two British Columbia First Nations that argued the $8.8-billion Site C dam project violated their treaty rights.

The Prophet River First Nation and the West Moberly First Nation appealed a Federal Court judge’s decision to deny an application for a judicial review of the federal government’s approval of the project.

The B.C. government’s approval last week of the Kinder Morgan proposal to twin the Trans Mountain oil pipeline doesn’t mean the pipeline will be built – but it is a significant step forward.

Dear Sir: