Signatories commit to also pushing for a sustainable economy based on renewable energy

MONTREAL and VANCOUVER, Sept. 22, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - First Nation and Tribal Chiefs gathered today in Musqueam Territory (Vancouver) and Mohawk Territory (Montreal), to sign a new continent-wide Indigenous Treaty — the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion — that commits already some 50 First Nations and Tribes from all over Canada and the Northern US to working together to stop all proposed tar sands pipeline, tanker and rail projects in their respective territorial lands and waters.

The First Nations and Tribes are committed to stopping all five current tar sands pipeline and tanker project proposals (Kinder Morgan, Energy East, Line 3, Northern Gateway and Keystone XL) as well as tar sands rail projects such as the Chaleur Terminals Inc. export project at the Port of Belledune in New Brunswick.

"What this Treaty means is that from Quebec, we will work with our First Nation allies in BC to make sure that the Kinder Morgan pipeline does not pass and we will also work with our Tribal allies in Minnesota as they take on Enbridge's Line 3 expansion, and we know they'll help us do the same against Energy East." said Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon.

The Treaty states: "Our Nations hereby join together under the present treaty to officially prohibit and to agree to collectively challenge and resist the use of our respective territories and coasts in connection with the expansion of the production of the Alberta Tar Sands, including for the transport of such expanded production, whether by pipeline, rail or tanker."

"We are in a time of unprecedented unity amongst Indigenous people working together for a better future for everyone," said Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Sacred Trust Initiative. "The Kinder Morgan pipeline proposal in our territory represents an unacceptable risk to the water, land and people: we are proud to stand together with all of our relatives calling for sensible alternatives to these dangerous projects."

"The Yinka Dene have already shown in the case of Enbridge's Northern Gateway that a pipeline cannot hope to pass through a unified wall of Indigenous opposition," said Carrier Sekani Tribal Chief Terry Teegee. "You will now see the same thing play out with all other tar sands pipelines, including another failed BC pipeline – Kinder Morgan."

Tar sands development has already poisoned the water of First Nations in Alberta and beyond and these new tar sands pipelines, trains and tankers would threaten the water of many more Nations. Indigenous Peoples are also suffering intense impacts from climate change in the form wildfires and floods and the ongoing climate emergency is now threatening many of the plants and animals that lie at the heart of Indigenous cultures.

"Indigenous people have been standing up together everywhere in the face of new destructive fossil fuel projects, with no better example than at Standing Rock in North Dakota," said Grand Chief Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. "We know that infrastructure that expands the tar sands is both incompatible with reducing Canada's emissions and completely irresponsible."

The Treaty provides that Indigenous Nation signatories also want to be partners in moving society onto a more sustainable path. Already, many Indigenous Nations are leading the way in developing renewable energy projects on their territories.

"We want to work with the Prime Minister and the government to develop a sustainable economy that does not marginalize our people," said Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. "This is a time of great spiritual awakening for our peoples as we reinvigorate our Nations and ensure a better tomorrow for all."

Please go to treatyalliance.org for more information, including for an always updated list of signatory Nations

 

SOURCE Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador

 

For further information: Rueben George, Tsleil-Waututh Sacred Trust Initiative, Cell: 604-720-4630; Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Cell: 250-490-5314; Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, Yinka Dene Alliance Coordinator, Cell: 250-570-1482; Grand Chief Derek Nepinak, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Cell: 204-795-2733; Melanie Vincent, Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, Cell: 418-580-4442; Grand Chief Serge 'Otsi' Simon, Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, Cell: 514-269-9152

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The Treaty is an expression of Indigenous Law prohibiting the pipelines/trains/tankers that will feed the expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands.

"I was disappointed by the announcement [of the treaty]. I felt it was not informed with respect to the people that are affected," said Chief Jim Boucher of the Fort McKay First Nation.

"Our community up there in the Athabasca tarsands is immersed in the economy quite substantially and our people would have the most to lose if they turn off the taps with regard to oilsands development." [...]

The Fort McKay First Nation owns a group of companies that offer services including earthworks, fuel delivery, environmental services and land leasing operations to the oilsands industry. Boucher said the group earned revenue of $2.3 billion over the past five years.

oh so it's ok to be an ally when your paths run together but not so much when they don't.

feeling justified to say in essence; 'they're only have this view because it's worth their while' is bs.

“My mom used to cry when we used to drive to Fort Mac,” said Cece Fitzpatrick, Fort McKay resident. “She would say, ‘It’s hard for me to live in this earth now, because it’s being destroyed.”

Fitzpatrick has witnessed the landscape in the area change drastically throughout her 58 Years.

She said she feels like an alien in her own homeland.

“I feel like we’re being bulldozed. But they (industry) don’t care. We are just a hand full of native people that they really don’t care about…We as native people are supposed to care. The earth is crying to be fixed. We need help.” [...]

Chief Jim Boucher isn’t overly concerned about the health or environmental situation in his community. He said people are to blame for pollution, not necessarily industry. That pollution is everywhere, and just imagine what it would be like to live in Beijing, Los Angeles or Mexico City where they sometimes have to wear breathing masks, he said.

“That’s (pollution) because of people and people’s disturbance,” said Boucher. “That’s how you get an increase in mercury because you’re disturbing the soil. You look at the garbage along the highways and how people throw away their garbage. The most regulated things in this country is industry. People don’t have regulations, they dump wherever they want to.” [...]

Fitzpatrick says money shouldn’t outweigh the need to address the environmental damage oil extraction is causing.

“But money speaks louder than words, everybody is money hungry. We as native people are supposed to be the keepers of the land. If it’s getting hurt, we should stop the hurt.”

i said so did i not?

my observation was based solely upon your saying they want the money. it's a negative judgement and i feel they are the ones who decide not you or me and i know i wouldn't presume to judge.

it wasn't about the environment or macro socio-political strategy.

sorry. 

jjuares wrote:

Yes, you are right. It wasn't that Unionist disagreed with this indigenous leader it that he was disrespectful in the way in which he did it. As for getting Unionist to understand this, all I can say is good luck with that.

..your defence of the tar sands project and the pipelines you want shoved down peoples throats has been nothing but series of insults and name calling for those not in agreement with you. yet you claim to see unionists disrespect..how is it you don’t see your own? 

..unionist can speak for himself.

..as for your insults and name calling here's one. and it's the same mentality you carry into the leap thread..attacking but never really making an argument. yet you defend/promote pipelines and tar sands expansion under the guise of creating jobs for workers. never addressing the harm this does or threatens to do to other working people and indigenous folks.

http://rabble.ca/comment/1553243#comment-1553243

my observation was based solely upon your saying they want the money. it's a negative judgement and i feel they are the ones who decide not you or me and i know i wouldn't presume to judge.

If you agree with this particular chief's position on the tar sands, make an argument for it. I'll listen.

jjuares wrote:

epaulo13 wrote:

..unionist can speak for himself.

..as for your insults and name calling here's one. and it's the same mentality you carry into the leap thread..attacking but never really making an argument. yet you defend/promote pipelines and tar sands expansion under the guise of creating jobs for workers. never addressing the harm this does or threatens to do to other working people and indigenous folks.

http://rabble.ca/comment/1553243#comment-1553243

WOW, I went through that thread and of course there wasn't one example of me insulting babblers or name calling. There was a post where I agreed with you and another one where I said the pipeline maybe shouldn't go through. But you knew that you had no examples to back up your personal attack on me. You are just hoping that people wont go to the link and see the utter bullshit you are posting. And of course I asked you to provide an example because I knew there none to be found. Instead of posting the link to the thread why dont you just quote an example of my name calling. Oh, I know the answer to that. You won't because none is to be found. I am calling you out on your dishonest drive by smear.

..let me make my beef more clear then. in that post i submitted your red baiting and diminishing when clearly a large majority of folks along the south west coast including van island is against the pipeline and tankers. as if this very thread were posting in didn't represent local control.  an attack based on distortions and insults.

quote:

The left's version of that is " local control", essentially a repackaging of a selfish right wing argument into something more palatable for people who believe themselves to be on the left.

..and you red baited again recently in the leap thread. when the reality is more than 30,000 people and organizations (including labour groups and first nations) have signed on to the leap. another distortion that is both disrespectful and name calling. dismissal without addressing their concerns.

quote:

Or maybe Fantasyland versus the real world. Anyways, the Leap Manifesto is a great weapon for climate change deniers. And if I was a climate change denier I would get down on my knees every night to thank god for this document. In the little cloistered world of the left the realization may not have sunk in but out in the real world it is understood that the more action on climate change is associated with this utopian document the fewer the chances are anything will actually be done about climate change.

..now i've made my point i'm willing to continue this discussion but not in this thread please.

Enough with the bickering. Let's stick to the topic, k?

MegB wrote:

Enough with the bickering. Let's stick to the topic, k?

Agreed.

jjuares wrote:

MegB wrote:

Enough with the bickering. Let's stick to the topic, k?

Agreed.

Excellent. So did you have something to say about the topic? I'd be interested in hearing your view about the Treaty Alliance.

 

Fort McKay chief second highest-paid chief in Canada

I'm not judging him because of his salary. I'm judging him because he mocked the 50 First Nations and tribes that signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion.

Impoverished and without running water or electricity in Boucher’s youth, Fort McKay is booming. The band is building dozens of homes to be rented to members at below-market prices, and construction has started on a kindergarten-to-Grade 12 school, a youth centre, a long-term care facility for elders, a church, and an amphitheatre with seating for 1,800.

In a community of 800 Dene, Cree and Métis, only a handful are unemployed. As long as they are able, residents are put to work for the Fort McKay Group of Companies, eight limited partnerships that are controlled by the band and provide services to the oil and gas industry.

In the early 1980s, while his community unemployment and poverty rates rose, there was government and a corporate industry that was unwilling to grant them a share of benefits from their natural resources. Frustrated, he organized a blockade and ended industry access to traditional lands. From these confrontational times arose land agreements and treaty entitlements which ushered in a new flourishing era for Fort McKay.

He founded the Fort McKay-Industry Relations Corporation to build relationships, facilitate consultation processes, and to advocate on behalf of his people. At the same time, he remains committed to sustaining the identity and traditions of his people and serving the interests of all First Nations people throughout the Wood Buffalo Region. A strong sense of pride emerged in the region one that demanded respect and redemption that is long past due.