Trudeau told to be better than Kinder Morgan
Indigenous communities want to be co-managers, not just advisers
ROSEDALE — The federal government must offer more than Kinder Morgan did and tread carefully with First Nations when building the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, says an Indigenous committee monitoring the project.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Tuesday with the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee in Rosedale, where he linked Indigenous reconciliation and the expansion project.
“I don’t take your presence here, any one of you, as direct and immediate support for this project,” he said in his opening remarks. “But I do take, and I think I’m right to take, your presence here as support for the idea of reconciliation that we need to work together on.”
The purpose of the committee is to make sure the project is done right, minimizing concerns and maximizing benefits, Trudeau said.
Chief Ernie Crey, of the Cheam First Nation, said the private meeting allowed committee members to raise some serious issues with the prime minister.
“It was a long dialogue. The prime minister listened very carefully and also engaged in a dialogue with all the committee members,” said Crey, a spokesman for the group.
The federal government is spending $4.5 billion to buy the pipeline from Kinder Morgan to ensure the expansion goes ahead. The $7.4-billion project between Edmonton and Metro Vancouver has faced vocal and legal opposition from several B.C. First Nations, environmental groups and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby.
The committee released a statement following the meeting saying the purchase will have “huge impacts” on Indigenous communities, and it called on Ottawa to allow the group to be co-manager of the project instead of an adviser.
“If the government is going to build the (pipeline), then it must build it better than Kinder Morgan would have — safer, more respectful of Indigenous rights and title and treaty rights, and fairer in its distribution of economic benefits to affected Indigenous nations,” the statement said.
The committee is made up of people with varying levels of support for the project, but what brings them together is a desire to protect Indigenous land and interests, Crey said.
“There are people on the committee who come from communities that do not want to see the pipeline built. Also, there are other people on the committee who want to see the pipeline constructed,” he said.
Kinder Morgan could not immediately be reached for comment.