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Native leaders turn up heat Deh Cho First Nations unhappiness with NWT government, Imperial Oil boils over into another lawsuit Gary Park For Petroleum News
The road to a Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline has turned decidedly bumpy in Canada’s Far North.
In an on-again, off-again series of lawsuits, the Deh Cho First Nations are back before the courts, taking the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board to the Northwest Territories Supreme Court as its fight over access and benefits agreements broadens.
The Deh Cho are unhappy that the board, based on information received from the federal Department of Indian Affairs, has reversed an earlier decision requiring Imperial Oil to enter into agreements with five of 13 Deh Cho communities covering the social and cultural impacts of the Mackenzie Gas Project.
Deh Cho leaders say they did not have a chance to respond to the board before the ruling was made.
First Nations leaders also tossed spike belts in the path of Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley and Randy Ottenbreit, an Imperial executive assigned to the Mackenzie project, leaving little doubt that, despite years of consultation with aboriginal communities, there are daunting obstacles to be removed before the project gains widespread acceptance and construction begins.
In some of the latest developments, Handley was accused of eroding Deh Cho efforts to reach a deal with Imperial on land access and pipeline benefits.
Ottenbreit faced a similar attack from Chief Keyna Norwegian, of the Liidlii Kue First Nation, who said Imperial had still not made an acceptable offer to gain access to Deh Cho lands.
She said the company is “moving forward and not respecting us as the Dene people of the land. Those are the things that should have been priorities — making sure you have access to people’s lands before you spend millions of dollars on joint review panels and environmental assessments.”
Norwegian has persistently warned that the C$7.5 billion Mackenzie project has the potential to “totally change” the lives of aboriginal communities.
In earlier interviews she said the pipeline is neither a benefit nor a necessity for the Deh Cho.
“Everybody says, ‘What are you going to do for jobs?’ We’ve survived for thousands of years; I’m sure we can survive the way we are.” Dene doubt promises Noeline Villebrun, Grand Chief of the Dene Nation, said his people have reason to doubt the promises of fair treatment, claiming industry and government have failed to comply with an agreement made 106 years ago to share the land and resources.
Ottenbreit, suggesting Norwegian should direct her issues to the joint review panel hearings, said some access agreements have been negotiated and talks with the Deh Cho are continuing.
Handley took a buffeting from regional Assembly of First Nations leaders as he updated them on the status of revenue-sharing and devolution negotiations with the Canadian government which the Northwest Territories hopes will give it greater control over resource development and a large share of the royalties.
Norwegian countered that Handley’s government seems to forget “whose land this really is. … Who are the people who lived here before the territorial government was even set up?”
She said Handley undermined Deh Cho efforts to strike a deal with Imperial by sending a “letter of comfort” to the company last fall promising that royalties and taxes would not increase should a devolution agreement be reached with Ottawa.
Norwegian said that stance lifted the pressure on Imperial to sign or negotiate proper access and benefits.
Handley replied that his letter covered only issues affecting the government, leaving Imperial and the aboriginal regions to deal separately with the access matters.
Dettah Chief Peter Liske told Handley that he should give priority to settling unresolved Deh Cho land claims.
If they can be concluded, devolution and resource revenue agreements could be more easily reached, he suggested. Confidential pact made public Finally, a confidential pact between Imperial and land claim groups in the Sahtu region have been made public.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., CBC, reports that the terms show Imperial will pay C$17 million for a pipeline right of way across Sahtu land.
Winter Lennie, a director of the Norman Wells Land Corp., leaked the details after refusing last fall to sign a motion endorsing the pact.
Given the significance of the deal, he said all beneficiaries should have a chance to vote on the agreement.
The Tulita District Land Corp., which negotiated the conditions with Imperial, also stands to collect about C$5,000 per hectare (2.47 acres) for land used for gas facilities, C$1,000 per hectare for gravel pits and C$864 per hectare for land used for roads.
Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser told CBC his company was surprised the information was leaked, but that won’t change its commitment to advancing benefits and access negotiations with all communities and opening discussions with the Deh Cho.
There is no indication how the Tulita deals compare with those negotiated with the Gwich’in, Inuvialuit and K’asho Got’ine.
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