Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Coastal First Nations in Prince Rupert, B.C., today, discussing major projects in the region, including the possibility of an oil pipeline from Alberta.
Ahead of his meeting with leaders, Carney told reporters it was about building and development but also conversation.
“Not just building, but how we build and how we build together,” he said.
“It’s a dialogue of what’s been happening in the region, the projects that have been led by the various First Nations here, the various opportunities that do exist, the imperative of conservation.”
Coastal First Nations President Marilyn Slett says just one oil spill would destroy their way of life. The group of nine First Nations remains strongly opposed to a pipeline to B.C.’s coast.
“It is very important to us that the prime minister see our territories and understand our concerns,” she said.
“Coastal First Nations, along with Lax Kw’alaams, and the Haisla Nation, oppose any project that propose to bring oil tankers to the North coast.”
Slett says she’s looking forward to partnering with the federal government to help facilitate projects that support marine protection and sustainable economic development.
“There is no technology that can clean up an oil spill at sea,” she said.
Coastal First Nations leaders opposed bringing ‘oil tankers to the North Coast’ in Carney meeting
Last year, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Ottawa and Alberta, including a path forward for a possible oil pipeline and the lifting of an oil tanker ban along B.C.’s North Coast.
On the streets of Prince Rupert, outside a hotel, roughly a dozen people gathered to show their solidarity with the Coastal First Nations’ opposition to pipelines.
Arnie Nagy, a member of the Haida Nation, is among those who want Carney to keep the oil tanker ban in place.
“We have rights, and our other sister nations have rights on their unceded territories. And those rights aren’t going to be overrun in the name of greed,” he said.
“He’s supposed to represent the people, not major oil corporations.”
Art Sterritt is a member of the Gitga’at Nation and a former spokesperson for the Coastal First Nations. He spoke to CBC News ahead of the meeting, and was among the crowd of demonstrators.
“The prime minister has made a serious mistake. He’s broken the law by coming to an agreement with Alberta on a route to get oil to B.C.,” said Sterritt. “He should have talked to the First Nations first.”
An B.C. oil spill would be environmentally devastating to keystone species, he added, referencing the destruction to Alaskan waters from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
“They’re proposing to put tankers into an area that has all of those species still here,” said Sterritt.
