Second Aboriginal Group Files Mackenzie Pipeline Lawsuit
By Bob Weber
17 May 2005 at 09:42 PM EDT
resourceinvestor.com
EDMONTON (CP) -- A second northern aboriginal group that says it has been ignored by government and industry has filed a lawsuit to try to stop hearings into a proposed C$7-billion Mackenzie Valley pipeline.
''They were never even told about the process,'' said Robert Freedman, the lawyer who filed an application for a judicial review of the regulatory process Tuesday.
Freedman represents about 2,500 Dene Tha', whose members are spread over seven reserves in northwestern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southern end of the Northwest Territories.
The pipeline would be routed across about 100 kilometres of Dene Tha' traditional lands, and the group says it has been ignored in the project's design and early regulatory process.
The lawsuit seeks a judicial stay of hearings by the joint review panel until the Dene Tha' voice is heard. It also asks the court to rule that Alberta sections of the pipeline should be included in the review and not hived off to provincial regulators.
The Dene Tha', signatories to Treaty 8, will seek a share of any benefits from the project.
Freedman said his clients have written Imperial Oil, federal ministries, the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to say ''what about us?''
The lawsuit claims the federal government hasn't lived up to its responsibility to ensure that aboriginal concerns are taken into account over industrial development on traditional lands.
It says the lands have already been heavily affected by thousands of oil and gas wells and hundreds of kilometres of pipelines and roads, as well as by intensive logging. The Mackenzie Valley pipeline would run across one of the few areas left for Dene Tha' practices.
''They live, in a lot of cases, a fairly traditional life,'' said Freedman. ''They use their traditional lands, not just their reserves.
''They keep having to go further off in their territory to have any place left to perform these activities.''
Freedman said his clients aren't opposed to development, but want a say and a share of benefits.
The Dene Tha' also say Imperial Oil has not included information on the Alberta portion of the project in its environmental impact assessment.
''If the joint review panel makes recommendations, there's no mechanism to enforce them in Alberta,'' Freedman said.
Instead, pipeline companies have filed applications with the Alberta regulator.
''We don't care who builds the southern project, but it's one project,'' said Freedman. ''If you split the project, you're ignoring cumulative effects.''
The Deh Cho, who live in the southwestern corner of the N.W.T., have also filed lawsuits to block hearings until they get a stronger voice on the panel that will hear the pipeline application.
Negotiators from that group and the federal government are meeting this week to discuss a federal offer to settle the lawsuit out of court. |
