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Mackenzie hearings ‘insult’ aboriginals
An overlooked pipeline link in the Mackenzie Gas Project is now front-and-center as a northern aboriginal group gives vent to feelings that it has been ignored in the process.
Chief James Ahnassay of the Dene Tha’ seized his chance during a two-day regulatory hearing to question the legitimacy of the regulatory phase that he said had become “deeply hurtful and insulting” to his community of 2,500 residents whose lands embrace the southern end of the Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.
He told a session of the environmental Joint Review Panel that the Dene Tha’ were participating “under protest” because multi-million dollar access and benefits agreements signed with the Mackenzie proponents stop at the Northwest Territories border.
The Canadian government has promised to spend C$500 million over 10 years to help aboriginals along the Mackenzie Valley pipeline route in the Northwest Territories handle the project impact, but allocated only C$600,000 to the Dene Tha’ which took its objections to Federal Court of Canada, arguing hearings should be postponed until the concerns had been resolved.
Alberta leg will create no new jobs The Alberta leg is expected to cost about C$212 million and involve 400 workers during a single construction season, after which the connection will be operated by remote control from Calgary, creating no new jobs for the Dene Tha’ in Alberta.
Ahnassay told the panel the Dene Tha’ should receive benefits to tackle the socio-economic impact of the pipeline in a region where the project threatens the hunting lifestyle of the people.
“We should have been fully consulted from Day 1, just like everybody else. But that’s not the avenue they have taken,” he said.
Instead, the Dene Tha’ have been limited to making only a presentation to the hearings, although TransCanada, which will operate the main line, said it is working with the Dene Tha’ under a “community cooperation protocol.”
But separate hearings to be conducted by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board offer no assurances that recommendations by the Joint Review Panel will be honored in the province, which reinforces Ahnassay’s view that the Dene Tha’ are being discriminated against.
Without issuing any specific threats he told the Edmonton Journal “there comes a breaking point. ... We have reached that” because of past experience that shows new pipelines always generate additional resource activity to the detriment of the aboriginal lifestyle.
—Gary Park
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