Having said and written it numerous times, I was not surprised when I read of yet another native group fighting a pipeline in British Columbia. Unfortunately, this alliance of First Nations is celebrating its win in the provincial supreme court against Northern Gateway over what it claims was inadequate consultation with the Gitga'at and Coastal tribes. (I refuse to call them "nations" because they aren't.) The problem was that BC ceded its review power to the National Energy Board, which the court ruled did not result in adequate consultation with the natives. Poppycock. The natives are consulted to the back teeth on every move anyone plans to make.
"We're now at the point where if Northern Gateway wanted (sic) to move ahead, it would almost have to start over," crowed Gitga'at member Art Sterritt. Do these people not realize Canada is in a financial crisis and the inability to get oil to tide waters is the main reason? My G-d, Alberta has dumped 65,000 jobs in the last year! Seriously.
No, I guess they don't. Why? Because they are financially-supported regardless by the rest of Canada and because natives do not identify as "Canadian".
And to add insult to injury, our hapless PM has said he wants to formalize a tanker ban on BC's north coast, a move that on its own would kill Northern Gateway. How does young Trudeau expect to move oil? By row boat? And we all know how safe rail is(n't).
In this instance, Northern Gateway has had its permit in hand since 2014 -- with 209 native-negotiated conditions attached. The only reason it hasn't moved ahead yet is because it wanted to garner support from native tribes along the route. But instead of consulting, these groups sued over lack of consultation! You could not make this up.
This country is in dire straights, but even food lines won't motivate natives to get real. So dumb.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment