Wes Elliott: Haudenosaunee land defender
Treaties supersede Ontario provincial legislation
Vanessa Gray: Aamjiwnaang First Nation
First Nation located near Sarnia, Ontario
* AKA 'Chemical Valley'
* Most common reported impact from the presence of the chemical industry is fear
Youth from the community participated in this year's Power Shift conference
Aaron Detlor: Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI)
"We're not Canadians. I can't stress that enough. We've never been Canadians and we never will be Canadians."
* They have never been asked, and probably would not want to be if they were
Treaty area from Ohio to Oshama, down to Carolinas and up to Sudbury
* Promises the Haudenosaunee "free and undisturbed harvesting"
* Provincial and federal governments are now pushing for the Line 9 reversal
* So are the financial interests that back these governments
Haudenosaunee jurisdiction doesn't derive from treaties with settlers and colonizers
* Movement of tar sands oil through Ontario doesn't help with building sustainable communities
* So far, Enbridge has said they don't need to talk with the HDI
* The Haudenosaunee find the environmental assessment and court processes to be unsatisfying
* Don't want to be "recolonized by another process"
Now seeking a cease and desist order from the chiefs
Ontario Provincial Police now "have some cognizance about treaty rights"
"We need to come up with a strategic means for developing a relationship between the different groups here today"
* Should aim to come away with something concrete today
Art Sterritt: Coastal First Nations
Spokesperson for Defend our Coast - group opposing tar sands pipelines in British Columbia
* From the Skeena River area
20,000 people in the Great Bear initiative
Very few treaties in British Columbia, unlike the rest of Canada east of the Rockies
* There are no treaties in the whole Northern Gateway pipeline area
* Court cases have established an obligation to consult with First Nations
Coastal First Nations have signed government-to-government agreements with the province of British Columbia
* First in 2001
At times, there has been conflict with the environmental community
* For the most part, environmental groups now recognize First Nations rights and title
Collaboration with unions and municipalities
Everybody in the region had agreed to a development plan, but Enbridge tried to insert the Northern Gateway pipeline (NGP) into the middle of the region it covers
* Originally, Enbridge said they would not proceed without the support of First Nations
* Subsequently, there were the Kalamazoo spill and the Deepwater Horizon spill
* Declared a ban on tanker traffic in the Great Bear Rainforest: based on lessons from Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico
* Cajuns: "If you ever allow oil into your territory, they will change your whole way of life."
Necessary to garner enough support across British Columbia to effect change
* 80% of British Columbians now support the campaign to stop the Northern Gateway pipeline
To stop Line 9, it is necessary to personalize the issue
* In B.C. "Defend our Coast" - personalized, and having a great deal of success
Recent rally in Victoria: 5,000 people showed up
* If the federal government approves the NGP, there are many people willing to personally block construction
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the First Nations Summit both oppose the NGP
* Union of B.C. Municipalities has passed a motion opposing NGP
* "That should be the end of the story"
Enbridge and the Conservative government are now undermining Canada's fisheries and environmental assessment laws
* Changed the terms of the review panel while it was in progress
First Nations are getting ready with legal cases, political cases, and direct action
"The richest industry that has ever hit planet Earth is trying to take over our country"
* All of Canada needs to come up with a plan to resist
Maude Barlow: Council of Canadians
"We have to form a peoples movement around the world to fight what these corporations are doing"
Background on the tar sands:
* Producing 2 M barrels of oil per day
* Dirtiest oil in the world - corrosive, eats through pipes - more problematic when it spills
* Problematic even when it is transported safely
* $40B to be spent on new pipelines to export bitumen around the world
* Add 3 M barrels per day of production capacity
This is what we're fighting - not one pipeline
* The most terrible energy product on Earth
Bill McKibben - if the people of B.C. can stop the pipelines, they will be doing it for the whole world
Line 9 is also a challenge for the whole world
The pipelines are the arteries of the tar sands
* If we cannot stop them, we cannot stop the dramatic increase in the tar sands
* Once pipelines are built "there is a terrible imperative to keep them filled at all times"
The oil companies are now driving policy in Canada
"I don't think they're going to get through the 132 First Nations that have said 'you will not pass'"
What industry and the Canadian government are focusing on now is the east
* In response to the probability of failure to build pipelines in B.C.
* Re-opening effort on Trailblazer, reversing Line 9
Line 9 to run through communities with 9.1 M people
Transcanada is proposing another pipeline through Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick
* To export tar sands oil through St. John
More than 2/3 of tar sands production is now in foreign hands
* It would still be a problem in Canadian hands
* But this makes it much harder to transition to a clean energy future
The task that we have is not to have one pipeline fight, but to create a coalition right across North America
* Must support the Keystone XL blockade in Texas
Atlantic Canada and Quebec are importing energy from places where great damage is being done
* The appropriate response is to build a clean energy future for all of us
The Harper agenda is very clear - make the country a superpower by allowing full exploitation of energy and resources
* Removing every barrier and tool that has been available to fight for a just assessment
* Gutting of scientists at Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, Parks Canada
* Many pure science research facilities being shut down
* Department of Fisheries and Oceans admits that "they can do no serious analysis of the Northern Gateway pipeline" because they lack the capacity
* Negotiating trade agreements that give corporations "enormous new powers"
* Canada-EU free trade agreements would forbid the changing of rules within sectors once European corporations have invested
* Chinese companies are being given rights that supersede the democratic rights of municipalities across Canada
* Blocks future federal governments from instituting new environmental protections - grants corporations the right to sue the government for damages in this event
Increasing commodification of nature
Athabasca Chippewan resistance against Shell refinery
* We have the passion of our people, the truth, and the constitution of Canada on our side