Friends of Wild Salmon Responds to Release of Northern Gateway Report
Gerald Amos, chair of for Friends of Wild Salmon, said “Today’s recommendation by the Joint Review Panel confirms that this deeply flawed process has resulted in a decision that has ignored science, common sense and the wishes of the citizens who are being placed at the greatest risk from this proposed project. Despite the overwhelming majority of northern residents who oppose this project, and the hundreds who participated in the JRP process, this panel has ignored northern voices”.
Amos also said “Many First Nations have stated, unequivocally and adamantly, they will not allow this project to proceed, and that reality is not addressed by this deeply flawed report. This panel, which northern communities had no role or voice in selecting, has now placed our country at profoundly great risk. Three people appointed by a government beholden to the international oil industry cannot grant Enbridge the social license to proceed with this project. And that is the license that matters. The communities and thousands of individuals who make up the Friends of Wild Salmon will stand together as one with First Nation communities, and everyone else who understands this project cannot proceed ”.
Des Nobles, a long-time commercial fisherman from Prince Rupert, and past Chair of the Friends of Wild Salmon had this to say about the report “Unfortunately, this report is exactly what we expected. These are the findings of a panel that never represented the interests of the communities most at risk from this project. The belief that it is possible to clean up oil spills in mountain rivers, or on the Pacific Ocean in a storm, could only come from people who fundamentally do not understand what is at risk, and why. Now the questions get tougher – just how far is this government willing to go in trying to force this project on unwilling communities? Now we are fighting for our homes and families.”
Friends of Wild Salmon is a coalition of northern First Nations, community groups, sport and commercial fishing organizations, and concerned residents Columbia’s North Coast and Skeena watershed who work to protect wild salmon in the Skeena watershed and North Coast.