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Time for Enbridge to cut its losses, says Sterritt

Author

By Shari Narine Windspeaker Contributor GITGA’AT FIRST NATION, B.C.

Volume

33

Issue

11

Year

2016

Art Sterritt expects Gitga’at First Nation’s recent legal victory to impact more than the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Jan. 13 that the province had failed in its duty to properly consult and accommodate Gitga’at First Nation on Northern Gateway. An equivalency agreement signed by B.C. allowed the National Energy Board (NEB) to drive the approval process for the project. B.C. did not issue its own environmental certificates, instead depending on federal environmental certificates, and did not carry out its own consultations, instead depending on NEB hearings.

“B.C. entered into the same kind of equivalency agreement with Kinder Morgan. The same thing is going to be true there. B.C. didn’t consult with the First Nations on Kinder Morgan,” said Sterritt.

Kinder Morgan is proposing a $6.8-billion expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline from Burnaby to Alberta. The provincial government recently said it would not support the project.

The legal challenge of Nothern Gateway, advanced by Gitga’at First Nation and Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative Society, said the province had abdicated its duty by signing an equivalency agreement with the NEB for the Northern Gateway pipeline project. While NEB set out more than 200 conditions for Enbridge to meet, B.C. had five of its own conditions.

“You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say on the one hand we’re opposed, but really do nothing about that when in actual fact you have the power to do (something). What we did is we went to the court to demonstrate that (the province does) have the power,” said Sterritt, a member of the Gitga’at First Nation.

“(The province) may very well have been able to delegate (their approval authority), but they had to consult with the Gitga’at before they did that,” said Sterritt as the implication of signing the equivalency agreement had ramifications on the Gitga’at people.

Sterritt is not surprised by the court’s decision.

“Everybody knows what the law is, but some choose to ignore it and, when you ignore it, you lose court cases,” he said.

It is unclear how the government will proceed.

“We have just received the decision on the petition and will need to take time to review it and determine next steps. The court held that the equivalency agreement is invalid to the extent that British Columbia relies on the decision of the National Energy Board in relation to the Northern Gateway project. My staff will need time to review the decision and government will have more to say in due course,” said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton in a statement.

The ministry of justice has further stated that it does not expect it will have to “duplicate the entire process.” No decision has been made at this point as to whether the decision will be appealed.

An email request to Enbridge for comments went unreturned. However, Ivan Giesbrecht, communication manager for Northern Gateway, had issued a statement previously, saying, “Approval of the project falls within federal jurisdiction and this decision from the BC Supreme Court does not change that approval or the project’s environmental assessment.”

Sterritt says consultation with all First Nations along the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline will take some time, noting that it took NEB a couple of years, and that was “hurrying it through.”

As far as Sterritt is concerned, Enbridge should pull the plug on the project, considering 85 per cent of British Columbians are opposed to the development and the federal government has said it wants to formalize a tanker ban on B.C.’s north coast.

“I don’t know when Northern Gateway will start mitigating their losses … they would be wise to use this as an opportunity to finally vacate the idea,” said Sterritt. “(They) are finding out that the whole legal landscape they thought they were operating under has changed. I don’t know when they’re going to realize they need to cut their losses and that this project has been a long time dead.”

As for the province, Sterritt says it should follow the federal government’s lead in “listening better to First Nations.”

Assembly of First Nation National Chief Perry Bellegarde agrees. In a statement, Bellegarde said, “The Prime Minister has committed to make sure all federal laws and policies respect First Nations rights. He has committed to give life to the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right of First Nations to free, prior and informed consent on any developments in our traditional territories.  We call on provincial governments to follow suit.”