Native groups want money, assurances on environment

A week of hearings into the potential effects of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline on Alberta First Nations and Métis ended Tuesday with questions about how much indigenous people can trust the process designed to weigh pros and cons of the controversial $5.5-billion project.

“I have to have some mistrust as a leader, and I have to be honest,” Driftpile First Nations Chief Rose Laboucan told the joint National Energy Board-canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panel during their last Edmonton hearing before the spring.

Laboucan noted two of the panellists are from Calgary and the third from Ontario, and flagged Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s endorsement of the pipeline to carry Alberta bitumen to tankers off the West Coast and on to Asia.

“Our ancestors signed a treaty. I have to carry that forward …,” she said. “If this pipeline goes ahead, there has to be meaningful consultation with the First Nations. … No matter how I look at it, this country has to talk about revenue sharing.”

Enbridge has offered 43 aboriginal groups along the proposed pipeline corridor a 10-per-cent equity share in the project, which will conservatively amount to $280 million over 30 years. The company has reported as many as 40 per cent of those invited have taken the offer.

Driftpile First Nation, with a 6,400-person reserve on the south shore of Lesser Slave Lake, was the last Alberta indigenous group expected to speak to the panel until members visit Grande Prairie in late March. Since arriving in Edmonton last week, the panel also heard from the Enoch, Samson, Alexander, Swan River, Dene and the Métis Nation.

Many of the groups’ representatives raised questions about government support in the hearing process, environmental impacts on traditional hunting or ceremonial grounds, and revenue or employment opportunities.

“I guess the primary questions that I have right now, not only for the panel but for everybody … is how do we educate our young people about industry? What do we tell them? Not just the First Nations people, but all young people,” Driftpile Coun. Stan Isadore said. “It generates revenue. It secures a financial future. On the other hand, what is it doing to the rivers? What is it doing to the land? How is it changing our practices spiritually, when it comes to hunting?”

The purpose of this first stage of community hearings is to hear testimony regarding traditional use and experiences of the land to be crossed by the pipeline. Panel members — chairwoman Sheila Leggett, Kenneth Bateman and Hans Matthews — will recommend or oppose the project after 18 months of public hearings. Their decision will be followed by final approval or disapproval by the Harper government.

The federal Liberals weighed into the pipeline debate this week, causing problems for Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman. Sherman on Tuesday slammed his federal counterpart, Bob Rae, for failing to support the pipeline project.

Rae said Monday the hearings may be an insufficient way to properly consult aboriginal groups on the project. He called on the federal government to take the process more seriously, warning a failure to improve consultation could open the door to legal action from First Nations. Rae also remains opposed to more tanker traffic on the B.C.’S north coast, where the pipeline would bring Alberta bitumen for transport to Asian markets.

“I respect Mr. Rae, he’s a national leader, but I would disagree with him. Our positions are very different here,” Sherman said Tuesday. “I’ve said all along we need to diversify our markets and we need to get our products to the West Coast.”

Sherman said he hopes the federal Liberal stance on the pipeline doesn’t affect the fortunes of the provincial Liberals.