VANCOUVER — The president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs is reversing his previous opposition to the abandoned Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would have created another route for Alberta oil to reach the Pacific Ocean.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said Tuesday that while he “really fought” against the construction of Northern Gateway before it was abandoned in 2016, it was a “different time” and Canada did not now has “no choice” but to reconsider his decision.
“We are currently facing the abyss of uncertainty with climate change, the climate crisis and the American threat,” Mr. Phillip said at a press conference, before a meeting with First Nations leaders from British Columbia and the provincial cabinet in Vancouver, highlighting the American administration under the presidency of Donald Trump.
“I would say if we don’t build this kind of infrastructure, Trump will – and there will be no consideration for the environment or the rule of law or anything like that.”
“I think we can do better. I think we need to do better,” he added.
Mr. Phillip’s comments come after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith suggested on social media that construction of the pipeline must “begin immediately” to diversify the country’s export markets, in light of threats of tariffs on Canadian exports from Mr. Trump.
Speaking virtually to reporters from Washington, Smith said the goal is to “stop being so dependent on one trading partner.”
“We need to remove internal trade barriers between Canadian provinces, start thinking about how we can deliver major nation-building projects on our east and west coasts, whether it’s restarting the Northern Gateway project in Colombia -British or the launch of discussions on the Energy East project off the east coast,” she said.
Since Mr. Phillip and others opposed the Northern Gateway project, a number of agreements he described as “unbelievable” between First Nations, governments and businesses on the development of resources produced “clearly evident” benefits for Indigenous communities.
A “very surprising” turnaround
Professor David Tindall, who works in the sociology department at the University of British Columbia, said he found Mr. Phillip’s comments “very surprising”, given that he was a “central player” in resistance to another major pipeline project in British Columbia, the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline system between Alberta and coastal British Columbia, which was completed last year.
-Mr. Tindall, whose research has focused on environmental movements, said the change could signal the cascading effects of Mr. Trump’s presidency on Canada’s oil and gas energy projects, particularly if the federal Conservatives also exit winners of the next elections scheduled for this year.
While a number of factors could push projects like Northern Gateway toward revival, there are opposing factors that would cast just as much doubt on the completion date of such a pipeline.
“I think there will be substantial resistance from other provinces, to some extent at a political level and to some extent at a civil society level,” Tindall said.
“I think there would be a lot of resistance in B.C. So I think there would certainly be quite broad resistance among civil society groups, environmental groups and other groups (…). I suspect that the current provincial government would not support this type of initiative.”
Mr. Tindall stressed that there must also be a viable economic rationale for a company to take on the pipeline project, which must navigate what would likely be a series of legal challenges from groups such as communities in First Nations on the details of the project.
He noted that the federal Liberal government had to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline to ensure the project was completed.
Mr. Phillip was attending a meeting between British Columbia’s cabinet and the province’s First Nations leaders in Vancouver on Tuesday, where coordinated approaches to Mr. Trump’s tariff threats are expected to be a key topic of discussion.
First Nations leaders have said they must be at the table in any “Team Canada” approach to engaging with the Trump administration.
However, leaders including Mr. Phillip, First Nations Summit policy lead Cheryl Casimer and Assembly of British Columbia Regional Chief Terry Teegee said no one had yet taken contact with indigenous communities with a view to collaboration.
— With information from Lisa Johnson in Edmonton
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