Indigenous Peoples

Musqueam Judicial Review of the Kinder Morgan Project

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                     

Tue. Jan. 17, 2017

OTTAWA — The proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion once resembled a political morass, something that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier Christy Clark would wade into at their peril.

But both politicians have managed to put pipeline opponents on the defensive as both sides head into a three-front battle in 2017 over the $6.8-billion project.

After years of dramatic opposition by B.C. residents, the controversial pipeline expansion project of a Texas-based energy company, Kinder Morgan, is one step closer to breaking ground in Canada.

On Wednesday, the government of B.C. Premier Christy Clark issued an environmental assessment certificate for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which aims to triple the capacity of an existing system that already ships more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta's oilsands to the West Coast.

TORONTO, Jan. 9, 2017 /CNW/ - Two First Nations in northwest Ontario – Aroland and Ginoogaming – have just launched a precedent-setting lawsuit and injunction motion against TransCanada Pipelines, Canada and the National Energy Board, for doing and allowing damaging physical work on parts of the Mainline pipeline that runs through those First Nations' traditional territories.

• posted Jan 5, 2017 at 11:00 AM

As oil prices rose and fell, the federal government somehow wrestled a national agreement on climate change — with two notable exceptions. The fates of pipelines that had consumed public interest for years were drawn, while others were punted into the future. Canada’s beleaguered oil and gas industry faced an uncertain year with a new Liberal government in Ottawa, and 2017 looks like it will have its own share of big shifts. For the year that was, here are the top five energy stories.

After excluding them from a critical discussion on indigenous people and climate change earlier this year, both the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) hoped it was a mistake Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would not repeat.

But one week after his second annual meeting with First Ministers and indigenous leaders on clean growth and climate change, the two national aboriginal organizations have been disappointed again.

For years, Chief Allan Adam, leader of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, has been labeled an environmentalist.

He has fought hard to investigate mysterious illnesses plaguing his people who live near major oilsands development and other industrial activity in Northern Alberta. He has been an outspoken critic of both governments and industry for not doing enough to protect public health from industrial pollution.

The Fraser River watershed is the bloodline of our beautiful province.

It reaches from deep in the Rocky Mountains and winds 1,375 kilometres south to the Straight of Georgia at Vancouver. Its major tributaries, the Nechako, Quesnel, Chilko and Thompson Rivers, expand its watershed across the province. It provides vital habitat for endangered salmon and sturgeon, water for crops, recreation for fishers, support for local economies and a living connection between diverse regions. All of this is threatened when reckless mining operations pollute our watershed.