LNG fans, foes in B.C. clash over First Nations support
B.C. pressure from both sides continued to mount on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the federal government’s pending decision on whether to approve thePacific NorthWest LNG project near Prince Rupert.
Two large delegations, one in favour of the $12-billion project and the other vehemently opposed, lobbied officials as part of a continuing campaign to sway the government.
B.C. Conservative MPs, buoyed by northeastern B.C. mayors here to meet with senior government officials, argued in the House of Commons that the project has widespread support from native and non-native communities.
One of the MPs even called on Justice Minister Jody-Wilson Raybould, the first aboriginal Canadian to hold that cabinet post, to lobby her cabinet colleagues in order to boost job opportunities for indigenous British Columbians.
“When will she break the silence, stand up for British Columbians and push her cabinet colleagues to approve the LNG project?” said Todd Doherty, the MP for Cariboo-Prince George.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna rose to repeat a message she’s been sending to those, including the B.C. government, who are intensively lobbying her on Pacific Northwest.
“There’s no point in pushing me because we make environmental decisions based on evidence, facts and science.”
The coalition of five mayors from municipalities, including Fort St. John and Tumbler Ridge, met Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and senior officials with the ministries of finance and infrastructure.
“We presented a strong unified message that our citizens and businesses are experiencing an economic downturn of grave severity, with massive job losses and business failures, which (have) major negative impacts on families and workers as well as our local economy,” Rob Fraser, mayor of the District of Taylor, said in a statement.
The delegation of aboriginal leaders, who met with officials in Trudeau’s office, challenged at a news conference a March 15 letter from Lax Kw’alaams Mayor John Helin to McKenna.
Helin, who hung up when contacted by a reporter Tuesday, offered conditional support in that letter for the project as long as his community is given a formal system to monitor the company’s environmental stewardship.
The First Nation, as recently as March 7, had opposed the project due to considers that the facility on Lelu Island adjacent to Flora Bank would threaten vital Skeena River salmon habitat.
In the spring of 2015, the community voted unanimously against a $1.14 billion benefits package from the Pacific Northwest consortium, which is led by the Malaysian state-owned company Petronas.
“Our village had a vote that still stands, a unanimous vote that we turned down the $1.14 billion offer over 40 years, and to date we have not had another vote to say otherwise, so the vote still stands as ‘no’ in our community,” Donald Wesley, a hereditary chief with the Gitwilgyoots tribe of the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation, said here Tuesday.
He and group of First Nations leaders from the Lax Kw’alaams, Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en First Nations argued that Trudeau, if he is to fulfil his high-profile vows to deal with climate change and improve relations with First Nations, must reject the project.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said Pacific NorthWest LNG would “decimate” the Skeena River salmon fishery, which is second in B.C. only to the Fraser River in its wealth of salmon.
He said the efforts of the B.C. government and the company’s lobbyists to pressure Ottawa to approve the project have been “unethical” and “thuggish.”
“Clearly this project is being politically driven by the Clark government in concert with Petronas, (while) simply sweeping (away) the concerns of indigenous peoples.”
Company spokesman Spencer Sproule said Pacific Northwest has had statements of support from the five First Nations that the federal government identified as needing consultation on the Lelu Island facility — the Lax Kw’alaams, Metlakatla, Gitxaala, Kitsumkalum and Kitselas First Nations.
Sproule said the majority of First Nations along the proposed pipeline route from northeastern B.C. to Lelu Island are also supportive.
The federal government will have 90 days to approve the project once it has received requested information on the company’s ability to meet conditions Ottawa deems necessary to protect salmon habitat.