babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.
no pipeline, no tankers, no problem 2
January 27, 2015 - 4:56pm
continued from here:
http://rabble.ca/babble/activism/no-pipeline-no-tankers-no-problem
..carried over because it's important
Thirty Years of BC Indian Law Condensed For Two Hundred
During a stunning performance of recollection, Louise Mandell captivated a crowd of mostly Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en peoples as she recounted their history.
quote:
Louise Mandell was absolutely clear on one fact; the BC Government along with the BC Treaty Commission (BCTC) are performing actions which are illegal. Some of the negotiations presently underway, along with the permits being issued to development and resource projects, breech clearly defined Canadian Law.
And Mandell is no light weight. She was one of the lawyers engaged in both these cases and in many others. She has been engaged in arguing and defending indigenous title and rights law successfully in BC and in the Supreme Court of Canada for over thirty years. If clarity and the ability to express incredibly difficult legal issues and concepts in a manner any person could understand, Mandell may be the very best legal mind in Canada on these matters.
The gathering of approximately 200 Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en citizens was held on Monday, January 19, at the Gitanmaax Hall near the Village of Old Hazelton. This location is remarkable, as it is locally known as the foundation of all the NW Indigenous peoples. Temlaham or Demalahamid is believed to have its origins at the confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers. Many relate the ancient stories told and retold in the Feast Halls for thousands of years of God or the Great Spirit landing the first peoples canoe at this location....
http://www.mwpr.ca/show11647a/Thirty_Years_of_BC_Indian_Law_Condensed_Fo...
update:
A mentioned earlier, movement is underfoot and things are happening to deal with this group of sell outs. This village council held a 3 community meetings in the past year to gauge what the community wanted and were met with a 90% ¨NO¨ from the community. They instead decided to hold a vote amongst the council members and barely had enough to endorse the signing of these agreements. These lands belong to the Hereditary Owners who challenged the Federal Government as well as the Provincial Government in the Supreme Court of Canada. The bands have jurisdiction on the Indian Reserves - that is it.
https://www.facebook.com/unistoten
...
..this is what some of the struggles here look like. govs trying to do an end run around 1st peoples.
Approximately $6 million for Moricetown Band, LNG Pipeline Benefit Agreement
The Moricetown Band has signed a pipeline benefit agreement with the province for TransCanada’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline project.
Moricetown Band chief Barry Nikal said the journey has been challenging and hard on the community.
“Many of our members have been hurt through this process but we now have the resources to come back together and restore our collective strength. Thank you to all the Elders, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and passionate community members who voiced their support for our decision.”
Moricetown Band will receive approximately $6 million as project milestones are reached: $998,000 upon the agreement coming into effect, $2.49 million when construction begins, and $2.49 million once the pipeline is operating....
http://cfnrfm.ca/moricetown-band-signs-lng-pipeline-benefit-agreement-jo...
versus this:
No Band Councils or Tribal Councils have jurisdiction over Unist’ot’en territory
includes audio
TALBITS KWA, Sovereign Unist'ot'en Territory
Since 2010, the Unist'ot'en have occupied and defended their traditional territory from pipeline development in defiance of industry, the province of British Columbia, and the government of Canada. Recently they exposed secretive talks between the Moricetown Band Council and the Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP).
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/audio/no-band-councils-or-tribal-councils-have-jurisdict/31372
Transition away from fossil fuels needs to take care of workers
quote:
A “just transition”
As we plan for a transition to a zero-carbon economy, we will need to ensure a “just transition” for oil and gas workers, who should not have to pay the price of doing the right thing on climate change.
In past resource busts, families have faced extreme financial and emotional instability due to job losses. There are also ripple effects throughout the economy, as reduced spending forces the closure of small businesses and service providers, municipal government budgets collapse and the residential housing market becomes glutted with “stranded assets.”
Stable management of fossil-fuel industries over a two-or three-decade wind-down period with a just transition plan can get us off the resource roller-coaster and better serve workers, communities and the economy.
How to build a sustainable future
Much work will be required to build the zero-emission economy we need but we should embrace that. Building new, green infrastructure for the future includes investments in district energy systems, localized food systems, regional rapid transit, efficient buildings and “zero waste” management of materials — all of which can be a major economic benefit in rural and resource communities.
We also need to stop lumping in all resource sectors together. While fossil-fuel industries are at the heart of the climate problem, there can and should be a bright future for renewable resources like forestry. With strong stewardship and enhanced value-added, forestry in B.C. could support an additional 20,000 good permanent jobs — far more than will arise from any LNG development. This means reversing direction on forestry policies that have gutted the industry and its connection to supporting communities....
http://commonsensecanadian.ca/transition-away-fossil-fuels-needs-take-ca...
Graphic by Norm Farrell
Rail Workers and Environmentalists to Teach Each Other
With public attention focused on the railroads in a way it hasn’t been for decades, the cross-craft solidarity group Railroad Workers United is seizing the opportunity to teach the general public “railroading 101”—and teach rail workers “environmental politics 101.”
Both those workshops, among others, will be offered at one-day conferences on “The Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community, and Environment,” March 14 in Richmond, California, and March 21 in Olympia, Washington. (See box for details.)
“My excitement about the conference is having railroaders, who on a daily basis are moving these really dangerous, volatile, flammable materials, having a dialogue with communities who want it to be made safe,” says activist Gifford Hartman.
“To my knowledge it’s never been done,” says Seattle switchman-conductor Jen Wallis. “Rail labor hasn’t worked with environmentalists to the degree that steelworkers and longshoremen and Teamsters have. It’s all very new.”...
http://labornotes.org/blogs/2015/01/rail-workers-and-environmentalists-t...
UBC profs vote 62 per cent in favour of fossil fuel divestment
University of British Columbia professors voted decisively to urge the university's board of governors to sell off the school's endowment investments in fossil fuel stocks within the next five years.
The UBC Faculty Association said Tuesday that 62 per cent of faculty voted in favour of the fossil fuel divestment.
“Students have spoken. Faculty have spoken. It's time for UBC to act,” said forestry professor George Hoberg, who led the faculty campaign.
"Climate change presents an urgent crisis for humanity," he added.
The campus' $1.1-billion endowment contains the largest university holding of fossil fuel stocks in Canada, according to a national study by the Sustainability and Education Policy Network.
The university joins four major Canadian universities where professors have voted to urge their university directors to divest: University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto and Mount Allison University....
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/ubc-profs-vote-62-cent-favour-dive...
Coastal First Nations Call Out 'Eagle Spirit' Pipeline
quote:
Two representatives from the Burns Lake Indian Band in Ts'il Kaz Koh territory and two hereditary chiefs from Gitxsan territories announced support for the project on Wednesday morning. They join Stellat'en First Nation, which announced its public support last year. "First Nations that came out and signed a declaration today wanted to demonstrate they're open for business when standards are met," Helin said on Wednesday.
While Eagle Spirit's "consult first, design later" approach has been observed with interest by some First Nations, two large aboriginal alliances have come out against the project. The Yinka Dene Alliance and Coastal First Nations responded to the press event by affirming their members still oppose high-volume pipelines through their land and waterways.
"Literally no First Nation on the coast is in favour of Eagle Spirit," said Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations. "It's a bit misleading for Eagle Spirit to hold a press conference in Calgary and announce things have changed in British Columbia, because they haven't."
Yinka Dene Alliance spokesperson Geraldine Thomas-Flurer said the six member nations have "not changed our position on oil transportation through our lands and waters."
Coastal First Nations members span from Rivers Inlet on B.C.'s central coast, up to the northernmost tip of Haida Gwaii. The Yinka Dene Alliance includes the Nadleh Whut'en, Nak'azdli, Takla Lake, Saik'uz, Wet'suwet'en and Tl'azt'en nations in B.C.'s central interior. Nak'azdli Chief Fred Sam said yesterday that he stands behind a letter he wrote to Calvin Helin, who hails from Lax Kw'alaams near Prince Rupert, in October 2014. The letter commends Eagle Spirit for seeking First Nations' approval, but rejects the proposal.
"I have heard you and David Negrin from the Aquilini Group state that your proposed pipeline will not proceed through a First Nation's lands unless you had consent from that First Nation," Chief Sam wrote. "Nak'azdli Band Council and our people will not give you the consent that you are seeking.".....
http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/02/13/Eagle-Spirit-Pipeline/
Oil and Gas Industry Requesting Massive Tax Cuts for LNG Terminals in Advance of 2015 Federal Budget
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) is asking the Harper government to consider reclassifying liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals as ‘manufacturing assets’ to provide tax breaks to companies struggling to develop costly facilities in the current oil market.
The oil and gas industry requested similar measures for both previous federal budgets but has so far been unsuccessful. The upcoming budget, however, is under the control of finance minister Joe Oliver, know for his strong support of the oil and gas sector during his time as the former minister of Natural Resources Canada.
In a budget submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, CAPP requested “improving Canada’s taxation and regulatory regimes” and noted the federal government can assist industry “by establishing a competitive tax climate to attract investment [and] maintain an effective and efficient energy regulatory regime,”
If granted, the tax breaks – which would allow companies to forego paying 30 to 50 per cent of capital costs per year – could cost the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars....
http://www.desmog.ca/2015/02/14/oil-and-gas-industry-requesting-massive-...
Keystone XL and Cold War 0.2 - by Michael T Klare
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-160215.html
"...But don't be fooled. Something far greater - and more sinister is being proposed It's nothing less than a plan to convert Canada and Mexico into energy colonies of the United States, while creating a North American power bloc capable of aggressively taking on Russia, China and other foreign challengers.
The outlook - call it North Americanism - is hardly unique to [New Jersey Governor Chris] Christie. It pervades the thinking of top Republican leaders and puts their otherwise almost inexplicably ardent support of Keystone XL in a new light.
Its real allure lies in the way they believe it will buttress the more hawkish and militarized foreign policy that so many in the GOP now favor."
Support for Keystone is support for US imperialism and war!
..looking at alternatives
Own the Change
We teamed up with GRITtv to make Own the Change—a short “how-to” video for people curious about co-ops.
Looking for ways to share the film with your audience? We have a guide with materials prepared for you. You can also host a screening of Own the Change in your community and receive a free discussion guide.
Own the Change: Building Economic Democracy One Worker Co-op at a Time is a short documentary meant to give an overview of what a worker co-op is, how it can transform lives and communities, and the realities of starting one. Watch as we go through concrete steps for building economic alternatives by creating worker-owned cooperatives. Featuring conversations with worker-owners from Union Cab; Ginger Moon; Arizmendi Bakery, Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA); New Era Windows; and more....
http://www.toolboxfored.org/project/own-the-change/
http://credbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Fuelling-BCs-economy-WEB.pdf
Confronting Kinder Morgan's contractors March 5, 2015 (video)
McElhanney packed up and left after getting an earful. We cited Kinder Morgan's history of spills, felonies and fatalities. Corner of Government St. and Horne St. in so-called Burnaby, occupied and unceded Coast Salish territory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ESNdd4WJO8&feature=youtu.be
Artists shed new light on Enbridge, tar sands and environmental destruction
Fact-based stories about oil pipelines inundate the news. Dry political discussions, proposals and rejections, protests, corporate dogma, pandering, statistical wallpapering with job creation numbers, estimates of destruction, and so on.
Unless it is “your issue” you can be blinded by the information overload. And even when it is “your issue,” the effects can be numbing. Some people shift that experience. They re-invigorate our senses, touch our hearts and recharge our minds. They are artists....
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/culture/art/artists-shed-new-light-enbr...
...
HONOUR DANCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ8qn-dTwFY
A View from Burnaby Mountain: Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything
The recent Vancouver panel discussion on Naomi Klein's new book, This Changes Everything, from which this article took form, was organized weeks before a local Blockadia event took place. By the time the five panelists came together, two had been arrested for defying a court injunction and two were named in a $5.6-million lawsuit for objecting to Kinder Morgan's (KM) planned pipeline through a municipally designated park on Burnaby Mountain. The panelists were active supporters of a mountain camp that was established directly on top of the borehole-site where KM intended to do seismic testing. This article reviews Klein's new book after, and in the light of exploring the context of the Burnaby Mountain incident in more detail....
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1096.php
A declaration to the Feds to put the Kinder Morgan pipeline on hold
The mayors of Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, City of North Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish, and Bowen Island have signed a declaration that pushes the federal government to put the Kinder Morgan pipeline proposal on hold until the National Energy Board (NEB) addresses the significant deficiencies in its public hearing and review process...
http://westcoastnativenews.com/a-declaration-to-the-feds-to-put-the-kind...
thread drift...
How The Heiltsuk Won- #occupyDFO (video)
The Heiltsuk First Nation forced The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to close the commercial herring fishery on the central coast after opposition across B.C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enr3Yue42ig&feature=youtu.be
...
Heiltsuk celebrate as herring gillnet boats leave central coast empty – validating concerns over health of stocks
“We did it!” declared Heiltsuk Chief Councillor Marilyn Slett to a jubilant crowd at the fisheries office near Bella Bella this afternoon, as the herring gillnet fleet departed the central coast empty....
http://commonsensecanadian.ca/VIDEO-detail/heiltsuk-celebrate-as-herring...
...end thread drift
"Kitimat" brings drama of Enbridge Northern Gateway plebiscite to life on stage
“Kitimat”, a play written by B.C. playwright Elaine Avila, takes the story of a northern B.C. town over 2,000 kilometres to Pomona College, an intellectual hub near Los Angeles.
It’s a story as familiar to people in the U.S. as in Canada—a large corporation comes to a town where they want to develop or deliver resources and they promise work and money, a boom, if the citizens will let the corporation have its way.
“Kitimat” recreates the dramatic events that garnered public attention last year, culminating on April 12 when the citizens voted “no” to Enbridge’s proposal to put the oil pipeline terminus there. The play shows the communities struggle through the story of two Portuguese Canadian sisters on opposing sides of the Northern Gateway debate.....
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/culture/theatre/kitimat-brings-drama-en...
Oil Spill on Beaches of World's Greenest City - by Macdonald Stainsby
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/10/oil-spill-on-beaches-of-worlds-gr...
"...There are creatures that scurry about on dry land as well. Unfortunately among them is Andrew Weaver, an elected official of heretofore named 'GREEN PARTY' and MLA for Oak Bay - Gordon Head (Victoria), has endorsed a $25B refinery project further up the rocky Pacific Coast near Kitimat...
We know what you would do to this coast."
Marchers decry pipeline expansion through B.C.
Several hundred people marched through Fort Langley Saturday to oppose the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline that runs through Langley.
Organized by groups including the Pipe Up Network and the Kwantlen First Nation, the march headed from the Kwantlen reserve to the Fort Langley Community Hall.
The march paused in the center of the Jacob Haldi Bridge that connects MacMillan Island to the village of Fort Langley. Above the Fraser River, Kwantlen members drummed and sang before the march continued.
“We must protect the beautiful and bountiful land that has sustained us for thousands of years,” said Brandon Gabriel, one of the key organizers....
http://www.langleyadvance.com/news/marchers-decry-pipeline-expansion-thr...
Is Northern Gateway Dead? (thetyee.ca)
Gov't emails reveal concerns over First Nation consultation on Enbridge Northern Gateway
A damning email obtained by a northern B.C. First Nation shows the federal government's own staff had serious concerns about the Crown's consultation process with First Nations.
“First Nations were not involved in the design of the consultation process,” an Environment Canada representative wrote in 2009.
It was just one of several concerns raised by Environment Canada staff when asked to comment on First Nation consultation for Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, according to internal government emails.
In the email obtained by the Haisla First Nation through an Access of Information request, government staff said they “remained concerned with the proposed approach to consultation" and that the government's approach provides "limited or no opportunity for responsible authorities to engage with Aboriginal groups” until after the Joint Review Panel's report is completed....
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/govt-emails-reveal-concerns-over-f...
Why would Canadians have to pay one cent - since when do we subsidize the extremely profitable oil and gas industry?
Trans Mountain pipeline expansion cost to Canadians pegged at $6.4 billion SFU study looked at full cost to society
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Trans+Mountain+pipeline+expansion...
I guess Steve is now a Starbucks guy!
Enbridge needs to take the hint and get lost!
Enbridge ads yanked from screens in Tim Hortons locations
http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2015/06/04/ads-for-pipeline-company-enb...
Lax Kw'alaams First Nation opposes Eagle Spirit Energy pipeline
A First Nation in B.C. is contradicting recent claims from Eagle Spirit Energy about its support for a pipeline that would transport crude oil through its territory from Alberta to B.C.'s northwest coast.
Eagle Spirit Energy met with dozens of First Nations communities last weekend. On Tuesday, it announced that 200 representatives from 30 First Nations, including the Lax Kw'alaams, spoke out in support of the company's proposed pipeline project.
But Lax Kw'alaams Mayor Garry Reece says that's not entirely correct.
"That's not the case," said Reece. "There's some that support it, yeah, but that's a handful of them."
Eagle Spirit Energy calls the coastal Lax Kw'alaams community a key to its proposed pipeline — as it's the region to which oil from Alberta would be shipped.
Reece says the proposal needs approval from the entire community, not just a few representatives.
"Until we hear from our people to see if they're going to support oil, no matter what kind of oil it is, it has to come from our people."....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/lax-kw-alaams-first-natio...
Federal budget could mark end of duty to consult with First Nations
Tens of millions in dollars for consultation processes on Aboriginal lands made it into the recently tabled federal budget, but not for First Nations.
The Supreme Court of Canada has said that the Crown must consult and accommodate First Nations when development threatens to infringe their rights. But Canada and the provinces have begun to offload that duty onto mining companies who seek to prospect on Aboriginal lands.
Largely ignored in analyses of the federal budget is a new way of financing consultation with Indigenous communities at early stages of mineral exploration and mine development. Consultation will now be funded through mining tax credits that can be “flowed through” to investors to fund exploration and development activities.
Tax breaks assist firms to attract venture capital into the exploration industry in the face of assertions of Indigenous jurisdiction to lands and resources. There is no equivalent financing mechanism to transfer government revenues or lower costs to Indigenous groups who engage in consultation activities or who are impacted by resource development.
In fact, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development cut project funding in 2013-2014 to core operational capacity for First Nations organizations and tribal councils, which affected consultation and policy development budgets.
So while First Nations have been crippled in their capacity to respond to development activities on their lands, the public is now subsidizing industry’s ability to negotiate with First Nations....
https://ricochet.media/en/464/federal-budget-could-mark-end-of-duty-to-c...
Week to End Enbridge June 13 to June 21, 2015
I imagine Tims will be supportive
B.C. businesses stand with First Nations against Enbridge
http://www.straight.com/news/466401/caitlyn-vernon-bc-businesses-stand-f...
Politicians and industry have not been honest about the risks from oil spills
In the days and weeks following the fuel spill in Vancouver’s English Bay on April 8, many of the words reverberating around community events and even in media were the same: unprepared, unacceptable, and embarrassing.
The lesson that many took away from the relatively small spill is that we can’t rely on those responsible, or even those in charge, to protect us when disaster strikes. We need to prepare ourselves on a community level.
That’s why, in the wake of the spill of 2,700 litres of bunker fuel into Vancouver waters, locals called in marine toxicologist and spill expert Dr. Riki Ott. She lived for years in Cordova, Alaska, near the site of the devastating 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. She also spent a year in the Gulf of Mexico after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill.
Ricochet’s Nicky Young spoke with Dr. Ott on June 6, after an afternoon workshop at St. James Community Hall in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood.....
https://ricochet.media/en/476/politicians-and-industry-have-not-been-hon...
Unist'ot'en Camp
We have been operating 2 separate full time blockades for a bit more than a week. We´ve held up helicopter crews and evicted them From the Gosnell Creek Valley as well as turned around survey crews attempting to enter the Yintah from the Chism Forest Service Road. There is a lot of footage of both types of encounters and we are sifting through them to create a video update which will likely surface in a couple of days. An incredibly strong turn of recent events was the return of Freda to her Yintah and chasing out surveyors as well as their Wet´suwet´en sell-out counterparts. In previous days the arrogant and mouthy turds were being confrontational with the volunteers who were assigned to protect the Yintah from Pipeline work. Today as Freda stood at the secondary road block the once-tough sell outs stayed in their truck and left it up to their security pawn to face off with her. The look of defeat and pathetic pitifulness of the surveyors was priceless. Also, tripods are now occupying the spaces where heli crews were landing in previous days. As promised, things are changing with the return of the leaders.
Everything you want to know about Kinder Morgan's Expansion Project
This website was created by law students who have been closely following the National Energy Board review process for the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Our goal is to make evidence submitted in this process more accessible to the public.