First Nations groups resolute in their opposition to Keystone XL

First Nations groups are resolute in their opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline, and are willing to go to great lengths over the coming months in order to stop the project, activists say. Maryam Adrangi, of the progressive think-tank the Council of Canadians, told The Hill Times that activist groups are “training people for non-violent direct action such as blockading heavy equipment” in order to derail construction of the XL Pipeline. “It’s great that you see a lot of the big rallies that are happening at the White House … and across Canada, and indigenous people from Canada and all over the U.S. have been speaking at these events, but then when it comes to the actual construction, what we’re seeing is indigenous communities are the skills to try and actually stop these projects at the source,” said Ms. Adrangi, climate and energy campaigner for the Council of Canadians. Ms. Adrangi said that TransCanada Corp, the Calgary-based company that wants to build the pipeline, and the federal government are violating indigenous rights. “Corporations and government are discussing what’s going to happen on people’s lands without consultation and without their consent. Communities that essentially should have the right to say ‘no,’ don’t.…With the history of colonization and the history of land-grabs, corporations, and government behave as if they have a sense of entitlement over what happens on indigenous lands,” Ms. Adrangi said. The Keystone XL project is a transnational venture designed to bring over 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Alberta tar sands to the refineries of Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast of Texas. TransCanada says that the $7.6-billion project will create thousands of jobs, and promote energy stability in North America. The project has been met with vociferous resistance, however, from an assortment of native, environmentalist, and social activist groups. First Nations have concerns over environmental degradation, the potential disruption of ancient burial grounds, and violation of land treaties. Chief Martin Louie of the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation in Port Fraser, B.C., said, “the method are using is totally destructive to the land,” and the XL Pipeline poses an unacceptable threat to First Nation natural resources. Chief Louie noted the famous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and said that potential water contamination from leaks in the XL pipeline is of pinnacle importance to his tribe. “The No. 1 reason is water,” Chief Louie told The Hill Times. “There’s only so much water that’s left and I think if nobody else is really interested in trying to save it. The First Nations people are the only ones who are able to stand up and try and do something to save these waters.” The XL pipeline would snake south from northern Alberta through or close to dozens of First Nations communities in Canada, and Native American tribal lands in the United States. Groups in both countries have been working together closely in an attempt to thwart TransCanada’s plans. Marty Cobenais of the Minnesota-based Indigenous Environmental Network said that Native Americans have concerns similar to the ones of Canadian First Nations, noting that Sioux tribal lands in the Dakotas would be threatened if XL were to go forward as planned. “The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline is planning to go over three times, so if that leaks and gets into the water supply, they’re basically doomed because that is their only source of fresh water right now. And the entire southwestern part of South Dakota is in trouble too. Not just the tribes, the communities,” Mr. Cobenais told The Hill Times. Mr. Cobenais also brushed aside the argument that politicians like Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver (Eglinton-Lawrence) have made, in that the pipeline would result in a significant employment opportunities for First Nations. Mr. Cobenais called the promise of jobs “economic blackmail.” “Unfortunately the tribes up in the First Nations have to work in the industry, otherwise they have to move away because they can’t afford to live there anymore,” Mr. Cobenais. “And most of this pipeline will be laid by contractors, not the local people. Normally when I go through the States, only 10 per cent of the crew is local people, the rest are people brought in .” Ms. Adrangi echoed those concerns. “What Joe Oliver says is that it will stimulate the economy and provide jobs, without actually giving context to the fact that maybe these aren’t the good jobs that we should be stimulating,” said Ms. Adrangi. “I think this happens all over Canada. Folks from the Atlantic can’t work in their communities and have to fly to the tar sands to work. Are these the kind of jobs the government wants to create?” Presently, all eyes are on Washington, D.C., as U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has not yet decided whether or not it will approve the pipeline. Earlier this year, Mr. Obama said, “the failure to would betray our children and future generations,” and his administration has indicated that tackling climate change is one of the fundamental pillars of his second term legislative plans. Republican politicians, however, are urging the administration to embrace the project and the jobs proponents say it will create. It is unclear which direction the Obama administration will go, but Ms. Adrangi envisions a difficult situation if the project does, indeed, go forward. “Nowhere along the lines are people along the pipeline’s route being listened to, so it really could come down to people putting their bodies on the line and people stopping the construction,” Ms. Adrangi. news@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

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First Nations groups resolute in their opposition to Keystone XL

Activist groups are ‘training people for non-violent direct action such as blockading heavy equipment’ in order to derail construction of the XL Pipeline, says Council of Canadians.

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