Indigenous Peoples

A two-month-old letter from a First Nation that said granting an environmental assessment certificate to Woodfibre LNG would be a "legal error" was finally published after the BC Liberal government gave approval in principle to the project on Oct. 26. But it's unclear whether the First Nation's concerns were ever addressed.

The Aug. 18 letter from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's chief negotiator to Environment Minister Mary Polak and Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman urged the government not to issue the certificate before undertaking additional studies and assessment work.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCT. 28, 2015

SQUAMISH NATION COMMENTS ON PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT'S EA APPROVAL OF WOODFIBRE LNG PROPOSAL

NORTH VANCOUVER — After careful review of provincial government decision Monday to issue an environmental assessment certificate for Woodfibre LNG’s proposed $1.6-billion gas export facility, the Squamish Nation (SN) today says it is looking forward to further discussions with the provincial government — on a government-to-government basis.

SN spokesperson Chief Ian Campbell points out:

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A local First Nation is bringing Kinder Morgan and the National Energy Board to the federal court of appeal, as it argues it was not appropriately consulted about the proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation hopes to force a restart of the environmental assessment process for that project.

The Supreme Court of Canada Thursday denied Rio Tinto Alcan’s appeal of a lower court decision allowing two north-central B.C. First Nations to sue the company over its diversion of water from the Nechako River since the 1950s.

The Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations first filed the lawsuit in October 2011, claiming the 1987 and 1997 Settlement Agreements entered into by Alcan and B.C. and Canada are not defences against the claims of the bands, based on constitutional grounds.

A public workshop on the future of the Columbia River Treaty held in Osoyoos has found that the Treaty must be modified to meet the needs of First Nations, growing population numbers, increasing competition for water; fisheries health and environmental values, as well as negative impacts on Canadian agriculture and the impact of a changing climate.

Organized by the Canadian Water Resource Association (CWRA) and the Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT), the workshop took place on Wednesday, October 7th at the Sonora Centre.

WHITEHORSE, Oct. 14, 2015 /CNW/ - This morning Self-Governing Yukon First Nations filed a Petition for the Yukon Supreme Court to declare Bill S-6 amendments to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA) invalid.

"Our Petition states that the amendments through Bill S-6 undermine or weaken Yukon's development assessment process and our role as Yukon First Nation governments," said Chief Carl Sidney of Teslin Tlingit Council. "Therefore, they are a clear breach of our Final Agreements."

[Website editor's note: Two articles, published Sept 30 and Oct 1, 2015,  on the proposed Energy East tar sands pipeline and the proposed gas pipeline and LNG plant in BC] 

The Harper government’s already strained relationship with First Nations that oppose oil sands pipelines is being put on trial this week.

Eight B.C. First Nations are in federal court to launch a legal attack on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. The coalition hopes to overturn Ottawa’s conditional approval of the project, which would deliver Alberta crude to B.C.’s north coast.

“Anybody but Harper.”

Grand Chief Phillip Stewart didn’t mince words when it came to the message he has for Okanagan voters.

“Clearly, after nine and a half years of fighting, the Harper government has demonstrated that the Conservative Party of government is very hostile and adversarial to First Nation rights and interests,” he said, Thursday.

“Right from the time they took power, they completely trashed the Kelowna Accord, which presented $5.1 billion in funding for desperately needed new health, education, housing and infrastructure.”

CALGARY (Reuters) - Native chiefs in the Western Canadian province of British Columbia voted on Wednesday to join some of their eastern counterparts opposed to a major pipeline project, in a move some leaders described as a step toward a national alliance aimed at blocking expansion of Alberta's oil sands industry.