In the News – First Nations sign up for Kinder Morgan pipeline hearing
From the Globe and Mail, posted Thursday February 13, 2014. Written by Mark Hume.
Band involvement for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion contrasts starkly with their representation during initial construction 61 years ago
More than 40 First Nations – including four from Washington State – have applied to participate in National Energy Board hearings into Kinder Morgan’s proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
The flood of applications, say First Nation representatives, is a signal of how dramatically Canada has changed since the pipeline was first built across British Columbia 61 years ago.
“The wishes and wants and participation of the bands wasn’t even a consideration then,” Ernie Crey, an adviser to the Sto:lo Tribal Council in the Fraser Valley, said Thursday. “We wouldn’t have been consulted. If the pipeline passed over or near a reserve, that was a matter between the company and government. But the climate has changed, the legal landscape has changed. It’s a new era.”
Carleen Thomas of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation in North Vancouver agreed. “Back then there was opposition, but there was nothing we could really do about it,” she said. “Back then, Indian bands weren’t even allowed to hire lawyers.”
Continue reading on the Globe and Mail website
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From the Vancouver Observer, posted Thursday February 13, 2014. Written by Erin Flegg
First Nations south of the border sign up for NEB’s Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline hearings
Coming in just under the wire of yesterday’s midnight deadline, a group of First Nations in Washington State have applied add their voices to Canadian nations’ opposition Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline project. TheLummi, Swinomish and Tulalip nations have applied for intervenor status at the upcoming hearings.
The Coast Salish peoples of British Columbia, the Musqueam, Skwomeshand Tsleil-Waututh, have also applied to speak at the National Energy Board hearings.
Francesca Hillery of the Tulalip nation said the national borders separating Canada and the U.S. are meaningless when it comes to protecting the land and the shared water.