Vaughn Palmer: B.C. funds LNG pipeline opponents as construction stalls

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VICTORIA — The New Democrats have granted $7.22 million to the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, saying the money will promote “unity” in a nation divided between elected and hereditary leaders.

The three-year funding builds upon last year’s memorandum of understanding, signed after the showdown over construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory.

“This funding will support the unity-building work within Wet’suwet’en Nation that is critical to move forward,” Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin said Friday.

The money is all from the province, though the federal and provincial governments both signed the memorandum and continue to negotiate with the hereditary chiefs on implementation of Aboriginal rights and title.

“Openness and transparency continue to be a key focus in the negotiations,” said Rankin.

Elected leaders of the Wet’suwet’en were quick to dispute Rankin’s claims on both the unity and the openness fronts.

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“British Columbia’s funding announcement to ‘unify’ the Wet’suwet’en nation is the latest in a year-long series of insults and betrayals of the elected representatives of the Wet’suwet’en people,” declared elected chief Maureen Luggi and councillors Karen Ogen and Heather Nooski.

“For nearly a year, Canada, B.C., and the recipients of this funding have been negotiating in absolute secrecy about the communal Aboriginal rights and title of the Wet’suwet’en people,” they continued.

“Once again, the democratically elected representatives of the Wet’suwet’en people learned from public media that B.C. has given $7.2 million to a non-profit society to ‘unify’ us.”

The non-profit society being the “Office of the Wet’suwet’en,” controlled by the hereditary chiefs. They opposed the pipeline and supported protests that spread to the steps of the legislature last year.

“The elected councils supported B.C.’s priorities for this pipeline because it is in our mutual interest,” wrote Luggi and her colleagues.

“But in return, we are being removed from any meaningful participation in the future of our territory. And now, despite every appeal to right and reason, the province has handed $7.2 million to an unelected, unrepresentative, unmandated, unaccountable society to continue their secret negotiations and to ‘unify’ the Wet’suwet’en people.”

The latest provincial contribution follows an earlier grant of $1.2 million to purchase the former Lake Kathlyn school property. Some of the new funding will be used to convert the property into “a Wet’suwet’en nation governance centre,” according Friday’s statement from Rankin and the office of the Wet’suwet’en.

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Such is the NDP government’s relationship with the hereditary chiefs that the release made no mention of a role for the elected leadership.

Rankin had a role in establishing the relationship. He was paid more than $140,000 in fees and expenses as provincial representative to the hereditary chiefs, up to September when he resigned to run for the New Democrats in the fall election.

Some of the reasoning behind the NDP decision to favour the hereditary chiefs was spelled out in confidential briefing notes for the incoming minister of Indigenous relations on the eve of last November’s postelection cabinet shuffle.

If asked about opposition to the memorandum from the elected chiefs, the minister (who turned out to be Rankin) was advised to say: “Ultimately it is for the Wet’suwet’en people to resolve their own governance matters — that is central to self-determination.”

But also: “All Wet’suwet’en must be consulted on agreements negotiated and there must be clarity on Wet’suwet’en governance structures and systems.”

What, then, would be the role for elected chiefs in the negotiation process?

“That is an internal governance question that the Wet’suwet’en need to determine,” was the suggested answer.  “The province is available to support conversations between the hereditary and elected leadership if that would be helpful.”

Not likely would the province be helpful in bridging the gap after repeatedly siding with the hereditary leadership.

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The minister’s briefing notes also claimed that “in general, the province consults and negotiates with whichever leaders are decided on by the First Nation and will typically seek to consult with both elected and hereditary leaders in areas where traditional house systems remain established.”

But that is not how B.C. proceeded with the Wet’suwet’en.

“They have funded the organization that did not consult us about their MOU, that did not seek our support for their negotiations and that did not even inform us how their negotiations would affect our rights and interests, to bring our people together,” wrote the elected leaders in reference to the NDP’s dealings with the office of the Wet’suwet’en.

“That is 19th century colonial manipulation that cannot possibly do anything but drive us further apart.”

You also have to wonder what message this sends to investors in Coastal GasLink, which is the intended supply line for the multi-billion dollar LNG terminal now under construction in Kitimat.

The New Democrats say the agreement with the hereditary chiefs means “no change” for the project.

“The Coastal Gas Link project is permitted and approved to proceed,” said the briefing notes. “The project is supported by Indigenous communities along the entire pipeline route, including Wet’suwet’en members.”

But the March construction update on the project reports that next to no work — zero grading, zero pipe installed — has been completed on the 78-kilometre section flanking the protest encampment supported by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.

That’s a big gap in the line. If it is not too much to expect, perhaps the province’s $7.2 million grant will help clear the way for construction to proceed.

vpalmer@postmedia.com