Posted - July 23, 2013
Updated: July 23, 2013 | 8:56 pm - By Keven Drews
VANCOUVER – Participating in three liquefied natural-gas projects
will help a First Nation on British Columbia’s North Coast buy back its
traditional territory and improve the lives of members, says its chief
councillor.
The Haisla occupy territory near the community of Kitimat, B.C., and
at the head of Douglas Channel, a strategic site for tankers that will
move LNG to Asia and the United States. The First Nation is involved
directly or indirectly in three LNG proposals.
On Tuesday, band members gave Joe Oliver, the federal natural
resources minister, a one-hour boat tour of some of the proposed sites
and met with him afterwards.
Chief Coun. Ellis Ross said in an interview the companies involved in
the projects, with the support of the Crown, are giving his First
Nation the ability to acquire land without a treaty.
“I think the fundamental issue for First Nations in our area, at
least for Haisla, fundamentally is still the land issue,” he said.
“There’s a lot of window dressing on what the issues are. It could be
anything from social benefits, welfare, education, health, money, but I
think for the Haisla, what we’ve got to do, is you know, OK, let’s go
back to the land issues first. Maybe that drives what the answer is to
the rest of the issues. I fully believe that.”
The band of about 1,700 members is without a treaty, and according to
the BC Treaty Commission, it is at the fourth of six stages in the
process.
While the Haisla oppose the Northern Gateway oil pipeline, the band has been actively courted by LNG producers.
Ross said the three proposed terminals are the Kitimat LNG facility
proposed by Chevron and Apache, the BC LNG proposal and the Shell
Kitimat LNG Terminal.
He said the Kitimat LNG facility is located on reserve land. The BC
LNG facility is on fee-simple land acquired by the band, which holds 50
per cent of a partnership in the project with Houston-based LNG
partners.
The Shell Kitimat LNG Terminal is not on band land but within its
traditional territory, and the Haisla is working out its level of
involvement with the company, Ross said.
Ross said his band also took Oliver to see sites related to other proposed economic developments not related to LNG.
“He requested the meeting with us,” said Ross. “So we just made arrangements.”
Oliver said Kitimat provides Canada and the world with a deep-sea
route through Douglas Channel to the Asia-Pacific region, and the Haisla
and all Canadians stand to benefit from the proposed projects.
“The community is located in a strategically important area, which
can become a hub for natural-gas liquification and transport … and
they’re aware of this,” he said.
Oliver said the federal government has an obligation to meet with and talk to communities and find out their concerns and goals.
“What we’re all looking for, I think, are ways to maximize, you know,
the benefits to aboriginal communities … so that they can see those
benefits, and be supportive where appropriate and where of course there
has been a positive-regulatory review done.”
B.C. Premier Christy Clark has said the LNG industry represents an
economic opportunity worth an estimated $1 trillion and the potential to
create 100,000 jobs.
Post to be found at:
http://metronews.ca/news/canada/746836/chief-says-lng-will-help-band-acquire-land/
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