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Aboriginal groups unite against oil pipelines

Wet’suwet’en First Nation and Carrier Sekani Tribal Council are part of the treaty.
Aboriginal groups unite against oil pipelines
Map shows the proposed projects that the ‘treaty alliance against tar sands expansion’ aims to stop - Enbridge’s Northern Gateway and Line 3 pipeline

Aboriginal groups from across North America decided to work together to stop proposed tar sands pipeline, tanker and rail projects.

The approximately 50 Aboriginal groups from across Canada and Northern U.S. - including Wet’suwet’en First Nation and Carrier Sekani Tribal Council - gathered in Vancouver and Montreal last week to sign a new continent-wide Aboriginal treaty.

“The Yinka Dene have already shown in the case of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway that a pipeline cannot hope to pass through a unified wall of Indigenous opposition,” said Carrier Sekani Tribal Chief Terry Teegee. “You will now see the same thing play out with all other tar sands pipelines, including another failed B.C. pipeline – Kinder Morgan.”

The so-called ‘treaty alliance against tar sands expansion’ aims to stop five tar sands pipeline and tanker project proposals - Enbridge’s Northern Gateway and Line 3 pipeline, Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion, TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline and Keystone XL.

“What this treaty means is that from Quebec, we will work with our First Nation allies in B.C. to make sure that the Kinder Morgan pipeline does not pass and we will also work with our tribal allies in Minnesota as they take on Enbridge’s Line 3 expansion, and we know they’ll help us do the same against Energy East,” said Serge Simon, Grand Chief of Kanesatake, located in Quebec.

Grand Chief Steward Phillip, President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said the infrastructure that expands the tar sands is both incompatible with reducing Canada’s emissions and “completely irresponsible.”