Historic signing moves northern pipeline ahead
One voice: All 30 First Nations, whose territory will be crossed, are involved
On the same day the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was released, another historic aboriginal development occurred in Vancouver with far less fanfare and likely far more significance for the future of First Nations in Canada. Nearly 200 native leaders gathered to discuss a plan for new economic development in B.C. on a huge scale that requires no funding from any level of government.
It’s a brilliant business model to which indigenous people, politicians and activists across Canada may wish to pay sharp attention.
The Chief’s Gathering was quietly organized by the Aquilini family, owners of the Vancouver Canucks and operators of a multi-billion-dollar business empire. The Aquilinis have formed a partnership with an aboriginal consortium called Eagle Spirit Energy to build a pipeline from Alberta across northern British Columbia to a new port at Lax Kw’alaams north of Prince Rupert, along with a refinery either in Fort St. John region or in western Alberta.
The cost of building the ESE pipeline is an estimated $18 billion to $20 billion, more than double the cost of the proposed $8 billion Site C dam, a government project (i.e. taxpayers money) which, if built, would be the biggest construction project in British Columbia’s history. The ESE project will generate up to 10,000 well-paying permanent jobs and wealth that would go to participating First Nations and B.C. investors, not the shareholders of foreign-owned corporations. Royalties will go to provincial government coffers, in lieu of the fantasy LNG developments that will remain pipe dreams as long as the global market remains flooded with fracked gas.
All 30 First Nations from B.C. and Alberta whose territory would be crossed by the pipeline attended the gathering and their chiefs signed a historic memorandum of understanding that they would, in the future, all speak with one voice on the pipeline. This means the Enbridge pipeline proposal is now effectively dead despite years of heavy public advertising. Apparently Enbridge executives should have been negotiating with the owners of the land and offering First Nations more than the meagre beads and trinkets that have been flatly refused.
The chiefs attending the gathering spoke at length about the startling effect of the recent Chilcotin decision and its ramifications for the future. While Chilcotin affirms native ownership of traditional lands, the chiefs are well aware federal and provincial governments may attempt to circumvent the ruling. They note the decision is not “absolute,” and that economic development can still proceed on title land without First Nations consent in exceptional cases where “development is pressing, substantial and meets the Crown’s fiduciary duty.”
This means there is a short window of opportunity to proceed with the ESE project before any government decides royalties from any pipeline are “pressing and substantial” to the government’s bottom line. The next step for the Aquilini group is to complete engineering plans and forge ahead with discussion about the location of a refinery at which raw crude would be processed to ship as clean synthetic fuel instead of bitumen.
The chiefs also discussed the hundreds of thousands of rail cars carrying explosive fuels that have been rumbling through northern B.C. reserves day and night for the last several months. They are now fully aware oil is going to be exported one way or another, so best to take control of the export in a fashion that — should an inevitable spill occur — doesn’t destroy the vital salmon runs of the Skeena River.
The Truth and Reconciliation Report was filled with suggestions about ways the aboriginal healing process could be accomplished. At the gathering, even chiefs who had been victim to the savage cultural genocide of the residential school system in their youth agreed discussing the past wasn’t going to help move First Nations needs forward. Their focus is on youth, well-paying jobs that would inject prosperity into their communities for better schooling and proper housing.
The chiefs spoke with one voice that the future is now, that tomorrow is suddenly today, and the time has come to move forward immediately. They have no interest in negotiating with provincial or federal governments, signing treaties, entering legal arguments that make only lawyers rich, participating in yet more studies and national inquiries, asking for reparations, or receiving trinkets from ruthless corporations that have little regard for the land where native people have been faithful environmental stewards for over 10,000 years.
Having 30 different nations act as one is a major accomplishment. That this agreement would mean partial native ownership of one of the biggest construction projects in Canadian history is historic. Concerned taxpayers may note that, in contrast to the white elephant that Site C could become, they won’t pay a dime to create 10,000 new well-paying jobs. In a world full of false promises, like the many natural gas plants and oil projects about which Premier Christy Clark has been pontificating for the last few years, that’s also historic.