Headline Politics
First Nations Leaders on Opposition to Oil Tanker Ban
On Parliament Hill, leaders from the Eagle Spirit Chiefs Council, the Indian Resource Council, the National Coalition of Chiefs, and Canada’s four pipeline craft unions voice their opposition to Bill C-48, which would ban large oil tanker traffic off British Columbia’s north coast. The chiefs argue that the ban would harm economic development in Indigenous communities, and would also kill the proposed Eagle Spirit Energy pipeline, a $16-billion project with significant Indigenous ownership. Their news conference comes less than a week after a group of First Nations chiefs from the west coast travelled to Ottawa in order to urge senators to pass the bill. The bill was passed in the House of Commons on May 8, 2018, and is currently at second reading in the Senate. (December 11, 2018) (no interpretation)
