After meeting with federal bureaucrats this week to discuss energy development in the region, Carrier Sekani Tribal Chief Terry Teegee said the next step is to sit down with their political masters.
Teegee and other regional chiefs met with assistant deputy ministers and director generals with Natural Resources Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada this week regarding the implementation of Doug Eyford’s recent report on First Nations and energy infrastructure.
Teegee hopes the meeting will open the door to further discussions with federal cabinet ministers or Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“The ball is in their court, we’ll see what happens next,” Teegee said, noting some of the chiefs present at the meetings were disappointed that only “low-level bureaucrats” were present this week.
While the goal of the meeting was to work towards implementation of the report, Teegee said at times the issue of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline overshadowed the discussions. The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council is against the plan to ship diluted bitumen by pipeline through its traditional territories.
“Frankly it is insulting to have federal officials trot out a dog and pony show about their oil-spill clean-up plans when we have already made clear that tar sands pipelines are not welcome in our territories,” Nadleh Whut’en First Nations chief Martin Louie said in a news release. “We want clear water, a healthy environment and healthy communities, not toxic jobs cleaning up oil spills.”
On the other hand, Teegee said the group is open to having further discussions on plans to build new natural gas pipelines to feed liquefaction plants planned for the north coast.
Eyford delivered his report to Harper with much fanfare last month. It called for a working group between the federal and provincial governments, along with First Nations leaders.
Teegee said there were many good things in Eyford's report, particularly around the distrust some First Nations groups have with the federal government. At the same time, he said the report failed to touch on the important issue of right and title and described aboriginal groups as stake holders. Teegee would have preferred the term decision makers.
The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council encompasses eight First Nations groups in British Columbia and has over 5,000 members. Its head office is located in Burns Lake.
