Repairing a relationship
The CBC headline says: Enbridge Taps Jim Prentice to rescue Northern Gateway First Nations Talks.
The Citizen headline says: Pipeline hire looks to repair relationship.
Other news agencies are saying pretty much the same thing. Enbridge has a major public relations problem with First Nations that is in desperate need of repair.
Interesting, considering that it isn’t just First Nations that Enbridge needs to convince. Certainly the full page advertisements appearing in newspapers are a testimony to the ongoing campaign of public persuasion.
The advertisements are a gentle public relations campaign. They are designed to not say “Vote For Enbridge!” but rather “Things are okay. Trust us.”
Whoever is putting the ads together is certainly fluent in the fine art of gentle persuasion! The same could be said for the television commercials featuring our delightful pair of sockeye salmon.
Notice that it is two salmon? We are to assume that they are a couple, heading home to their spawning ground to mate and thereby complete the circle of life. The commercial almost screams of family values.
After all, this is the coastline, they say, that Enbridge is doing everything in its power to protect. If that was the case, they would walk away from the pipeline right now.
On the whole, for the general public, Northern Gateway has a very cleverly crafted message of calm reassurance. Things are going to be alright. Things will be okay.
For First Nations, though, Enbridge thinks it needs to repair the relationship. We need to rescue the project they are saying. Why the different approach?
Well, not to be too cynical about this whole mess but the Supreme Court of Canada has made it abundantly clear that where title has not been extinguished, it still exists. All levels of government need to come to an agreement before resource development and extraction can occur.
Put simply, while the average citizen of Prince George only needs to be told “don’t worry; be happy”, the First Nations across the north have to be convinced to give up something that is traditionally theirs. The pipeline can go ahead regardless of what people in this town think but not so with the First Nations over whose land it will go.
So, Enbridge needs to get somewhere close to one hundred First Nations bands on-side. That is not likely to happen any time soon if some of the elders have their way.
I was discussing the whole pipeline deal and the relationship between First Nations and Enbridge with one of our political science students the other day.
It was a fascinating conversation. There are strong leaders in many of the communities that are not willing to bend to the political will of the federal government.
But the hiring of Mr. Prentice is a signal that they really don’t understand the issue that is at stake. This isn’t about money. It is about principles. It is about a way of life.
As an example, the people of Hartley Bay - the same fishers that traversed the waters at night to save the passengers from the Queen of the North - rely on the waters around them for their food. The nearest grocery store is a long boat ride away.
As the student I was talking to pointed out, they rely not just on fish from the water but also cockles and other shellfish from the shore. What will happen, he asked, when a tanker travels by and discharges tainted water into the channel? There doesn’t have to be an oil spill to destroy the traditional food of the people there.
Or, he asked, why are we not thinking about the future? Exporting our limited and finite resources to foreign countries doesn’t make a lot of sense especially when we will eventually run out. Along the way, this oil will result in greenhouse emissions that will increase the temperature in the air and lead to land that is less habitable.
“Where is a sustainable future in all this? What are we to tell our grandchildren?” he asked.
Talking with this young man - a student embarking on a life of learning and with a long future - certainly gives one pause. There is no price that can be paid that will bring back something once it is dead.
He wanted to know why it is that the promise of jobs, education, and facilities which will only help with the near future is being placed in importance above the future of the people of the north.
It is a question for which I don’t know the answer. I doubt that Mr. Prentice will have an answer to that question either.
In the meantime, the rest of the population is being lulled to sleep with promises of economic prosperity for our future.