There will be no tar sands pipeline.
That is the message stressed by First Nations communities who say that even if Canada’s Prime Minister Harper gives the federal OK to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project, First Nations law and their “responsibilities to future generations” will stop the project dead in its tracks.
A federal decision on the project, which includes a 1,200-kilometer pipeline that would carry half a million barrels per day of crude from the Alberta tar sands to coastal Kitimat, British Columbia, is expected in the coming days.
Chief Fred Sam of the Nak’azdli First Nation, one of the Yinka Dene First Nations communities who have joined in opposition to the Northern Gateway, stated, “Our decision to refuse consent for the Enbridge pipeline is a decision according to our own laws. It is binding and clearly set out in the Save the Fraser Declaration.”
That declaration, the Yinka Dene Alliance explained, bans Enbridge’s pipelines and tankers from First Nations territories.
“This project is doomed,” added Jasmine Thomas of Saik’uz First Nation in a statement issued Wednesday, referring to Enbridge’s proposed pipeline.
Thomas also noted that the opposition is not limited to First Nations. “My community and many others will uphold our Aboriginal rights and title to the fullest extent possible. And thousands of people in this province and country have committed to hold the wall with us.”
In a show of such opposition, on Sunday roughly 1,000 activists took to the streets of Vancouver to protest the Northern Gateway. Leila Darwish, Council of Canadians BC-Yukon organizer, said the demonstration showed “that we will not jeopardize our children’s future for corporate profit and that the continued infringement of Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty Rights will not be tolerated.”
If the government and Enbridge ignore First Nations’ rights and begin work on the pipeline, the activists will use the law to defend their land, but are also ready to put their bodies on the line.
Speaking at a news conference on Monday, according to reporting by the Globe and Mail, Grand Chief Phillip Union of the B.C. Indian Chiefs said, “First Nations have said no, and in the event that the government of Canada continues to attempt to ram this forward, we’ll move into the courtrooms.”
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