The federal panel tasked with further consulting with the public on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline will be making half a dozen stops in the Lower Mainland but local activists say the North Shore is being left out.
Natural Resources Canada has scheduled public meetings to take place on August 9, 10 and 11 in Burnaby and August 16, 17 and 18 in Vancouver.
Outside the Lower Mainland, meetings are planned for Langley, Kamloops, Chilliwack and Victoria. So far, however, there are no meetings planned for North Vancouver, which is directly across from the pipeline terminus in Burnaby.
While North Vancouver and West Vancouver residents could probably make it to Burnaby or Vancouver, North Shore NOPE founder Janice Edmonds said the panel will be missing out on input of particular interest to the North Shore.
“We are the most directly impacted as far as the tankers are concerned,”
said Edmonds. “But the panel and National Energy Board have mostly looked at pipeline safety.”
The agenda for the local meetings hasn’t been set yet, but Edmonds noted the ones taking place in Alberta have given prominence to interests of business, labour, First Nations and NGOs.
“We want scientists. We want toxicologists, oceanographers, marine biologists – people like that at the table so we get a complete, non-biased picture of what the risks actually are,” she said. “This panel is going to inform cabinet. Where are they getting their information from?”
Edmonds said she will be lobbying the North Shore MPs to pursue Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr for more local meetings.
But Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech said the panel is independent and sets its own dates and agendas.
“I can tell you in two years of door knocking, the residents of North Vancouver have just as many concerns about this as residents of Burnaby so I’m not surprised there are some concerns about not having a North Shore location,” he said.
There will be other chances for residents to have their concerns passed along to Ottawa before the cabinet decision in December, said Beech, including meetings organized by local MPs.
Beech has organized a town hall meeting – also in Burnaby – on July 16 specifically focusing on climate change and the Trans Mountain pipeline. The event runs from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Confederation Community Centre in Burnaby.
Even without a local panel meeting, Edmonds said she will be campaigning to get people out to the Burnaby and Vancouver meetings.
“Justin Trudeau said he would not pass a project like that without social licence and community support,” she said. “We’ve met with thousands of people in our community… and overwhelmingly, they’re opposed to this project. And every mayor and every council around Burrard Inlet is opposed to this project. The panel needs to know that and they need to take that message to cabinet. There’s no social licence.”
To attend the meetings hosted by Natural Resources Canada, would-be participants must email [email protected] with their preferred locations.
