The chief of North Vancouver’s Tsleil-Waututh Nation made a last-ditch pitch to federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr in Ottawa Monday, urging the Liberal government not to approve the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline to Burrard Inlet.
Tsleil-Waututh Chief Maureen Thomas and Rueben George, head of the First Nation’s Sacred Trust anti-pipeline campaign, met with Carr on Monday. Thomas and George met with the minister to make their case on issues the North Vancouver band feels have not been addressed by the National Energy Board or the federal government in assessing the pipeline project.
Chief among those is what Thomas and George say is inadequate consultation with the Tsleil-Waututh.
“To us you can’t put the buggy before the horse. A 40-minute presentation to the NEB is not consultation,” said George. George said the Tsleil-Waututh have had other discussions with the federal government since the National Energy Board process wrapped up, but added, “It wasn’t meaningful consultation.”
But George said he was left with little reassurance after the meeting in Ottawa Monday and expects the federal government will go ahead and approve the pipeline expansion.
“My personal opinion is it looks like they want it,” said George. “I think the line has been drawn in the sand.”
George said if that happens, the First Nation is prepared to take their opposition to the pipeline project to the courts. “I really believe the Canadian constitution is going to protect our indigenous rights,” he said.
In September, the Federal Court of Appeal rejected a bid by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to have the National Energy Board process for the Trans Mountain pipeline declared unlawful. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in 2014 on the issue of whether the Crown and NEB had failed in their constitutional duty to consult the Tsleil-Waututh as a First Nation.
The Federal Court of Appeal rejected the claim, stating the Tsleil-Waututh could have raised its concerns about the project with the federal government at numerous times over the last several years, including through the NEB process.
Trans Mountain welcomed the decision at the time. But the Tsleil-Waututh have said they are prepared to launch further lawsuits if the pipeline is approved, including suits that focus on their aboriginal rights and title.
In a letter to Carr delivered Monday, Thomas wrote that if the federal cabinet approves the pipeline project despite concerns raised by the Tsleil-Waututh “it would reopen the many wounds we have suffered as a result of the Crown’s historic disregard for our aboriginal title and rights…”
Her letter concludes: “such action would risk jeopardizing and irreparably harming our nation-to-nation relationship for some time to come, possibly for generations.”
The Tsleil-Waututh continue to strongly opposed the pipeline expansion project and said in statements Monday they consider the National Energy Board process “unreliable” because of its selective consideration of evidence, among other issues.
Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Premier Christy Clark said the five conditions that she had set for supporting the pipeline had not yet been fully met.
“If the federal government green-lights Kinder Morgan, it’s going to be the Prime Minister’s job to come to our province and explain to British Columbians why the project is in the national interest. That will be his job, should they decide to approve it,” she said.
On the condition that legal requirements regarding Aboriginal and treaty rights are addressed, Clark said she “doesn’t know how that’s going to measure up.”
“We’ll wait and see what comes back with the federal review they did,” she said.
Recent improvements to Coast Guard announced by the feds were “very, very significant” but still not enough, the Clark added.
As for negotiating benefits for British Columbians, Clark said that was still being worked on.
“We’ll go through it with a fine-tooth comb and make sure that we are getting absolutely the best deal for British Columbians and protecting our coast and our land base from any risk,” she said.
If approved, the expanded pipeline would carry up to 890,000 barrels of diluted bitumen to the Burnaby terminal directly across the inlet from the Tsleil-Waututh each day, increasing tanker traffic on Burrard Inlet seven fold.
The federal cabinet has until Dec. 19 to make a decision on whether to approve the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion. But many observers are expecting a decision to come sooner, possibly as early as this week.
