First Nations have high stake in pipeline dispute

Things just got a whole lot more interesting in Indian Country.

The federal government’s decision to purchase and expand the Kinder Morgan pipeline is proving to be divisive among Indigenous people, like the rest of the country.

Two groups are coming forward. First, we have the Indian Resource Council, which represents more than 100 First Nations that have oil and gas resources on their land. Then we have the Treaty Alliance against Tarsands Expansion, which also represents more than 100 First Nations that are opposed to any new pipelines and the further development of the Alberta oilsands.

A consortium of Alberta First Nations is also crafting an approach to purchase a stake in the pipeline.

In Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan and northeastern British Columbia, the oil industry plays an important part of the local economy and provides royalties for First Nations that have oil and gas production.

My reserve in western Saskatchewan has oil production and a workforce trained and experienced from working in the oilpatch. They see pipeline work as attractive and a high-paying opportunity, and they are gearing up for work.

We have been in an oil slump for the past several years and rather than sit around, our workforce has diversified and taken further training.

But while pipeline construction on this side of the Rocky Mountains is fairly straightforward, the pipeline issue becomes complicated west of the Rockies.

When the prairies were settled, the government entered into a series of numbered treaties to clear the land and prepare it for agriculture. First Nations received promises of education, health care, social support and so on.

While the treaty promises have been given only cursory recognition, they nevertheless contain the recognition of our Aboriginal title to the land.

In British Columbia, the government never entered into treaties. It simply claimed the land by right of discovery and shoved the First Nations aside, leaving them out of any participation in the economy or political life of the province.

B.C. was settled largely by Americans who saw no need to negotiate with the Indigenous peoples. This has proven to be a colossal mistake on the part of the colonial government.

The courts have interpreted the Canadian Constitution and stated that the First Nations still hold title to the land; consultation must be meaningful and First Nations concerns must be addressed.

This is where the environmentalists and the provincial government part company with the First Nations.

From a First Nations point of view, we have two governments and a bunch of settlers fighting over how to develop land to which they don’t hold title.

This is the real elephant in the room, and it still holds the potential to bring the pipeline to a halt.

But the federal Liberals have staked their future on the successful construction of a pipeline and Trudeau has declared that it’s in the national interest. The federal government has dug itself a deep hole that will prove difficult if any nasty obstacles like First Nations title should get in the way.

The federal government has established so-called treaty tables to negotiate land claim settlements, but they have been administrated under the Department of Indigenous Affairs, which is a colonial department that is not capable of producing a positive settlement.

This has been a diversion on the part of the federal government, but it is useless in the face of reality.

In Saskatchewan, we have the largest land claim in southern Canada, and it was created by political will. Negotiations were coordinated by the former treaty commissioner, Cliff Wright. The influence of the colonial office was placed on the periphery.

For pipeline construction to proceed in British Columbia, the federal government will have to sit down with the First Nations leaders and come up with meaningful treaty settlements.

The federal government is desperate to see the construction of this pipeline. It is the best chance the First Nations have to hold the government’s feet to the fire and make a meaningful treaty settlement.