To understand what I’m about to say, here is a map of the Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Enbridge Pipelines, a large Canadian company. The province of British Columbia, where I have lived all my life is where much of the action is. Canada is a federal state where provincial and the federal governments have areas of jurisdiction set out in the Constitution.

It is critical to understand what I’m about to say that you understand that there are about 150 Indian bands, now called First Nations, involved, so that virtually all the land from the Alberta Tar Sands to the BC coast at Kitimaat, and down the coast, is claimed by one First Nation or another which they call “unceded”. These lands are part of an ongoing process to settle land claims.

The Supreme Court of Canada, with its decisions, has, in effect, mandated settlement of land claims which process is moving with the speed of a sick slug. This doesn’t mean that First Nations have a veto power but that there must be appropriate consultation – your definition of those words is as good as anyone’s. 

Here are some more facts I would ask you to bear in mind. 

1. Speaking about bears, the BC land involved is the habitat of the Great Spirit Bear, a very rare and protected animal and black bears, caribou, deer, moose and over 1000 rivers and streams that provide habitat for several salmon rivers including the invaluable Skeena system. 

2. The product being shipped is bitumen which is highly toxic sludge and virtually impossible to clean up. There are in fact two pipelines, one with the Bitumen laced with concentrate to make it move better and a second line to take the concentrate back to Alberta. Sort of two for the price of one.

3. Enbridge has an appalling record with 811 spills since 1998.

4. Spills are not a risk, they are mathematical certainties.

5. The land to be used is through both the Rockies and Coast ranges and, for the most part, accessible only by helicopter.

6. The last point is really meaningless – and this is a critical point – because there is little if anything the company can do to clean up spills. On this point just put Enbridge/Kalamazoo into your search engine and see how a spill, by Enbridge 1 ½ years ago, in a populated area has not yet been cleaned up and never will be.

7. The destinations for this “sludge” are Houston, Texas and China – China has several billion invested in this project. When the sludge reaches Kitimaat it will be shipped down what is, arguably, the most beautiful and dangerous stretch of water in the world. This coast is all either First Nations owned or claimed. One of their most respected spokesmen is Chief Gerald Amos who simply states “it isn’t going to happen”, “this” being between 2-300 huge tankers a year. When you consider that a spill is inevitable and that each tanker holds up to 600,000 bbls per day, it’s no wonder that the Natives are restless, to say the least.

Here is the bigger picture. There are two major pipelines for the Tar Sands affecting BC; one is the old Trans Canada pipeline which has the capacity for 600,000 bbls a day to Vancouver – called the Kinder-Morgan line. This, in itself presents a huge risk, which involves going through a very treacherous narrows getting into Vancouver. The natives are very restless about this, for a spill into Burrard Inlet, part of which makes up Vancouver Harbour, and another arm goes north into very sensitive and pristine habitat, would do irreparable harm.

The Keystone XL line, from the Tar Sands across into the US ending in Houston has been the subject of much controversy and President Obama, after nixing the initial proposal, has now received his blessing. None of this line is in BC.

Let’s talk a bit more about the consequences of a spill either on land or in the ocean. I have called these spills inevitable, which they are. I often use this as analogy. If you had a revolver with 100 chambers and one bullet and you plan to put the gun to your temple and pulled the trigger once, you can assess your chances. If you decide to fire it 100 times, the odds become pretty scary but you might make it. If you decide to do it without any limitations, it becomes inevitable. 

It’s like flipping a coin – each time you toss it, the odds on it coming up “heads” is one in two. If you decide to do this a thousand times, the odds of getting heads each time is 50/50 but those odds get so high, even at the 5th or 6th toss that they become a mathematical certainty. Now if the “live” chamber was filled with marshmallow you wouldn’t care – but, we’re not talking marshmallow, we’re talking about a highly noxious and dangerous chemical. When I speak to people about First Nation’s ability to stop the Northern Gateway they can’t believe it. Believe it! 

Our history is quite unlike that in the US. British Columbia was not populated by settlers crossing the continent supported by the army as in America, which not only dislodged Indians but killed them indiscriminately. In many areas of Canada treaties were made but this didn’t for the most part, happen in British Columbia. This is largely because settlement of BC came from gold prospectors and Chinese to build the railway. They also came from Britain first around Cape Horn, then by rail and ship. In the result, most Indian territory was not ceded. Under our constitution, it was up to BC to create Indian Reserves which were small without the ability for self support.

In 1973 an Indian tribe in the name of Frank Calder (with whom I sat in the BC legislature) saw the Supreme Court of Canada which split but that was enough for the Federal government to concede that First Nations had a right to unceded land, which is to say most of the province. Supreme Court decisions came down on what Indian title meant and it now includes full title, or fee simple which is outright ownership. 

The obvious dilemma was that much of these land claims were not ceded but were part of an ongoing process. At present, 131 First Nations are vigorously opposed to the pipelines/tankers. It must also be understand a large share of the rest of the province, in increasing numbers, also oppose this project and while under our constitution the Federal government can decide on the pipelines, the province has authority on the coast.

What’s ahead? One cannot overlook the possibility of violence. It’s that serious. Enbridge, and the government are trying to buy support – BC gets nothing out of the deal, My guess is that they will see they’re going to lose and will turn to the Kinder Morgan line and expand it accordingly since their rights of way are solid. This much is true – unless 131 First Nations, or a large percentage of them can be bought off the Northern Gateway project is a hell of a long way from a done deal.