Indigenous Peoples

01/06/15
Author: 
JUSTINE HUNTER

Almost six months after the B.C. government approved construction of the Site C dam, BC Hydro is still waiting for the province to issue the dozens of permits needed before shovels can touch the ground.

The permits have been held up because the province needs to conduct “meaningful consultation” with the Treaty 8 Tribal Association on the hydroelectric project.

30/05/15
Author: 
Cassidy Oliver

This 3.5 min video interview with the long-serving President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs touches on the Petronas LNG proposal, opposition to the Site C Dam and being arrested on Burnaby Mountain protesting the Kinder Morgan pipeline proposal.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Grand+Chief+Stewart+Phillip+explains+pow...

 

30/05/15
Author: 
Diana Day
B.C. NDP nomination candidate Diana Day (right) is speaking out against the Site C dam.

Last week, I held a press conference with Harold Steves, former NDP MLA and a founder of the Agricultural Land Reserve, speaking out against the B.C. Liberal Site C dam. This project is not only a human-rights violation—depriving people of the right to food and water—but breaks Treaty 8 itself and, if constructed, will also be a contravention of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

28/05/15

Note: Several Canadian law professors issued this joint statement May 26, 2015:

We write as professors of law at several Canadian law schools to recognize and commemorate the May 26, 2015 release of Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s Assessment of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline and Tanker Expansion (“TMEX”) Proposal(the “Assessment”).

27/05/15
Author: 
Carlos Tello
Rueben George holds a copy of Tsleil-Waututh's assessment of the Trans Mountain Pipeline project. Photo: Carlos Tello

In an old legend from the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, a two-headed serpent brings hunger and disease to the Burrard Inlet, killing off the salmon. In order to survive, the people had to confront the serpent and slay it.

“We’re now facing another long dragon that needs to be slain,” Tsleil-Waututh Sacred Trust Initiative member Rueben George told a crowd of 100 gathered at Whey-ah-Wichen Park in North Vancouver on Tuesday.

“That’s the Kinder Morgan pipeline.”

21/05/15
Author: 
Mychaylo Prystupa
Candace Campo, Audrey Siegl and Taylor George Hollis in front of the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza that was docked in North Vancouver on Friday. Photo by Mychaylo Prystupa.

A massive Greenpeace ship will depart the Port of Vancouver on Tuesday with a cross-Canada Aboriginal delegation. The delegation seeks to raise alarm about the potential surge in U.S. oil tankers set to ply past British Columbia’s coastlines in the future, should Shell's Arctic oil drilling plans go full steam ahead.

21/05/15
Author: 
Justine Hunter
The proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG project would be built on Lelu Island, near eelgrass beds that nurture young Skeena salmon. (www.lonniewishart.com/Pacific Northwest LNG)

The prospect of a liquefied natural gas industry in B.C. would be a game-changer for aboriginal communities, Premier Christy Clark said on Wednesday. But she sidestepped the question of what happens if some of those communities continue to say no to the developments.

Instead, Ms. Clark’s announcement about a major step along the path toward securing the Pacific NorthWest LNG plant – a proposal already rejected by the Lax Kw’alaams – left the door open to pushing the project through, despite the province’s preference to avoid a confrontation over aboriginal rights and title.

19/05/15
Author: 
Nelson Bennett
Four pipelines needed to carry natural gas to LNG plants on the B.C. pas through dozens of First Nations communities. | Source: Ecotrust Canada

From the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, what unfolded in B.C. last week must have looked strange.

While the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation was voting against a $1.1 billion offer of cash and land to support Petronas’ $11 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG (PNW) project in Prince Rupert, some members were reportedly giving a tentative thumbs-up to the Eagle Spirit Energy refined oil pipeline proposal.

18/05/15
Author: 
Erin Anderssen
Aboriginal artist Lianna Spence poses with her 12-year-old daughter Kiera on Finlayson Island, near Lax Kw’alaams. (Brent Jang for The Globe and Mail)

A senior aboriginal leader in British Columbia says First Nations will continue to oppose oil and gas developments in the province even if it means rejecting billion-dollar payouts – as long as environmental protections are not guaranteed.

13/05/15
Author: 
The Canadian Press
Lelu Island, near Prince Rupert, BC, is the proposed site of the Pacific Northwest LNG project, backed by the Malaysian energy company Petronas.

A natural gas benefit offer worth more than $1 billion has been rejected by a First Nation on B.C.'s northwest coast, but not everyone thinks it will necessarily scuttle the project.

Pacific NorthWest LNG was proposing to build a pipeline and terminal in the Lax Kw'alaams Band territory just south of Prince Rupert.

Band members were asked to vote on a $1.15 billion offer over 40 years in exchange for their consent for the project.

The vote in Vancouver on Tuesday was the third in a series conducted by the First Nation that rejected the project.

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