Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson faced a failing grade and a cancelled speech at this week’s Assembly of First Nations meeting as pushback grows among B.C. chiefs over the government’s new energy agreement with Alberta.
Some B.C. chiefs say the Building Canada Act is failing its first test, accusing the Liberals of dodging critical questions about First Nations consent for a proposed pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast.
“His engagement with Coastal First Nations and First Nations in British Columbia, if I was going to grade it — it would be an F,” B.C. Regional Chief Terry Teegee of the Assembly of First Nations said.
Hodgson had been on the agenda to speak at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) special chiefs assembly in Ottawa Thursday. But this morning, his name was off the schedule.
His office told CBC News “there was a shuffling of the agenda by organizers from the federal government,” specifying it was not Hodgson’s office that made the change.
The minister is facing heavy criticism from chiefs and his own colleagues for the way he’s approaching First Nations around the memorandum of understanding the federal government signed with Alberta, and how a potential pipeline would impact B.C.
Instead of addressing the assembly, Hodgson met with the AFN’s B.C. regional caucus on the sidelines. Such meetings are generally private, But B.C. chiefs and members opened the door to media not long after it began to air their concerns.
“What he didn’t answer is that what will happen if some First Nations say yes, like Alberta First Nations, for instance, and B.C. First Nations say no. Will you force the project on us? And he just sort of stepped around and sort of said, well, that’s a premature question,” said Merle Alexander, member of the Heiltsuk First Nation in B.C.
“That doesn’t give us any comfort.”
Hodgson told the chiefs that he will be “up on the northern coast [of B.C.] soon.” He reiterated that there isn’t a pipeline on the table yet.
“The Indigenous Peoples on the coast care a lot about their land, and what we talked about today was a process for how projects will be developed,” Hodgson said. “They’ll be developed in partnership with First Nations, and that’s the commitment in the Building Canada Act.”
Earlier this week, the AFN passed a unanimous resolution calling on the federal government to withdraw from the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alberta that sets the conditions for a pipeline to B.C.’s northern coast, including a potential exemption to that coast’s oil tanker ban.
“This MOU is a slap in the face of British Columbia,” said Teegee. “They did this agreement without B.C. in mind.”
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne defended Hodgson on Thursday.
“I think [Hodgson] has done the work which is important, which respected the Major Projects Office. I think that the engagement is what needs to be done,” Champagne told reporters after he addressed the assembly later in the day.
“The nations want to be heard, the nations want to be [involved], the nations want to build the future together.”
But some members of B.C. First Nations worry the government could proceed without them, even after consultations take place.
“You can expect there will be fierce and active litigation. There will be significant civil unrest along the corridor,” Alexander said.
“First Nations in B.C., when they say no they mean it. So you’ll see a significant and forceful opposition.”
