Coastal First Nations in British Columbia have issued an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking him to reject any new proposal for a crude oil pipeline to the northwest coast.
The move comes as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pushes for a new private-sector pipeline that would send crude oil to the northern B.C. coast for export to Asia.
Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative, says in a statement that there is no pipeline or oil tanker project that would be acceptable to their group, and any proposal to send crude oil through their coastal waters is a “non-starter.”
The group is asking Carney to uphold the 2019 Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which prohibits oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude from stopping, loading or unloading at ports or marine installations along the North Coast.
It says the act is Canada’s recognition of more than 50 years of effort to protect the North Pacific coast, which includes the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii, from the risks of an oil spill.
The nations say they have not changed their stance since oil tankers were banned from their territorial waters in 2010 based on ancestral laws, rights and responsibilities.
The group says the North Pacific coast has one of the richest and most productive cold-water marine ecosystems on Earth, and it remains a source of sustenance, culture, and livelihood for coastal communities and all B.C. residents.
The group has instead suggested the prime minister meet with them to “better understand the credible ecological treasure that is the North Pacific coast.”
The letter comes less than a week after Carney met hundreds of First Nations chiefs, where he faced resistance to the Building Canada Act, which allows the government to fast-track major projects that it deems to be in the national interest, including by sidestepping existing laws.
A news release from the Prime Minister’s Office after he met with premiers in Ontario, says Carney will “continue meeting with key stakeholders over the coming weeks to ensure big projects are built in full partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, and to build one Canadian economy.”
B.C. Premier David Eby told media after the meeting that “for the pipeline project that Premier Smith is a great enthusiast of, a heavy oil pipeline project, there is no project, there is no proponent, there is no private sector money involved at all that I’m aware of.”
Eby says that his government is focused on projects with proponents who are ready to go and have passed an environmental assessment.
“When Premier Smith crosses those obvious hurdles to get a project done, then let’s have those conversations. But to be blunt, we have major projects that are moving ahead, and that’s where our focus is.”
When it comes to the spectre of a possible oil pipeline, Eby says no discussions with First Nations have yet occurred because the project doesn’t exist.
