Indigene Anführer vernichten PRGT-Pipeline-Abkommen und blockieren Straßen in British Columbia | The Narwhal

>On Thursday, on a remote forest service road in northwest B.C., Gitanyow Simgiget (Hereditary Chiefs) burned a benefits agreement they signed with TC Energy 10 years ago in support of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, saying it will “make our ancestors happy.”

>When the pipeline was first proposed in the early 2010s, some Gitxsan and Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs signed contracts with TC Energy and the provincial government, outlining their support for the project and related infrastructure. The contracts detailed how the company would compensate the nations financially in return for permission to build the project through their lands. They also included clauses saying the nations’ leaders should suppress any opposition to the pipeline from community members, including on social media.

So a company comes in. It does what it is supposed to do. It consults with the local Indigenous Nations. It obtains informed consent from both the elected and traditional band authorities. It complies with its obligations under both Canadian law and UNDRIP.

And then 10 years later, some other members of one of those nations decide they don’t agree any more and they’re going to shut the whole thing down.

This is not acceptable. Sovereignty doesn’t just mean doing what you want without accountability or consequence. Unfortunately, the government has invited more of these disputes with its response to CGL. Why wouldn’t motivated Indigenous activists do it again? It worked the last time.

Also:

>the project was recently sold to the Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government and Texas-based Western LNG

This isn’t just Indigenous people v. some faceless corporation. This pipeline is owned by a consortium including the neighboring Indigenous Nation. So not only did the company consult and obtain informed consent, it *also* sold part of the project to local Indigenous buyers. It really did basically everything it’s supposed to do.

Should a group of people be allowed to unaccountably and unilaterally block an Indigenous-owned infrastructure project they agreed to?