OTTAWA -- A number of Indigenous elders and demonstrators were arrested for trespassing Monday on Parliament Hill after breaching a designated perimeter for protests during a rally against the Muskrat Falls project in Labrador.
"The point we made here today is that it's poisonous; we're drowning," said Jim Learning, an Inuit elder from Cartwright, N.L.
Almost 20 protesters were escorted from outside of Centre Block to the East Block courtyard, where they were held for about 30 minutes.
The organization representing First Nations in Ontario has joined a nationwide treaty alliance calling for a ban on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and other fossil fuel projects.
The Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 133 First Nations across the province, lent its support to the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, in a May 2 letter of support signed by Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day.
Amongst all the hooting and hollering over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, it’s easy to lose track of how on earth we ended up in this place of dysfunction.
Kinder Morgan has set a May 31 deadline to get political certainty. What can the federal government do to achieve this? And will it alleviate the host of legal, financial, reputational and practical risks facing the project?
Here's a different take on Kinder Morgan's ultimatum and the so-called "constitutional crisis" it has sparked. I'm speculating, of course, as we all seek to understand what Kinder Morgan is really up to. But allow me to posit a minority theory:
The Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion conflict reveals a much larger crisis than the “constitutional” or “investor confidence” crises constructed by the projects’ proponents. The conflict reveals a profound failure of leadership from both levels of government, but most of all, from the prime minister, in response to the true crises facing this country.
Despite sparring between provinces and Ottawa, pipeline's future likely depends on court challenges
Posted: Apr 12, 2018
Between boycotts, showdowns, shareholder action and emergency cabinet meetings, it's easy to overlook the lack of a crucial perspective in the white noise currently surrounding Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain expansion project.
But if Indigenous voices are missing from this moment's very public pipeline debate, it's not because they're not speaking.
Stewart Phillip is Grand Chief of Okanagan Nation and president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. Serge ‘Otsi’ Simon is Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake.
As the federal and Alberta governments continue to pull their hair out over the B.C. government’s stand against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and tanker project, it’s important to point out, as we’ve been doing for years, that the pipeline company doesn’t have the consent of all First Nations along the route. In fact, many of them are strongly opposed to the project.
