A $200 million agreement inked in Vancouver last week is evidence the alleged dogfight between First Nations and industry in this province is little more than a smoke-and-mirrors job perpetrated by talking heads and their headline writers.
Hardly a week passes in British Columbia without another cringe-inducing headline highlighting the allegedly dysfunctional relationship between First Nations and major project proponents.
And, always, loitering diabolically just off stage right, is that pundit panel ready to sink its ideologically anchored incisors into the debate of the day.
Am I the only one who’s noticed that every time a broadcaster sets aside 90 seconds of the six o’clock news to tackle major industry issues the same half dozen characters are conjured up to provide commentary?
The whole thing is starting to feel a bit like a Rick Mercer sketch, only it’s actually funny.
As I pointed out in last month’s missive from my wilderness outpost (“Energy giants’ battle is key to B.C.’s economy future” – BIV issue 1216, February 12-18), few in the great clear cut to the south appear interested in coming up north to ask actual questions about this province’s future.
This despite the fact that $70 billion in major capital projects proposed in the north in the coming years represents a seismic shift in B.C., which, if even half of them become reality, will have cascading impacts on every part of our lives, including health care, education and social programs.
So, my dear Vancouverite, sit back, relax and enjoy that horrifyingly overpriced coffee in your hand while I take a few moments to clear up some mistruths – some of which even I have propagated in the past.
Reality check: First Nations and industry leaders actually get along fairly well and are having meaningful conversations and hammering out business agreements across the north.
Last week, the First Nations Group Limited Partnership (FNLP), a consortium of 15 First Nations from Summit Lake to Kitimat, signed a $200 million commercial agreement with Pacific Trail Pipelines.
The agreement provides financial, business and training benefits to 15 First Nations located along the proposed route for a pipeline that would ferry gas from northeast B.C. to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the coast.
“These agreements secure significant financial and economic benefits for First Nations who play a vital role in one of British Columbia’s leading LNG projects,” Chief Raymond Morris, a member of the FNLP executive committee, said in a press release. “It not only establishes that industry and First Nations can co-operate in the successful development of major projects, it also points to how it can be done.”
If you think this type of co-operation and agreement is rare in B.C., think again.
A number of major projects across the north exhibit this level of co-operation, including Imperial Metals’ Red Chris mine, NovaGold’s Galore Creek project, Thompson Creek Metals’ Mount Milligan mine and BC Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line.
Here’s another example:
Several years ago, Calgary gas giant Encana wanted to build a road in northeast B.C. to connect its gas lines.
However, the proposed road route was on Fort Nelson and Prophet River First Nations land (PRFN), and the First Nations wanted more information about the plant life and ecology of the area before they agreed to a route for the road.
Instead of fighting over access to the land, the company and the First Nations decided to – wait for it – co-operate.
Encana and the First Nations then partnered with EDI Environmental Dynamics Inc. and the University of Northern British Columbia to study the area’s ecology.
First Nations elders, youth and others worked with the companies and university to gather enough knowledge about that ecology to determine what areas would and wouldn’t be best for a roadway, creating a wealth of data that will help inform future land-use decisions.
Here’s another reality check: there’s a enduring myth in this province that the lack of settled land claims has created extreme uncertainty for business.
While British Columbia’s business environment is far from perfect, the only thing uncertain about the process for developing resource projects is the politically driven decisions cooked up in the legislature.
Let me be clear: each project that affects the land base has a clearly defined permitting and environmental assessment process.
The duty to consult with First Nations ultimately rests with the Crown, though businesses, to their credit, have learned the value of establishing separate relationships with First Nations.
Would treaties provide more certainty over the land base? Perhaps, but no one is certain.
Consider this: the likelihood of opposition to major projects is just as high in Treaty 8 territory in northeast B.C. as it is in non-treaty areas.
At the end of the day, a treaty doesn’t make a bad project suddenly acceptable.
That said, should the treaty process even be pursued? After all, much criticism has been levelled against it for the slow rate at which treaties are signed and how much the process costs.
The answer? Yes, treaties should be pursued, but only with bands that see value in treaties.
Is it too slow? Not necessarily.
As one former B.C. chief treaty negotiator recently told me, how long would it take before you were prepared to sign away parts of your traditional territory, and the flora and fauna therein, forever and ever?
You likely wouldn’t be quick to sign that deal; no sane person would.
Even if the process resulted in one treaty every year it would take close to 200 years before the province had treaties with every band.
So where does that leave us?
Well, First Nations and industry in the north are leading from the front, establishing meaningful relationships and agreements to create jobs and wealth for all of B.C.
There is far more certainty over the land base in this province than some folks would have you believe.
And the treaty process, while far from perfect, is doing what it’s supposed to be doing alongside First Nations that see value in that process.
In other words, the issues that form the debates of the day aren’t necessarily the right issues to debate.
What are the right issues?
How about the fact that too many of the First Nations communities in this province suffer from appalling rates of poverty, crime and health-care crises?
Let’s talk about that.
Certainly, the broadcasters in this province appear to have a captive audience for that type of discussion given all the hours Vancouverites are stuck in traffic snarls.
I hope you enjoyed that over-priced coffee. •
