Indigenous nations have protected the earth on their territories for thousands of years. With the government of Canada ignoring their sovereignty, nations not only see massive theft of resources that could help alleviate social problems, but their exacerbation through their further alienation from their own lands, often accompanying being overrun by development and southern workers, while having no self-determination during this process. In the south of Canada industrial farming displaced many nations with often genocidal results. In the north, a modern equivalent of that fate is only just beginning, wrought on by industrial oil and gas drilling schemes (among many industrial plans) that are condemning entire societies, languages and cultures to a precarious future, becoming minorities in their lands for the first time.
"Indians: Oil sands development 'genocide'"
EDMONTON, Alberta, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A Canadian Indian rights advocate claims oil sands development in Alberta is akin to genocide from water contamination on reservation lands.
Speaking at a conference in Edmonton Sunday, Mike Mercredi, 33, said death rates at the Fort Chipewyan reservation's 1,200 people 400 miles northeast of Edmonton were on the rise, the Edmonton Sun reported.
Mon, November 24, 2008
'It's killing us off'
Oilsands development a danger to aboriginal community: Band member
By KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA
Mike Mercredi, a community member of Fort Chipewyan, was on hand yesterday at Edmonton’s Native Friendship Centre to talk about the impact an oilsands development is having on his First Nations community.
Fort Chipewyan is facing a "genocide" from oilsands development, says a member of the First Nation.
TransCanada Pipelines is an official supplier to the 2010 Games.
This pipeline will provide enough gas to *almost triple* current already
insane tar sands production levels.
Lubicon lands will be destroyed so that the speed with which the
destruction of the tar sands advances through towards Fort Chip and
elsewhere can go up massively and much faster.
Little Buffalo still has no running water.
The lake has not been potable for a few decades now.
--M
TransCanada invades Lubicon Territory
... in order to "meet the public interest"?
Now this deserves a response.
November 16, 2008
The Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing the Chiefs from Treaties 6, 7 and 8 unanimously issued a formal resolution of support for the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation in their dispute with TransCanada Corporation.
Notably, Treaty 8 covers the lands surrounding Lubicon Territory through which the North Central Crossing Pipeline is also intended to pass -- meaning that Chiefs all along the pipeline route have declared their support for the Lubicon position.
Big Oil's Pipe Dream
An interview with Dustin Johnson about the Gateway Pipeline
November 13, 2008
by Dawn Paley
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
PRINCE RUPERT and VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–The Gateway Pipeline Project, proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge Gateway Pipelines Inc., would snake through the unceded territories of over 40 Native communities. If fully developed, the Gateway Pipeline would transport a half-million barrels of oil per day from Alberta's tar sands through sensitive ecosystems of BC's northwest coast.
Air- and water-monitoring program promised for Fort Chipewyan
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | CBC
Alberta's environment minister said Monday he will support the creation of a program to help people in the northern part of the province check if their food, air or water is contaminated.
Rob Renner made the promise after meeting with representatives of First Nations in Fort Chipewyan, Alta.
'They are flexing their muscles'
Companies want to mine a remote region of B.C., but, unlike some previous bands, the Tahltan insist on controlling access to the area
MARK HUME
mhume@globeandmail.com
September 27, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Between the abandoned mining town of Cassiar and the struggling port of Stewart, in the northwest corner of British Columbia, Highway 37 runs through one of the most dramatic and resource-rich landscapes in Canada.
World's Crudest Extraction
At the tar sands they’re digging up dirty fuel
November 8, 2008
by Macdonald Stainsby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
EDMONTON, ALBERTA–When the Albertan government recently put forward $25 million to counter the negative press around tar sands mining, Premier Ed Stelmach strained credulity by stating: "In terms of David and Goliath, I've been in this position before, and now I'm here."
Pipeline company opens office - Roger Harris
November 04, 2008 11:00 PM
A COMPANY proposing to transport oil through a multi-billion pipeline between Alberta and Kitimat will be officially opening their offices in Terrace and Kitimat next week.
Enbridge will use the offices in the two communities to inform the public about the project.
The project needs federal regulatory approval. Construction would require skilled workers.
Kelly Lake Cree Nation Denounces Pipeline Bombings
On October 17th, the Kelly Lake Cree Nation released a statement (below)
denouncing the recent attempts to sabotage a nearby gas pipeline in
northeast British Columbia.
On October 11th and 16th there were two separate explosions directed at
the pipeline, which is owned by the Calgary-based EnCana corporation.
Neither explosion caused any serious damage to the pipeline, however the
second one created a small rupture that forced its temporary closure. As
root force explains, “workers had been on high alert since the first
