MP’s comments raise ire of First Nations politicians

A New Democractic Party candidate in the last federal election is challenging Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP Brian Jean to present the facts that back up his accusations that First Nations leaders are taking funding from foreign environmental groups.

“I think he needs to prove those facts and numbers and illustrate those linkages rather than just making the assumptions that he is,” said Lewis Cardinal, who finished a strong second in the Edmonton Centre riding.

The controversy began in early February when Jean was speaking about the private member’s bill he planned to draft which would block foreign funding of Canadian environmental groups, who oppose major oil and gas projects. His initial comments stemmed from a meeting of the natural resources committee, in which he questioned Vivian Krause, a critic of foreign-funded environmental groups, for details on her research. In the subsequent interview with Ottawa correspondent Peter O’Neil, who writes for the Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, and Vancouver Sun, Jean stated that “it wouldn’t surprise me” if First Nations Chiefs were benefiting financially from opposing Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Jean later told the Journal that his statements were taken out of context. Jean refused an interview with Sweetgrass and instead had his staff direct Sweetgrass to a Vancouver Sun blog on the Internet written by O’Neil.
In that blog, O’Neil said Jean’s comments were a “hot topic during question period” and also included a quote that he had omitted from his initial article.

Jean said proper disclosure would make sure environmental groups “couldn’t interfere in band elections and also in band politics. I think the biggest surprise for anybody would be to talk not to the chiefs but to the band members themselves. They want the chiefs to disclose how much money they’re taking because the money that goes to the chiefs directly comes out of the pockets of the people who live on the reserves.”

Explained O’Neil, “I didn’t include the last quote in my story because I wasn’t sure if he was referring to possible payments from (environmental non-governmental organizations), or was he referring to regular band affairs? We know that the federal government, which has introduced band accountability legislation, is concerned about how bands handle their finances.”

Jean’s comments prompted a letter to the Journal on Feb. 10 from Fort McKay First Nations Chief Jim Boucher and council.

Boucher stated in part, “These uninformed opinions and insinuations that question our people’s integrity are profoundly insulting not only to us as a First Nation but also to all Aboriginal people across this country. We take issue with the suggestion that we are not a people of integrity.”

Boucher invited Jean to meet with him and his council “to become better informed about the relationship between First Nations and industry and the issues related to oil and gas development in the Wood Buffalo region.”

Cardinal said Jean’s comments are typical of the MP’s party.

“As I understand it, Conservative politics, they don’t have to prove what they’re saying, they just have to create doubt in the mind of the reader. That’s what’s happening here,” said Cardinal.

Cardinal noted that although developments such as Northern Gateway and Keystone XL are recent, the concerns voiced by First Nations Chiefs from Alberta and British Columbia are not.

“We’ve been standing up for the environment long before environmentalists came along,” he said.