As the inevitable resumption of protests against the Trans Mountain pipeline project hovers into view, it will be interesting to watch a growing schism between the environmental protest movement and various First Nations.
While the protesters find it easy to take on natural resource companies and various governments, they may find it much tougher to pick a sustained fight with First Nations who support the very projects they oppose.
While some First Nations oppose the pipeline project, more than 30 FNs actually support it as an economic development vehicle to address issues such as poverty, health care and education.
And First Nations leaders are starting to speak out in favor of other projects, such as the LNG Canada project in the North. This is an important development, as up until now many First Nations have opted not to participate in the public debate on these kinds of projects.
The First Nations LNG Alliance was formed several years ago but it is now getting more vocal in its support for these kinds of projects. Its CEO, Karen Ogen-Toews, recently penned an op-ed piece in The Province newspaper in which she made a passionate argument for supporting the LNG Canada project.
“I’ve seen our people, first hand, living in real poverty,” she wrote. “I’ve seen the social issues, the astronomical unemployment rates, the child-welfare cases, the suicides, the addictions, the low levels of education, the poor housing conditions.”
Addressing those issues, she pointed out, is the reason why 20 First Nations along the pipeline route support the project.
Ogen-Toews, a former chief councillor of the Wet’suwet’en First Nations, noted she is a former social worker who has seen aboriginal poverty from a front row seat, and said other natural resource project will have First Nations support as well.
“This is a critical time because there are going to be more natural-resource projects coming along and we need to find a way forward together,” she wrote. “We need to sit down collectively and work together – for the people.”
Crystal Smith, the chief councillor of the Haisla First Nations, recently took aim at a First Nations group that has aligned itself with the environmental protesters.
“Given the large First Nations support for the Coast Gas link, I am disappointed that the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs is choosing to stoke the flames of the conflict regarding the Wet’suwet’en issue, rather than stand in support of 20 Nations which have signed agreements for the natural gas pipeline,” Smith told a Natural Resources Forum in Prince George last month.
Two other prominent First Nations voices have been quite active on Twitter, using the social media forum to take square aim at those who they say are trying to keep their people mired in poverty.
Cheam First Nations leader Ernie Crey, in particular, has been critical of both First Nations and protesters who oppose the Trans Mountain pipeline.
“I respect the grey beards in the Indigenous community but their opposition to the petroleum sector is harming us & will undermine the future of our young folks who want & need jobs,” Crey recently tweeted. “The future belongs to the young, not to those of us who are either retired or near retirement.”
Another of his tweets took a shot at what he called “the megaphones” who claim to speak for First Nations on these issues, and noted there is no evidence of mass First Nations opposition to natural gas projects.
And former Haisla councilor Ellis Ross, now a B.C. Liberal MLA, had this to say on twitter just last week:
“I see that some environmentalists think that to aid in their campaigns against resource projects in B.C., all they need do is scare up a few hereditary chiefs and use them as they would a wreath of garlic to fend off vampires. They best think again.”
Given that so many First Nations clearly see the pipeline projects as the best way to help their members, particularly their younger ones, escape poverty and poor education and health outcomes, it was perhaps inevitable that there would be clashes with pipeline opponents.
You can expect that this schism between First Nations and the environmental protest movement will continue to widen, not shrink.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC. [email protected]
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