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Treaty 3 First Nations to examine Energy East proposal

The Kenora Daily Miner and News reports, “Negotiations [about the Energy East pipeline] between TransCanada and the Treaty 3 Grand Council are now set to begin after the community chiefs passed a resolution at their assembly on Friday, May 30. …While the Grand Council now has permission to negotiate on behalf of the Treaty 3 First Nations, individual communities are still able to meet with the company and undergo their own separate consultation processes.”

Treaty 3 is a vast tract of Ojibway territory in northwestern Ontario and part of eastern Manitoba. There are 27 First Nations within Treaty 3 including Grassy Narrows First Nation, Iskatewizaagegan 39 First Nation, Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, and Wauzhusk Onigum First Nation.



Erwin Redsky
Erwin Redsky

Chief of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation

Derek Nepinak
Derek Nepinak

Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs

Erwin Redsky, the Chief of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, says, “I said at the assembly that Shoal Lake 40 has its own process. We haven’t had a face-to-face meeting [with TransCanada] yet, but we have sent letters outlining Shoal Lake 40’s concerns and consultation process. We’re clarifying with the proponent [TransCanada] about the roles the Grand Council and Shoal Lake 40 will be playing in the two different processes. …Shoal Lake 40 is just up the river [from a pipeline crossing] so we’re very concerned. We want our own separate, direct process with them … we need to fully understand the project and ensure our interests are protected.”

The article notes, “Redsky said his community will be hiring its own experts to go over the company’s plans and data to see how the project might affect their community.”

As such, it’s important to understand that these negotiations do not mean that Treaty 3 nations are backing the Energy East pipeline, as the news article might imply, but rather that the nations are engaging in a process to fully examine TransCanada’s proposal and then to accept or reject it with the critical criteria of protection of their land and water in mind.

In early December, the Globe and Mail reported, “On its 4,000-kilometre path across the country, TransCanada Corp.’s Energy East’s pipeline would traverse the traditional territory of 180 different aboriginal communities, each of whom must be consulted and have their concerns accommodated as part of the company’s effort at winning project approval.”

It should also be highlighted that another Globe and Mail article has noted, “[In March], some 70 First Nations leaders met in Winnipeg to plan a strategy they hope will block TransCanada’s ambitious plan to ship more than 1 million barrels a day of crude from Western Canada to refiners and export terminals in the East…” Among those in attendance at that meeting was Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

The Council of Canadians supports Indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior and informed consent and for nation-to-nation consultations to take place on issues such as pipelines. Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has stated, “We recognize and respect First Nations’ decisions to ban tar sands pipelines from their territories.”

The following is an initial list of First Nations on or near the existing TransCanada Mainline, or the proposed expansion, and that may be affected by the Energy East Pipeline Project:

Saskatchewan

Piapot First Nation

Muskowpetung First Nation

Pasqua First Nation #79

Carry the Kettle First Nation

Sakimay First Nations

Cowessess First Nation

Kahkewistahaw First Nation

Ochapowace First Nation

Ocean Man First Nation

Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation

White Bear First Nations

Manitoba

Birdtail Sioux First Nation

Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation

Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation

Dakota Plains First Nation

Long Plain First Nation

Dakoto Tipi First Nation

Ontario

Shoal Lake #40 First Nation

Iskatewizaagegan #39 Independent First Nation

Obashkaandagaang First Nation

Anishinabe of Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation

Eagle Lake First Nation

Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation

Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation

Fort William First Nation

Red Rock Indian Band

Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek First Nation

Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation

Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek First Nation

Long Lake No.58 First Nation

Ginoogaming First Nation

Constance Lake First Nation

Taykwa Tagamou Nation

Wahgoshig First Nation

Matachewan First Nation

Temagami First Nation

Nipissing First Nation

Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation

Quebec

Timiskaming First Nation

Mohawks of Akwesasne First Nation

Mohawks of Kanesatake First Nation

Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke First Nation

Première Nation Odanak

Première Nation des Abénakis de Wôlinak

Nation Huronne Wendat

Première Nation Malecite de Viger

New Brunswick

Madawaska Maliseet First Nation

Tobique First Nation

Kingsclear First Nation

Saint Mary’s First Nation

Oromocto First Nation

List compiled by Shelley Kath.