Oil industry leaders meet

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Chiefs and leaders from oil and gas producing First Nations from Alberta and British Columbia met with leaders from petroleum companies on March 1 at the McDougall Centre in Calgary.

"Priority is getting industry and First Nations to work together and moving forward," said Ben Ground, Indian Resource Council Board of Directors Vice-chair.

The Indian Resource Council and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers have been meeting every year since 1993 to address issues and find solutions to problems affecting First Nations as a result of oil and gas activity on or near their lands.

"There are issues we try to bring forward, how we can create the most employment, the most training, the most economic development of businesses, how we can put them together has been our main focus," said Ground.

In response to that need, IRC and CAPP, with support from Indian affairs and Human Resources Canada, signed a First Nations Employment and Training Centre Accord in 1997.

In addition to a centre, the accord provides for the co-ordination of efforts by the First Nations, the industry and the government in developing employment and training programs.

IRC was established in 1987 by oil and gas producing First Nations to represent their interests in dealing with government and the oil industry in the areas of economic benefits, preservation of Crown Trust treaty obligations, First Nation human resource development and to eventually replace Indian Oil and Gas.

A board of directors representing 15 First Nations across Canada supervises its activities.

IRC entered into a working relationship with CAPP through a Memorandum of Understanding and Statement of Principles in 1987 to create understanding between the oil and gas industry and First Nations.

"There are some that are having a very good relationship and some that are not," Ground said.

Some First Nations are having difficulty in conveying their needs, but others have established a good working relationship with the industry, said Ground.

Getting the best opportunities they can get on their lands and also looking at the traditional value, said Ground

Premier Ralph Klein welcomed the gathering of First Nation and oil industry executives in Blackfoot saying he values his relationship with First Nations with great pride.

First Nation spiritual and cultural ties with the land must be respected by all oil and gas companies engaged in activity near their lands, said Klein.