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.
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.
VICTORIA - West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Willson held up a frozen bull trout Monday and said the large fish is contaminated with mercury.
"Typically, you'd be proud of this fish," he said. "But we can't eat this."
Willson and members of the McLeod Lake Indian Band, located in northeastern British Columbia, arrived at the legislature in Victoria with more than 90 kilograms of bull trout packed in two coolers.
Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and writer known for his work among the poor and the excluded, is credited with coining a phrase that is as true as any you'll ever hear: ''The opposite of poverty is not wealth -- it is justice.''
It is a phrase that has also been attributed to Bryan Stevenson, founder of America's Equal Justice Initiative and a man Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called, without qualification, ''America's Nelson Mandela.''
A major energy project seeking aboriginal support for a plan to export B.C. liquefied natural gas has run into strong resistance from a First Nations group worried about the plight of salmon.
The Lax Kw’alaams band is weighing the promises of LNG prosperity against the perils of losing a traditional way of life that relies heavily on salmon and other marine food and resources.
VANCOUVER —The province hopes to start construction of the $8.8-billion Site C dam this summer, but that might be optimistic, say academic experts following the project.
It all depends on whether a court-ordered injunction is imposed in either of two cases in B.C. Supreme Court involving the controversial hydroelectric megaproject.
“I think the chances are that Site C will see the light of day, with perhaps some delays,” said Werner Antweiler, an associate professor specializing in energy economics at the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business.
The B.C. government has devised a unique solution to head off conflict between a First Nations community and the developers of a proposed a coal mine, using its Crown corporation BC Rail to buy and hold coal licences during talks with the Tahltan Nation on managing the resource.
A treaty signed 116 years ago promising First Nations the right to pursue traditional lives is a key part of a legal challenge to the B.C. government’s approval of the Site C dam.
The Prophet River and West Moberly First Nations, along with the McLeod Lake Indian Band, opened arguments in the Supreme Court of B.C. on Thursday, saying that if BC Hydro’s $8.8-billion dam goes ahead, it will have devastating impact on their ability to hunt, trap and fish, which is already compromised because of resource developments in the Peace River region.
QUEBEC CITY–Standing at the head of the line, drum in hand, Melissa Mollen-Dupuis and several First Nation drummers took their first step forward. Behind them, an estimated 25,000 people followed.
“I say we need programs for people who are addicted to petrol and money,” said Mollen-Dupuis. “Just like we do for people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs.”
Mollen-Dupuis is a seasoned environmental activist.
The Innu from Mingan on Quebec’s North shore is a staple in environmental marches.
In today’s climate action march, she was walking for a new purpose.
. . . The bill "isn't really about terrorism," but about preserving economic and power relations in Canada, Palmater said.
Citizens have worked too hard to create treaties, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international laws that protect basic human rights to toss it all away "because we wanted to protect some corporate economic interests," she added.
Her arguments were echoed by Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, who said the bill would dangerously expand powers of Canada's security agencies without making people any safer.
