Band won't budge on methane

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"Title and rights can't be extinguished," because they have Constitutional protection, Chief Mike Retasket of the Bonaparte Indian Band insists.

But because his community believes their rights are threatened, they have joined the fledgling Title and Rights Alliance that is intent on protecting the environment and Native rights as the province pursues resource development.

The Bonaparte Indian Band insists the Ministry of Energy and Mines' plan to conduct coalbed methane exploration in the Hat Creek watershed infringes on Aboriginal rights and title and therefore will not be allowed to go ahead without appropriate consultation with them.

In addition, there are environmental concerns that retrieving methane gas from the ground may contaminate the water and air. The band is adamant that exploration won't proceed until adequate baseline studies and cumulative impact studies are done.

Retasket said the government assured the band on July 10 last year that it would give them specific information about its plans, but it has not done so. Instead, it has been pressuring the band to go along with a fast-tracked consultation process in order to meet its predetermined deadlines.

Specifically, Retasket said the government had promised them that "no-go was an option." He said that although the government gave them that assurance and the band has it on videotape, provincial officials now are denying saying it.

"They really want the tape, but we're not giving it to them."

He said this evidence will help ensure that when the Crown is considering whether the ministry had authorization or not, that no-go is an option.

"The other point that we raised with them ... with the development of the coal project developed back in 1973, there was an order-in-council that said the gases aren't part of it ... they can't go seek the gas. That was approved in 1962. It still exists today, but the ministry is telling us that can be rescinded with the stroke of a pen.

"We're saying, before they do that, they need to meaningfully involve us, so we know in a timely manner when that order-in-council is going to be rescinded.

"Also, BC Hydro is transferring ... the permit back to either the province or really, any other entity, and when that transfer occurs we need to be informed. And ... if there are any allocations of resource tenures in Hat Creek, we need to be informed and meaningfully involved."

Retasket said this means if BC Hydro transfers the licence back, the province can put it out to bid. "If we're not meaningfully consulted we can challenge that the issuing of the permit is invalid."

The chief said they also received assurances July 10 that before the consultation process begins, baseline studies for the quality of water and cumulative impact assessments would be done. He said this information is essential in order for the band to make an informed decision, but as far as he knows, the studies have not been done.

"They've been trying to talk with us," Retasket said, "but there's no process in place. Just talking to us is not meaningful; nothing meaningful has happened . . . Before we go back to the table with them, we need to have those assurances-like the order-in-council I talked about, the transfer of the licence, the no-go as an option."

"They're just fastracking it, that's what they're doing." He added that a lot of money will come to whoever gets the licence to develop the area, but "none of it will come to us, that's for sure."

Another sticking point for the band is that the province sends low-level officials without decision-making power to talk to them.

The chief said that the ministry won't reveal to the band what companies are interested in coalbed methane extraction in their traditional territory, and according to the chief it is not advising interested developers of any Aboriginal rights and title issue in the watershed.

Chief Mike Retasket said Bahamian company Opm Energy is one of the interested parties that wanted to talk about a possible joint venture but the band told them to leave their territory. He added another company from Kamloops had spoken to the band about the opportunity to explore coalbed methane.

At the same time, he said the province has told them it doesn't know of any companies with an interest in exploration in Hat Creek.

"What I think is going to happen, of the 100 per cent of the coalbed methane in the province, only one per cent of it is in Hat Creek. In the north, in the Peace River, Hudson-Hope area, that's where 75 per cent of the coalbed methane is, in the northeast.

"Now why would the province be so interested in this little, tiny section of land to develop coalbed methane, when there is only one per cent of coalbed methane in the province?"

The chief said they are supported in their opposition by the Hat Creek Survival Coalition, which has met every year in Hat Creek since 1973 when a coal development plan had been in the works. The group includes environmentalists, ranchers and others "who realize the distinct connection the Aboriginal people have in the Hat Creek watershed."

On this issue too, Retasket said he believes an alliance of Bonaparte, Fountain and Pavilion bands and their supporters against the province "can hold them out, through due diligence."

He said the issue will be on the agenda of a Title and Rights Alliance gathering May 19 and 20 in Victoria.

The chief added they get no co-operation or support from the federal government to resolve the issue because they won't sign onto the treaty process. "We don't agree to the 1986 comprehensive claims policy which establishes the rules to the treaty. We believe that it refers to an extinguishment of title and rights and then going to the federal table to negotiate for bits and pieces of the rights back, so we just don't agree with it.

"With the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the band has constantly affirme itle and rights and we hold on to that."