'An unjustified infringement': First Nation sues Ottawa, British Columbia over oil tanker ban
As protesters in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland go berserk over tankers from the federally approved Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion, First Nations in the Northern Coast are suing governments for banning them.
The Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band says it filed a civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia Thursday against the federal and provincial governments. It seeks to declare Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tanker ban “an unjustified infringement on the plaintiffs’ aboriginal rights and title.”
It also knocks British Columbia’s establishment of the Great Bear Rainforest, which the ban aims to protect, but which the band disputes because it says it was implemented in its traditional lands without its consent.
The Lax Kw’alaams are among 30 First Nations that launched a
GoFundMe campaign in January to challenge the tanker ban in court that has raised $33,000 so far — a third of its target. Other First Nations that support the Eagle Spirit oil pipeline and energy corridor, which requires tankers to transport Alberta oil to Asia, are expected to file similar lawsuits.
For a prime minister that made Indigenous reconciliation and the environment a priority, the court challenge is a problem.
First, it demonstrates yet again that many First Nations have their own ideas about reconciliation and environmental protection. They include responsible energy development as a way to take charge of their destiny and become less dependent on government income and control.
It’s also a setback for Trudeau’s carbon-tax-for-pipeline-approvals scheme. Trans Mountain, the one pipeline he reluctantly got behind, is under daily attack by protesters who organize photos and interview opportunities like public relation pros, gloat about breaking the law, and don’t care about his national climate change objectives.
On the other hand, the Eagle Spirit pipeline, which he’s suppressing through a tanker ban championed by many of the same activists, is gaining momentum because of Indigenous leadership and because the Trans Mountain project looks so challenged.
The 3,800-member Lax Kw’alaams based near Prince Rupert are a collective of nine tribes that opposes Bill C-48, known as the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act. The ban was announced by the Prime Minister soon after his election and has passed a second reading in Parliament.
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‘An unjustified infringement’: First Nation sues Ottawa, British Columbia over oil tanker ban | Financial Post
