Eby and First Nations leaders renew pipeline opposition
Canadians shouldn’t expect any new pipelines through British Columbia. Premier David Eby and Indigenous leaders just reaffirmed their opposition.
Canadians shouldn’t expect any new pipelines through British Columbia. Premier David Eby and Indigenous leaders just reaffirmed their opposition, even as Alberta keeps pushing for West Coast energy projects.
Speaking in Vancouver ahead of the 10th annual gathering of provincial cabinet ministers and First Nations leaders, Eby said pipelines and other resource projects will be among the key issues on the table.
“The issues of pipelines, of mines, of major projects in the province will always be a source of negotiation, a source of prosperity, sometimes a source of tension with communities across the province, including Indigenous communities,” said Eby. “These are not easy discussions, but they’re crucial discussions.”
He added the projects would be discussed, but expected some First Nations groups to be in favour and some opposed.
“That’s part of the challenge, and also some of the beauty of this province we live in,” Eby said.
Regional Chief Terry Teegee of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations said projects of this scale must meet federal and provincial obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“When we’re talking about pipelines, I think it’s really important that, as decisions are being made in the context of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples… it’s incumbent of all levels of government to have free, prior and informed consent from our First Nations,” Teegee said. “Further to that is having a robust environmental assessment, especially on a project such as an oil pipeline, that would be very difficult to build, as we’ve seen with the Northern Gateway Enbridge pipeline, which failed.”
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said resistance to oil development is long-standing and rooted in Indigenous law and environmental stewardship.
“The whole pipeline matter is a non-starter for us. It always has been and it always will be,” Phillip said. “Why are we obsessing about oil and gas when the land itself is burning, flooding, landslides? It doesn’t make any sense. There are other, less destructive forms of energy we can look to.”
Phillip added that discussions about pipelines have surfaced repeatedly for decades but said any project advancing to British Columbia’s coast remains “very difficult” given First Nations’ rights and environmental concerns.
The remarks follow Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s repeated calls for Ottawa to support a West Coast oil pipeline, which she argues is vital to Canada’s energy security and economic growth.
Smith previously urged that the pipeline be featured on the next list of major projects, set to be unveiled by the Grey Cup. She warned that if the federal government and B.C. did not cooperate, she would turn south to willing partners in the U.S.
Smith previously called Eby’s opposition “un-Canadian and unconstitutional.”
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi previously told True North that the plan is “a pipe dream.”
“How can it be on the major projects list when there are no projects; there’s no investor; there’s no proponent; there’s no consultation; there’s no consent; there’s not even a route,” said Nenshi.
 | A guest post by
|