Alberta First Nation backs federal government in carbon pricing battle

An Alberta First Nation is asking to join the legal fight over carbon pricing.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is hoping to intervene in the Saskatchewan government’s constitutional challenge of the federal government’s plan for a national price on carbon.

Chief Allan Adam says Canada will never be able to address climate change if the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal rules that Ottawa’s carbon-price plan violates the Charter of Rights.

Adam says not a single First Nation was consulted in its development. “If we cannot hunt, trap, fish and gather in our region, cannot travel along the Athabasca River ... we will become more isolated in a land that no longer sustains us,” he said in a news release Friday.

Ottawa has asked all provinces to put a minimum price on emissions of $20 per tonne by Jan. 1, with a federal carbon tax imposed on provinces that don’t follow suit. The revenue generated by the tax in those provinces would be rebated to residents. Saskatchewan’s plan to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions includes a requirement for large emitters to register with the province.

They could receive credits for reaching targets. The governments of New Brunswick and Ontario have asked to intervene on Saskatchewan’s side.

More groups are expected to apply before an intervener hearing is held in about a week.