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 Chief of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation |
![]() 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.