Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Prince Rupert today to meet with Coastal First Nations to discuss major projects in northern B.C.
A unnamed government official told CBC News Monday the meeting is intended to address projects underway and potential partnerships between the federal government and Indigenous communities in the region.
Last year, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Ottawa and Alberta, including a path forward for a possible oil pipeline and the lifting of an oil tanker ban along B.C.’s North Coast.
Coastal First Nations previously expressed strong opposition to an oil pipeline to the North Coast, with the group of nine First Nations saying the pipeline will never happen.
Gitga’at First Nation spokesperson Art Sterritt said he hopes to educate the prime minister on the consequences of a potential spill, and wants the current oil tanker ban to be respected.
He added that the projects lack economical value and follow a colonial practice of transferring industry once resources have been largely extracted.
“We have everything that we need within our traditional territories. We have all the food that we need,” said Sterritt.
“We have all the wildlife. We have all the fish, the halibut, the salmon. And we have a live, functioning, environment within the Great Bear Rainforest.”
Any jobs created aren’t worth the environmental risk, added Sterritt, citing human error as the cause of disasters like the sinking of the Queen of the North and a U.S. navy vessel that sank nearly 80 years ago.
“We are not an impoverished group of people. It’s not like we need a job. And the other thing is, there are no jobs in this. There are no jobs in pipelines. There are no jobs in tankers,” he said.
Sterritt also said the navy vessel has still not been recovered or cleaned up and leaked fuel in 2012.
The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs issued a statement against liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects like the Ksi Lisims and North Coast Transmission Line in November.
Speaking with CBC News, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said he expects very little value from today’s event and feels the rights of Indigenous people aren’t being heard by the prime minister.
“It’s more heartbreaking to know that the lands and the waters and the beauty of British Columbia, the coastal regions is being sacrificed for oil and gas, pipelines and LNG development,” he said.
Carney says his meeting with Coastal First Nations is about dialogue, not big announcements
Upon arriving in Prince Rupert on Tuesday, ahead of his 9 a.m. PT meeting with leaders, Carney told reporters that it was about building and development but also dialogue.
“Not just building, but how we build and how we build together,” he said.
“It’s a dialogue of what’s been happening in the region, the projects that have been led by the various First Nations here, the various opportunities that do exist, the imperative of conservation.”
Coastal First Nations leaders will comment on their meeting with Carney at a news conference scheduled for 12 p.m. PT.
“Coastal First Nations are looking forward to a productive and collaborative discussion with Prime Minister Carney on how to advance shared priorities around sustainable economic development and marine protection in the region,” said a release about the meeting.
