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Online animation visualizes First Nations opposition along
proposed Enbridge pipeline route; pipeline is bringing First
Nations together to protect their lands and waters.
VANCOUVER & SMITHERS -- A new online animation (http://wetsuweten.com/pipelines)
shows growing First Nations opposition to Enbridge's Northern
Gateway Pipeline, a project that would cross more than fifty
First Nations communities and one-thousand streams and rivers.
All this in a bid to bring tar sands oil from Alberta to the
coast of British Columbia where it would be loaded on to super
tankers bound for Asia.
Featuring quotes of opposition from First Nations leaders, as
well as animated oil spills and the sound of a traditional Wet
suwet en battle song, the animation is the first to visualize
opposition to the proposed pipeline, and comes only a day after
the federal government's announcement of a Joint Review Panel
for the proposed pipeline.
Our territory represents a large portion of the proposed
pipeline route and there's no way we're going to allow it, said
David Luggi, Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, one of
the leaders quoted in the video. The only thing Enbridge
investors can bank on with this project is strong opposition.
The pipeline is seen by critics as a source of bad press for
Enbridge and a potential legal quagmire for the company and the
Canadian federal government.
We will not allow any project to proceed that infringes the
constitutionally protected rights of our people,
said Dolores Pollard, Chief Councillor of the Haisla
Nation, whose territory includes the pipeline project's proposed
super tanker port in Kitimat. Sooner or later, that's a lesson
Enbridge and the federal government are going to learn, either
in the court of public opinion or a court of law.
We ve told Enbridge many times that this pipeline will not go
through our territory, but they seem to have a hard time
listening, said
Alphonse Gagnon, Wet suwet en hereditary chief.
The only good thing about this pipeline is that it is
bringing First Nations together to protect our lands and waters.
The video is part of an online advocacy campaign aimed at
pressuring Enbridge to pull out of the project and allows
viewers to send emails directly to CEO, Patrick Daniel, asking
him to keep his word that the company doesn't want to be,
involved in a project that is opposed and of concern to others,
a statement Daniel made last year at a shareholder meeting in
Toronto.
The video, which was produced by the Office of the Wet suwet en
and environmental group ForestEthics, can be viewed and shared
online:
http://wetsuweten.com/pipelines or
http://www.forestethics.org/tarsandsfreebc
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