First Nations tired of city "environmentalists"

[Merry]

There's a growing anger among many First Nations at city environmentalists who are dictating what should, and should not, be allowed in First Nations traditional territories.

Opponents of energy projects may get attention and results by organizing protests, launching lawsuits, discrediting regulators and influencing governments, but Ross said scores of pro-energy development First Nations groups are worried about losing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

Those groups have signed benefits agreements involving cash, jobs and business prospects with projects such as Pacific NorthWest LNG, Trans Mountain’s pipeline expansion, Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings Ltd.’s upgraded oil pipeline, as well as others that have been spiked or delayed by various governments.

Ross said governments in Victoria and Ottawa in particular are “competing to get rid of industry” rather than competing to attract industry, like the United States aggressively does, echoing the experiences of Indigenous leaders in other regions, where environmental activism has crushed the fur trade, seal hunt and natural resource extraction and left behind poverty, isolation and resentment.

“The more sickening thing for me is that these people who oppose development in Canada truly believe they win when they defeat a project,” Ross said. “Actually, you don’t win. It’s just that the United States buys the Canadian product at a discount and sells it on the international market.”

“These environmentalists are happy to make a park in somebody else’s backyard,” Helin said. “Well, screw that. You are talking about people where there is 90 per cent unemployment.”

The loss of so many energy projects has soured First Nations’ views of environmentalists, who are creating the impression that there is more Aboriginal opposition than there actually is

There’s also no love lost between the Eagle Spirit pipeline project, backed by 30 First Nations and the Aquilini Investment Group based in Vancouver, and the environmentalists and governments opposed to Alberta oil being piped through northern B.C. so that it can be shipped by tanker to Asian markets.

The project, which emerged in response to opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline and involved years of consultations with First Nations from Bruderheim, Alta, to Prince Rupert, has a state-of-the-art environmental protection plan for land and ocean. It also comes with a pre-approved energy corridor where pipelines and related infrastructure can be fast-tracked through traditional lands.

Led by Calvin Helin, a member of the Lax Kw’alaams and the brother of John Helin, the project is fighting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposed tanker moratorium for the northern B.C. coast, which was announced last year at the same time the Northern Gateway project was killed.

“The Great Bear Rainforest is no place for a pipeline and the Douglas Channel is no place for oil tanker traffic,” Trudeau said at the time.

Helin said the Great Bear Rainforest is “total fiction” invented by Tzeporah Berman, the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate and Energy Program and co-founder of ForestEthics, who describes herself in her biography as one of the creators and lead negotiators of the Great Bear Rainforest agreement and the Canadian Boreal Forest Initiative.

Helin said chiefs with unextinguished title over the territory had never heard of such a forest and bitterly oppose the idea.

“Who the heck are these people from big cities coming into their traditional territory telling them what they can and can’t do in their traditional territory?” Helin said.

http://business.financialpost.com/commo ... y-projects

[hobbyguy]

FNs just like the rest of us, have politics, and are not homogeneous.

One of the "battles" I became aware of in the LNG discussion was that there is a group of hereditary chiefs who feel that they have the right to over rule elected band councils. Even argued that in their submission to the SCOC. Reminds me of the old "divine right" that kings used to claim.

One of my observations is that many so called "environmentalist citizen's groups" will use FNs, and I mean "use" in the worst sense of the word, when their false arguments and narratives fail under scrutiny.

I get a little annoyed, and often refer to the virtue signaling city so called "environmentalists" as "plastic kayakers". Most of these so called environmentalists wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world of the rugged BC wilderness areas.

On the flip side, the Great Bear Rain Forest - regardless of some of the dubious nonsense, is actually a good development in our history. We do need wild places. The dance of life is not all about humans. There is a balance, is it ok to cut a few trees from the forest? Sure. Is it ok to cut all the trees in the forest? Definitely not.

[maryjane48]

FNs just like the rest of us, have politics, and are not homogeneous.

One of the "battles" I became aware of in the LNG discussion was that there is a group of hereditary chiefs who feel that they have the right to over rule elected band councils. Even argued that in their submission to the SCOC. Reminds me of the old "divine right" that kings used to claim.

One of my observations is that many so called "environmentalist citizen's groups" will use FNs, and I mean "use" in the worst sense of the word, when their false arguments and narratives fail under scrutiny.

I get a little annoyed, and often refer to the virtue signaling city so called "environmentalists" as "plastic kayakers". Most of these so called environmentalists wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world of the rugged BC wilderness areas.

On the flip side, the Great Bear Rain Forest - regardless of some of the dubious nonsense, is actually a good development in our history. We do need wild places. The dance of life is not all about humans. There is a balance, is it ok to cut a few trees from the forest? Sure. Is it ok to cut all the trees in the forest? Definitely not.

The hereditary chiefs are the leaders . Band councils arexwhite mans invention. They never exsisted before the europeans came.

Merrys link doesnt tell the full story as that. Plan has been debated and the answer was clear . If some bands want to be guided by greed instead of long term sustainable green jobs,then thats their choice but its a failed choice because the world is moving on from that type of free for all .

[Merry]

The article I posted doesn't refer to "band councils" MJ, it was HG who made reference to that term. The article I posted states that many First Nations do support much of the Industrial Development that city environmentalists are claiming is not supported by indigenous groups. In fact the FN spokespeople quoted in that article say that frequently those opposed are actually in the minority, and are not representative of the whole group.

[Verum]

https://forums.castanet.net/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=75574

[techrtr]

Some of these people stand to lose millions of dollars if these projects are cancelled. Greed is everywhere.

[Ka-El]

The hereditary chiefs are the leaders . Band councils arexwhite mans invention.

Hereditary Chiefs are becoming more of a ceremonial position - much like our monarchy, Governor General, etc. Band Councils are elected by Band members. First Nation Band members, just like the rest of us, like to have their own voice.

[hobbyguy]

FNs just like the rest of us, have politics, and are not homogeneous.

One of the "battles" I became aware of in the LNG discussion was that there is a group of hereditary chiefs who feel that they have the right to over rule elected band councils. Even argued that in their submission to the SCOC. Reminds me of the old "divine right" that kings used to claim.

One of my observations is that many so called "environmentalist citizen's groups" will use FNs, and I mean "use" in the worst sense of the word, when their false arguments and narratives fail under scrutiny.

I get a little annoyed, and often refer to the virtue signaling city so called "environmentalists" as "plastic kayakers". Most of these so called environmentalists wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world of the rugged BC wilderness areas.

On the flip side, the Great Bear Rain Forest - regardless of some of the dubious nonsense, is actually a good development in our history. We do need wild places. The dance of life is not all about humans. There is a balance, is it ok to cut a few trees from the forest? Sure. Is it ok to cut all the trees in the forest? Definitely not.

The hereditary chiefs are the leaders . Band councils arexwhite mans invention. They never exsisted before the europeans came.

Merrys link doesnt tell the full story as that. Plan has been debated and the answer was clear . If some bands want to be guided by greed instead of long term sustainable green jobs,then thats their choice but its a failed choice because the world is moving on from that type of free for all .

Interesting. So you think that bands should be run as feudal fiefdoms? And don't believe in democracy?

[hobbyguy]

MJ - this one is you: https://ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/

"the Six Nations was five and included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, migrated into Iroquois country in the early eighteenth century. Together these peoples comprise the oldest living participatory democracy on earth"