Coast Salish Territory/North Vancouver BC—The First Nations Summit Chiefs’ Council met today in North Vancouver and passed a resolution stating that the federal government must not proceed any further with its review of the Enbridge Pipelines project and associated oil supertankers.
The proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines project would mean the construction of two 1170-km-long pipelines from the tar sands in Alberta, across BC to the north Pacific coast at Kitimat, BC. Oil supertankers would carry the oil through very dangerous waters to markets in Asia and elsewhere. The project would bring a high risk of pipeline and marine oil spills, recently highlighted by Enbridge’s two major pipeline oil spills in the U.S. and the tragic Gulf oil spill.
First Nations from across BC joined together and agreed on a statement that the federal government should not proceed further with its assessment of the Enbridge pipelines, unless it obtains the free, prior and informed consent of affected First Nations – the international standard governing consultation with First Nations on the approval of proposals such as the Enbridge pipelines and tankers.