Dear Friends,
The Indigenous Environmental Network and Rainforest Action Network
produced this statement in response to a lobby effort in Washington DC
tomorrow by Treaty One Chiefs of Manitoba regarding the Enbridge Alberta
Clipper and the TransCanada Keystone Project. In this communication you
will find our press statement that focuses on providing an Alberta First
Nations perspective on the issue, as well as the advisory that was sent
out by Treaty One Chiefs of Manitoba on December 31, 2008. Please
distribute this to your lists far and wide.
We spoke with the delegation in DC and they have agreed to distribute this
as part of their press strategy.
Happy New Year,
Clayton Thomas-Muller
ENERGY JUSTICE IN TURTLE ISLAND – NORTH AMERICA
Indigenous Message to Obama to Issue a Presidential Order to Halt All
Processes for Approval of the Expansion of Oil Sands Pipeline
Infrastructure Entering the United States and to Support Alberta First
Nation Chiefs Demand to Canada for a Moratorium on all Expansion of
Canadian Tar Sands Development.
January 07, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Clayton Thomas-Muller, IEN Tar Sands Campaigner cell 218 760 6632
Eriel Deranger, Rainforest Action Network Tar Sands Campaigner, Member of
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) cell 587 785 1558
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network cell
218 760 0442
Ottawa, Canada – First Nation Chiefs from northern Alberta Canada are not
able to attend the January 8 event in Washington, D.C. The Chiefs, elders
and youth representatives of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta Canada are
experiencing firsthand the assault of unsustainable energy development
that has destroyed their environment and subsistence lifestyle that has
sustained them since time immemorial. This energy development is called
the tar/oil sands development, that has been called the “Worlds’ Most
Destructive Project on Earth”. A large portion of Canadian oil coming to
the United States is extracted from the oil sands at a tremendous cost to
the environment, water, and climate change and infringing on the
aboriginal rights of First Nations people downstream of the tar sands
development zone. The First Nations living in the energy sacrifice zone of
the tar sands wanted to stand in solidarity with other Chiefs from
Canada’s First Nations traveling to the U.S. capitol to seek the support
of President Elect Obama in their fight for human rights.
It is with prayer and with strong hearts that all First Nations and
American Indian and Alaska Natives are asking President Elect Obama to
take action that recognizes the sovereign Indigenous nations in Canada and
the USA whose inherent rights are being violated. The Canadian government
continues to fail to recognize its responsibility and duty to consult with
the Indigenous frontline communities that lay directly within the path of
destruction involved with the extraction, processing and transportation of
fossil fuels in Canada, including its exportation of dirty high carbon oil
to the U.S. In February of 2008 all 43 First Nation Alberta Chiefs signed
a resolution requesting a moratorium on all new tar sands permits.
However, the province and the federal government continue to grant
approvals for new expansions in the area.
The Canadian government is further compounding land and water rights
issues with the approval and construction of expansion projects infringing
into traditional territories in Northern Saskatchewan as well as Alberta.
The projects for the delivering of this crude oil include major pipeline
construction in traditional Indigenous territories in Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and much of the mid-western USA
states. The bulk of these projects have been pushed forward without any
adequate consultation with the Indigenous communities and without
recognition of the principles of free, prior and informed consent.
There are high profile litigations by Alberta based First Nations underway
on this issue, most notably Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. ACFN is
seeking a number of declarations from the Court, including asking the
Court to rule that the Alberta Government has:
1. A duty to consult and accommodate ACFN prior to granting the challenged
tenures;
2. Breached their duty to consult by failing to consult prior to granting
the Challenged tenures; and
3. A duty to consult on the scope and extent of the ACFN’s Treaty Rights
and other Aboriginal interests and concerns, prior to granting the
challenged tenures.
Beaver Lake Cree Nation of Treaty 6 (BCFN) launched a massive civil
lawsuit against the federal and Alberta governments, claiming unbridled
oil and gas development in its traditional territory renders its treaty
rights meaningless. BCFN claims the developments have forced band members
out of traditional areas, degraded the environment and reduced wildlife
populations, making it impossible for them to meaningfully exercise their
Treaty 6 rights to hunt, trap and fish.
When considering energy production and resource extraction, the incoming
administration must take into account the disproportionate impacts of
climate change and energy development on the first inhabitants of this
Turtle Island – North America. When considering energy and climate change
policy, it is important that the White House and federal agencies consider
the history of energy and mineral exploitation and Indigenous Nations, and
the potential to create a dramatic change with innovative policies. Too
often tribes are presented with a false choice: either develop polluting
energy resources or remain in dire poverty. Economic development need not
come at the cost of maintaining cultural identity and thriving ecosystems.
The Indigenous Environmental Network, the First Nations of northern
Alberta and all Indigenous Nations want to work with President Elect
Barack Obama and his administration for catalyzing green reservation
economies – not the continuation of an unsustainable fossil fuel economy.
A just nation-to-nation relationship means breaking the cycle of asking
First Nations of Canada or American Indians and Alaska Natives to choose
between economic development and preservation of its cultures and lands.
Renewable energy and efficiency improvements provide opportunity to do
both simultaneously. A green, carbon-reduced energy policy has major
national and international human rights, environmental and financial
consequences, and we believe that this administration can provide
groundbreaking leadership on this policy. The reality is that the most
efficient, green economy will need the vast wind and solar resources that
lie on Indigenous lands in the U.S. and Canada. This provides the
foundation of not only a green low carbon economy but also catalyzes
development of tremendous human and economic potential in the poorest
community in the United States and Canada – Turtle Island.
