Tensions rise over $6.6-billion pipeline
CALGARY A breakaway First Nations group has issued an eviction notice to a consortium building the $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink project and warned the RCMP to “refrain from interference” in its territory.
On Friday, five hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs sent a letter to Calgary-based pipeline giant TC Energy Corp. informing the company building Coastal GasLink that the chiefs were withdrawing from an agreement signed in April 2019 and telling the company to vacate a camp by Friday.
The letter asks the pipeline company to stop payments to the chiefs, who have opposed the pipeline project even though elected chiefs and councils in their First Nations communities have supported it and signed impact benefit agreements.
Over the weekend, the group announced the eviction notice and accused Coastal GasLink, a pipeline project that will connect natural gas fields near Dawson Creek, B.C., with the an under-construction LNG export facility on the West Coast, of allegedly destroying archaeological sites that were “bulldozed through our territories.”
“We expect Coastal GasLink to peacefully comply with our eviction notice… and instruct RCMP to respect our rights and refrain from interference in Wet’suwet’en law,” the release states.
The release also blasted a Supreme Court of British Columbia decision from last week that granted an injunction order and enforcement order for Coastal GasLink, finding the company’s work had been lawfully permitted but delays had cost at least $5 million.
“The granting of the interlocutory injunction by B.C.’s Supreme Court has proven to us that Canadian courts will ignore their own rulings and deny our jurisdiction when convenient, and will not protect our territories or our rights as Indigenous peoples,” the release from the opposed Wet’suwet’en chiefs states.
Both the court decision and the eviction notice have escalated tensions in the province, which have been simmering for months and exposed divisions within some First Nations communities, where elected and hereditary chiefs sometimes jostle to enforce title rights in traditional territories.
In this case, Coastal GasLink — now jointly owned by Calgary-based TC Energy (formerly known as TransCanada Corp.), public pension manager Alberta Investment Management Corp. and New Yorkbased private equity giant KKR & Co. Inc. — has signed agreements with all elected First Nations councils along the route.
However, the company has clashed with a group of opposed hereditary chiefs in north-central B.C.
Coastal GasLink said in a release Sunday that construction on the pipeline is expected to resume this week after a holiday break.
Coastal GasLink did not respond to a request for comment but indicated in a release that it had requested a meeting with the opposed group “as soon as possible.”
“We have reached out to better understand their reasons and are hopeful we can find a mutually agreeable path forward,” the company said in a release.
Financial Post