Not all First Nations oppose Kinder Morgan

On Thursday, a group of First Nations chiefs will gather in Kamloops to talk about the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

But they won’t be discussing ways to stop it. They’ll be meeting to talk about ways to get it built. If you’re surprised by that, Chief Mike LeBourdais can relate.

“It seems like every time I watch the news, it’s about First Nations opposing the pipeline. But a lot of us understand it and support it,” he said.

LeBourdais is chief of the Whispering Pines First Nation near Kamloops, one of 33 B.C. First Nations that have signed benefit agreements with the pipeline company. Details of the deals are confidential, but LeBourdais revealed some of them to me. He said the Whispering Pines agreement includes a lump-sum payment of about $5 million from Kinder Morgan. The money would be held in trust, with the interest used to fund programs in the community.

“It includes retirement benefits for our elders and post-secondary education funding for our kids,” he said. “There are also opportunities for contracting and trades training for our community. And then there’s the tax revenue.”

Because the pipeline runs directly through the Whispering Pines reserve, the First Nation charges the company for the right of way. The existing Kinder Morgan pipeline generates about $300,000 a year. The company’s controversial Trans Mountain project would twin the pipeline and double the First Nation’s tax windfall to about $600,000 a year.

“We need that revenue,” he said. “If they shoot us in the foot on this, I’d like to know if that revenue will come from John Horgan.”

He’s referring to Premier Horgan, of course, whose government opposes the pipeline expansion. LeBourdais says his First Nation doesn’t rule out suing the Horgan government for compensation if the Trans Mountain project is scrapped.

What does Horgan say to B.C. First Nations that support the pipeline?

“I reject the notion that this a majority-rule situation,” Horgan said Wednesday, adding First Nations that support the pipeline should “respect the sovereignty” of First Nations that don’t. That appears to mean Horgan believes a single First Nation should hold a veto over the project — a pretty hypocritical position since he approved the Site C dam over the objections of nearby First Nations.

As for paying compensation to First Nations that support the pipeline if the project is scrapped, Horgan said: “We will be working, Nation by Nation, to try and ensure that their relationship with the Crown, as it’s represented by the province and, hopefully, as it’s represented by the federal government, will be seamless.”

What does that mean? I have no idea. But First Nations that support the pipeline shouldn’t be hopeful.