Alberta minister opens ‘dialogue’ with First Nations on pipeline, not trying a ‘hard sell’

After a respectful meeting with Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney, leaders of Gitga’at First Nation say they remain adamant they won’t support oil tankers passing through their waters off British Columbia’s north coast.

“We’ve been dealing with this for a long, long time, and our stance is very clear that the world does not know how to clean up an oil spill yet,” Cameron Hill, Gitga’at First Nation’s deputy chief, said in an interview.

Following the landmark memorandum of understanding signed by the Alberta and federal governments to pursue a possible new oil pipeline to the B.C. coast, Sawhney met with some First Nations. She said she wanted to hear their concerns, but not to sell them on a project.

“The whole idea was to be able to have a dialog. I wasn’t there to try to change anybody’s minds or do some sort of a hard sell,” said Sawhney, who met virtually with representatives of the Gitga’at First Nation and other Coastal First Nations late last week.

Sawhney said she was able to clarify details of the MOU but mostly spent time hearing about their perspectives, including their support for the moratorium banning oil tankers off the northern coast.

Despite her “wholehearted” belief in the value of the pipeline, Sawhney emphasized that now is “not the time” to negotiate with First Nations about it, but instead to listen and learn, to enable stronger relationships.

The meeting was well-received by Hill and other members of the Gitga’at First Nation, who argue an oil spill cannot effectively be cleaned up in water like the north coast.

They referenced the disastrous effects of the Exxon Valdez spill of the 1980s in Alaska, the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, and even the B.C. Queen of the North ferry that rammed into Gil Island in 2006 with more than 100 people onboard.

Gitga’at members said in each case the oil wasn’t cleaned up and that the effects are still felt today.

“When that (Queen of the North) went down and released all its diesel, there was nobody there to help clean it up. And my own people went out with these little foot-by-foot square absorbent pads and were on the beaches trying to soak up diesel,” said Hill.

“So, we know firsthand what spills and contaminants to our territory can do to us, and there’s nobody been there but us to clean it up,” he said.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre put a motion on the floor of the House of Commons Tuesday to get a commitment from the Liberals to override the tanker ban. The motion prompted the Coastal First Nations group, which represents nine Indigenous communities, including the Gitga’at, to go to Ottawa and address the issue.

“This Conservative motion for our (First) Nations ignores the important duty to consult and the need to work together and reach consent from the real rights and title holders in the territory that these proposed projects,” said Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of Haida Nation.

Critics of the MOU have pointed out that the agreement doesn’t specify the need for Indigenous “consent” to the project, but only “consultation,” prompting concerns that the federal government could override its own tanker ban to allow the project to proceed.

For Sawhney, fostering an open discussion at this stage between governments and First Nations is the most important step. It is also a lesson that she said the Alberta government learned from the failed Northern Gateway pipeline to the northern coast.

“I think it’s important that (First Nations) get a chance to know me, get a chance to know the Government of Alberta and understand our intention and motivations as well,” said Sawhney. “(It) is not to try to ram something through without really hearing their perspective — that’s not the intention.”

Art Sterritt — an advisEr to the Gitga’at First Nation and former speaker for the Coastal First Nations of 15 years — said that the issue for many First Nations in the area boils down to the overarching inability to manage human error.

Despite any technological advancements designed to prevent industrial accidents like oil spills, Sterritt said, “it all falls down to human nature, and human error is the problem that we haven’t solved.”

On the question of needing First Nations’ consent for these projects, Sterritt said it’s actually a matter of Indigenous rights.

“What’s right is right, and we’ve always believed in that, and the courts have always reinforced us, in that we know where our rights come from. They come from us. So, if you want to know what you can do in our territory, talk with us.”

zdelaney@postmedia.com