With Trans Mountain Expansion Spotlighted, Aboriginal Leaders Promise to Fight

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion "will not be built".

Will George, a member of Tsleil-Waututh and leader of Protect the Inlet, an organization that describes itself as "the spiritual home of resistance against the Trans Mountain oil and tanker project in the unceded lands of the Salish peoples coastline ".

It is only an Aboriginal voice that has vowed to continue to fight the expansion after it has been approved – again – by the federal government.

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"The people of British Columbia are at risk of disaster and we are ready to do whatever it takes to stop this pipeline," George said in a statement.

The statement preceded a planned protest in downtown Vancouver on Tuesday night, as well as a 22-kilometer march expected to take place in Victoria on Saturday.

This march will occupy a highway before protesters deliver what they call a "little house" to Island View Beach to support the Secwepemc Tiny House Warriors, a group that seeks to prevent the extension from crossing the Secwepemc territory into the BC interior ..

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The Tiny House Warriors plan to build 10 small houses along the road "to enforce Secwepemc law and jurisdiction and block access to this pipeline."

In the meantime, a statement from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) said leaders across BC remain "strongly opposed" to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

"Our lands are burning and flooding. Our fish are dying and our people are suffering, "said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip in his statement.

"This is not the time to rashly pursue devastating projects for the environment, while our territories are suffering."

Phillip promised that UBCIC would continue to "oppose these projects and defend our lands".

The federal government announced Tuesday its green light for the expansion of the pipeline, after the Federal Court of Appeal overruled the approval approved last August.

The court quashed it, in part, because the federal government "breached the legal obligation to consult with Aboriginal peoples."

In response to this decision, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that the government had doubled the size of its consultation teams and had reconnected with Aboriginal communities.

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Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi met with 65 Aboriginal groups in 46 meetings, Trudeau said.

However, some were still not satisfied with the government's efforts.

"Tsleil-Waututh again engaged in good faith consultations, but it was clear that the federal government had already made its decision as the owner of the project," Chief Leah George-Wilson said in the statement. ; UBCIC.

"Unfortunately, it sounds all too familiar – Canada repeated many of the same mistakes of the last time. We will carefully review the decision with our team and review our legal options to ensure that our rights are protected. "

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At the same time, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) took a different approach, making fewer comments on pipeline approval than on the need to respect rights, title and jurisdiction.

"It is clear that First Nations have different positions on this project, but they all strongly believe that their rights are respected and their traditional territories protected," National Chief Perry Bellegarde said in a statement.

"The government must fully engage with First Nations to enforce their rights and create the foundation for a good business."

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Bellegarde said the current situation is an "important reminder for which the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Free, Prior and Informed Consent are the way forward".

The statement states, inter alia, that states will "consult and cooperate in good faith" with indigenous peoples "in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may to affect them ".

The Government of Canada has stated that it will implement the declaration in 2010.

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The current government is committed to "fully adopt and implement" the declaration in 2016.

An act of implementation of the declaration is in the Senate, awaiting third reading.