Last week, Lakes District News wrote a story about Enbridge’s Northern Gateway, which has recently filed a request for a three-year extension to start building its pipeline project.
Ironically, one day before Enbridge’s announcement, we had written a completely different story about Northern Gateway, mentioning a seemingly revival of the contentious pipeline project (needless to say that story had to be rewritten).
What was happening before Enbridge’s announcement was that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s press secretary, Cheryl Oates, acknowledged that Notley was rethinking her position and was now more open to Northern Gateway. And with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising to help Alberta deal with the oil industry slump and the Fort McMurray forest fire disaster, Peter O’Neil with the Vancouver Sun wrote that Trudeau might have to say ‘yes’ to at least one contentious pipeline project.
Trudeau promised during his election campaign that if he was elected, the Northern Gateway would not happen. However, he also called for a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic for B.C.’s North Coast, which still hasn’t happened.
This made Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen describe the federal government’s actions as “crab walking.”
“To have something so crystal clear as [Trudeau’s] commitments on the north coast tanker ban, they’re starting to what they call in politics to do the crab walk,” said Cullen. “They start in one position and you can’t really tell that they’re moving, but they start sliding on over and saying ‘well, it depends on how you define oil,’ and ‘what is a tanker anyways?’”
That’s why Enbridge’s announcement caught many by surprise.
It was mostly surprising because we don’t often see pipeline proponents admitting that they have not done a great job consulting with First Nations communities. Or at least that hadn’t been the case yet.
John Carruthers, President of Northern Gateway, said that, from the beginning, Northern Gateway should have done a better job of building relationships with First Nations and Métis communities, particularly on the west coast of B.C.
First Nations of the Yinka Dene Alliance, which includes Nadleh Whut’en, Nak’azdli, Takla Lake, Saik’uz, and Tl’azt’en First Nations in Northern B.C., released a statement last week saying that extra time will not sway their opposition and will only further antagonize their communities.
“It has been more than a decade since this project was proposed and Yinka Dene Alliance First Nations have clearly and repeatedly told Enbridge that Northern Gateway is not permitted in our territories,” said Chief Larry Nooski of Nadleh Whut’en First Nation. “It’s disrespectful for Northern Gateway to ignore us by continuing to push its failed project because it only prolongs the amount of time and resources that First Nations must expend to prevent it from proceeding.”
Chief Stanley Thomas of Saik’uz First Nation said Enbridge is seeking an extension for Northern Gateway because they are now “desperate.”
Lake Babine Nation Chief Wilf Adam also reiterated his position last week.
“Our position still remains the same, no oil pipeline,” he said.
It will certainly be interesting to see what happens, but at this point I don’t think anyone is confident this pipeline project will get off the ground.