Although Alberta and the federal government have taken action agreement to lay the foundation For pipeline On the British Columbia coast, Alberta's First Nations continue to receive mixed reactions, even as one group has been named a key partner.
The Alberta Indigenous Opportunity Corporation was named as a key partner in the Ottawa-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding last week.
AIOC's Channa Martino says this is the first step.
“This is an opportunity to start on the path you want to take next,” she said.
The memo said Ottawa's approval of the pipeline would be contingent on the project being seen as being in the national interest and “providing opportunities for Indigenous shared ownership and shared economic benefits.”
To date, the corporation has helped provide approximately $745 million in loan guarantees for projects affecting 43 First Nations.
But it's not without challenges, as the project is unlikely to proceed without approval from First Nations in Alberta and British Columbia. Martino is concerned that consultations often come too late.
“Most of the consultation happens after most of the design work has been done,” Martino said.
“Where you want Indigenous involvement is at the very beginning. I always say these conversations can be difficult, these are not easy conversations, but it's better to have them early than to get bogged down when you've already invested in a project that isn't feasible from an Indigenous perspective.”
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Although AIOC is involved in the project, some First Nations are concerned about the project, including the First Nations of the Treaty 6 Confederacy.
The Confederation said Friday it expects to work with both Ottawa and Alberta to discuss future economic opportunities, but is “disappointed” it was not included in the decision-making process.
“We need a seat at every table where decisions that affect our people are made,” the Confederacy said in a statement.
The Confederation Treaty covers most of the pipeline's likely route.
The proposal contained in the Memorandum of Understanding seeks to create a bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast that would carry an additional 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day destined for Asian markets.
The memo also notes that there may be “appropriate adjustment Oil Tanker Moratorium Law,» if necessary.
The legislation, often referred to as the “tanker ban”, was first introduced by the federal Liberal government in 2017 and became law two years later. It prevents tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of oil from docking on British Columbia's north coast. The affected area extends from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border and covers the Haida Gwaii archipelago.
Then-Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who sponsored the bill, defended it at the time, citing the region's “navigational hazards” that he said would complicate the oil spill response.
The potential for an oil spill remains a concern, especially as ground is being broken on this potential pipeline, and Rick Steiner thinks the Exxon Valdez is one of those disasters.
Steiner was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the disaster and carefully studied its consequences.
“This is a very ill-conceived proposal,” Steiner said in an interview. “That would be the wrong choice by the Canadian government. No matter how safe you make the tanker terminal and the export of crude oil, which is a very dangerous chemical, by tankers, no matter how safe you make it, there is still a risk of a catastrophic grounding, collision or oil spill.”
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that about 260,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska, although some groups have estimated the spill as high as 760,000 barrels.
For the future bitumen pipeline to be exportable, it would require an exemption from the tanker ban or a border change to allow oil tankers through the Dickson entrance to deliver oil to Asia.
In its statement, the Coastal First Nations of British Columbia made it clear that exclusion is not an option.
“I understand that they're feeling trepidation too, and part of my job — which the premier has asked me to do — is to make sure that I'm having really candid, open and transparent conversations,” Alberta Indigenous Services Minister Rajan Soni said.
Martino, a member of the Frog Lake First Nation under Treaty 6, says industry and First Nations groups need to modernize their relationship, arguing each can hold a different point of view.
“A lot of people in corporate Canada, I think, have an image of an aloof Indigenous person in war paint with a sign,” she said. “First Nations often still hold views about energy companies that may have been entrenched in the '80s and '90s about a Lorax-type situation.”
Soni said a recent meeting with Cold Lake First Nation Chief Kelsey Jacko was “productive.”
“I had the opportunity to listen to his concerns and we agreed that we would walk this path together,” Soni said.
As of Sunday, no industry partners had expressed interest in the potential project.
—with files from Global News' Sean Boynton, Uday Rana, Drew Stremik and The Canadian Press
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