AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak speaks on Tuesday at the Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
In a high-stakes address directly to First Nations leadership, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that his government’s approach to major projects can move forward only in partnership with them.
Hours earlier, at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations, the gathered chiefs had adopted a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of a memorandum of understanding signed between Ottawa and Alberta last week that paves the path for a potential pipeline to the West Coast. The resolution also rejected any proposed exemptions to the federal ban on oil tankers off the northern coast of British Columbia, a necessity if such a pipeline were to be built.
The MOU is part of an effort by Mr. Carney’s government to unite the country behind a push to increase Canada’s economic independence, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war clouds the country’s outlook.
Indigenous groups have previously raised concerns that the government’s race to boost economic activity with major projects will trample treaty rights. The AFN resolution was yet another indication that unity remains a work in progress.
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Speaking at the meeting in Ottawa, Mr. Carney said the overall nation-building mission is a “positive endeavour.”
“This approach must be informed by and can only move forward with First Nations,” he told the chiefs. “We will build in partnership by upholding Indigenous rights and building in ways that First Nations communities have greater security and prosperity.”
His speech included little reference to the MOU, but Mr. Carney later said that rights holders – chiefs – would be consulted for any Alberta-based projects that affect them, and that he is looking forward to meeting with Coastal First Nations in B.C., which oppose any lifting of the tanker ban.
The MOU pledges political support for a bitumen pipeline from Alberta’s oilsands to British Columbia’s coast, provided certain conditions are met.
As well, it promises that the federal and Alberta governments will engage in “early, consistent, and meaningful consultation” with First Nations along any pipeline route and provide opportunities for Indigenous co-ownership and economic benefits. But it does not promise that the government will obtain consent from Indigenous communities.
The AFN resolution rejects any proposed changes to the current tanker ban and wants the “immediate withdrawal of the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding and any project contemplated or designated under the agreement that may infringe First Nations’ rights, including the right to self-determination.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney says a memorandum of understanding with Alberta strengthens federal-provincial collaboration in the energy sector. Calgary business leaders responded to his speech with a standing ovation, while one environmentalist says the deal throws the climate 'under the bus.'
The Canadian Press
Indigenous groups have harshly criticized Mr. Carney’s Liberal government for a lack of consultation in its overall push for major project development. Coastal First Nations were especially defiant last week when the MOU was signed without anyone from the federal government consulting with them.
Marc Miller, who was sworn in Monday as the country’s new Canadian Identity and Culture Minister and who has previously served in the Indigenous services and the Crown-Indigenous relations portfolios, told reporters on Tuesday that the need for engagement is overdue.
He said getting First Nations to say “yes” to the pipeline project will be complex, adding that conversations “should have started yesterday.”
“It can’t be done from a desktop,” Mr. Miller said.
“It has to actually be done face-to-face in a respectful way with the people in charge showing a personal commitment to making sure they are improving lives of communities and getting benefits into communities if and when a pipeline is to be approved.”
Last week, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson had to apologize for comments he made in a CBC interview. When asked about ensuring Coastal First Nations could attend a meeting about the MOU, he replied: “It’s called Zoom.”
Coastal First Nations president Marilyn Slett welcomed the emergency resolution’s passage. She said the federal government must realize that First Nations communities and the stewardship of their lands are not a barrier to Canada’s economic prosperity, but a source of it.
“Protecting B.C.’s North Coast is not an item for negotiation – it is a national responsibility, and it is a quantifiable investment in Canada’s treasured marine environment and the economic prosperity of future generations,” she said in a statement. “We urge the federal government to uphold the oil tanker ban.”
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In her opening address at the AFN special assembly, National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said it was difficult to watch First Nations on the Pacific Coast be excluded from talks ahead of last week’s signing of the memorandum of understanding, “as if First Nations rights can be wiped away with one federal-provincial MOU.”
Overall, she said there will be no getting around rights holders on major projects.
“The truth is that Canada can create all the MOUs, project offices, advisory groups that they want, but chiefs are united when it comes to approving large national projects on First Nations’ lands,” she said.
The Prime Minister also made several commitments in his speech, including to hold a federal-provincial-territorial meeting with First Nations early in the new year. First Nations will set the agenda for that meeting, he said.
The government will table First Nations clean drinking water legislation in the spring, he said.
“We recognize that we need a more permanent solution through a co-ordinated approach, supported by the right funding mechanism, and working with the provinces and territories at the table,” he said. “This is a top priority for our government.”
Ottawa is committed to ending the remaining 38 on-reserve drinking water advisories through a $2.3-billion investment in the 2025 budget, Mr. Carney said.
Chief Gary Quisess from Neskantaga First Nation in Northern Ontario told the Prime Minister he has doubts the latest promises and commitments will end the boil water advisory his community has lived under for more than 30 years.
“It’s already intergenerational,” Mr. Quisess told Mr. Carney.
With a report from Stephanie Levitz
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the memorandum of understanding requires Indigenous support of the pipeline. The MOU promises that the federal and Alberta governments will engage in “early, consistent, and meaningful consultation” with First Nations along any pipeline route, but it does not promise to obtain consent from Indigenous communities.