The leadership of Fort Nelson First Nation, Prophet River First Nation and West Moberly First Nations said they are astounded by the province of British Columbia’s deal with Petronas, for the company’s proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG development on the West Coast.
“ In yet another example of the province ignoring First Nations’ constitutionally-protected rights, at no point were the Treaty 8 First Nations consulted on the project development agreement or the long-term royalty agreement, ” the First Nations said in a joint statement.
The agreements are intended to secure a positive final investment decision on the Pacific NorthWest LNG export facility.
If that facility is built, it will cause significant and irreparable harm to the ability of Treaty 8 First Nations to practice their Treaty rights, the statement said.
The trillions of cubic feet of natural gas used to supply Pacific NorthWest LNG will be extracted by Progress Energy Canada from the Montney gas play in northeast BC and Treaty 8 Territory. That area is already suffering extreme and unsustainable cumulative impacts from existing oil-and-gas and other industrial development, stands in the statement.
“To feed the Pacific NorthWest LNG facility, Progress Energy will need to drill thousands of new wells and install huge amounts of infrastructure, including roads, pipelines, and gas plants. Those activities will have serious adverse impacts on our lands, waters, animals, and other resources. They will compromise our territory and treaty rights for generations,” Treaty 8 First Nations said.
They claim the government of British Columbia has never consulted Treaty 8 First Nations about the potential impacts such an LNG project and the related upstream development could have on their rights under Treaty No. 8.
The BC government has not been transparent about the nature, degree, scope, and duration of the impacts from extraction activities in Treaty 8 territory throughout the life cycle of the proposed project, according to the statement.
These Treaty 8 nations are not opposed to sustainable and responsible natural resource development but stress that they have to be fully informed and involved in the decisions that will determine the future of their territory.
First Nations claim the Government cannot put oil and gas companies before treaty rights and traditional way of life.
“British Columbia must meaningfully consult and accommodate these Treaty 8 First Nations on such important decisions and all other aspects of this proposed project that could impact our rights,” they said.
First Nations concluded that the focus cannot be placed only on the plant site ignoring the upstream developments. Failure to meaningfully consult Treaty 8 First Nations will only lead to more uncertainty in northeast BC.
Image: Pacific NorthWest LNG