Coastal First Nations have fired back at Enbridge’s Northern Gateway media campaign with a two-minute video.
The commercial, which was produced in house by Coastal First Nations, was released to coincide with the 24th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. It opens with an audio recording of the captain of the oil tanker reporting the spill to the coast guard, and also uses the Paul Simon song The Sound of Silence, which the singer gave the group permission to use.
The video is a response to Enbridge’s television advertising campaign, which promotes the company’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline as an environmentally sound, job-creating project.
It also reflects Coastal First Nations’ frustrations with the environmental review process, director Art Sterritt told Business in Vancouver.
“We found that that process was pretty well weighted in favour of Enbridge … We thought our efforts would be better spent going back to the public campaign,” said Sterritt.
In early February, Coastal First Nations quit the environmental hearings, citing a lack of money.
The video, which was created by the organization’s information officer and videographer, is currently being distributed through social media and is playing on some northern B.C. television stations.
Sterritt said his group hopes to raise money from the public to buy television ad spots in southern B.C.
