Grand Chief Ron Tremblay and Clanmother Alma Brooks of the Wolastoq Grand Council gave one of the most compelling and moving presentations against Energy East in 2016. Their 50-minute presentation to the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications (see video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4) took place in Saint John, New Brunswick on October 19, 2016. (The transcript is also available.)
The Wolastoq Grand Council brought a unique perspective to the Senate Committee. Their laws and traditions come from the land. Their language comes from the land. Their Nation’s territory is the entire watershed of the Wolastoq (the St. John River). Their territory has never been surrendered to any government. Their territory includes almost all of the 420 kilometres of the proposed route of the Energy East pipeline here in New Brunswick.
And through the Peace and Friendship Alliance, the Wolastoq Grand Council have the support of a large number of Non-Indigenous groups in New Brunswick, including all 4 chapters of the Council of Canadians (Fredericton, Kent County, Moncton, and Saint John).
Here are 5 important talking points that were among the many raised by the Wolastoq Grand Council:
(1) The Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet People) are intimately connected to the land, animals and plants, water and air of their territory.
(2) The Energy East pipeline would cut across the entire length of their ancestral territory, a territory based on the watershed boundaries of the St. John River Basin.
(3) Their rights include “free, prior, and informed consent”, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet People) still own their homeland. Their ancestors never surrendered any piece of the land in Peace and Friendship Treaties, treaties that are protected in Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution.
(4) Tar sands bitumen is too dangerous because it requires large amounts of toxic chemicals in order to flow through pipelines. When this diluted bitumen leaks into water, these solvent chemicals evaporate into a toxic cloud, and the bitumen sinks and sticks to the bottom.
(5) Climate change is happening now. Climate change requires us to move into alternative energy, something that sustains life, not destroys it. We have to guarantee a future for our children. Without action, Energy East could be the next Standing Rock.
Grand Chief Ron Tremblay emphasized the position of the Wolastoq Grand Council, “There’s no guarantee that these pipelines won’t leak. And our land and our water have been damaged enough, and it has to be stopped.” (VIDEO: #3of4, TIME: 14:46)
The Wolastoq Grand Council do not give consent to the proposed Energy East pipeline. This decision was announced at a Press Conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick on February 8, 2016. Grand Chief Ron Tremblay was joined with several Clanmothers, each representing their respective families.
And the Wolastoq Grand Council have joined more than 120 Tribes, First Nations, and Traditional Nations to sign the Treaty Alliance against the expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands.
SUMMARY OF QUOTES FROM THEIR PRESENTATION:
(1) The Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet People) are intimately connected to the land, animals and plants, water, and air of their territory.
Their Nation’s flag represents their connection to the water and the land. The Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet People) is one of the oldest cultures with a language and teachings rooted in the land. Grand Chief Ron Tremblay explains, “We don’t separate ourselves from the insects. We don’t separate ourselves from all the vegetation. We are part of them.” (VIDEO: #1of4, TIME: 06:54) “We look at the land and Mother Earth as a living being. We look at everything that is on her and around her as living.” (VIDEO: #2of4, TIME: 11:25)
“We look at our waters and our earth as sacred”, says Grand Chief Ron Tremblay. “I speak on behalf of the animals, fish, birds, insects, waterways, and all of the Maliseet territory, and all of the extended families that we represent.” (VIDEO: #1of4, TIME: 02:20)
(2) The Energy East pipeline would cut across the entire length of their ancestral territory, a territory based on the watershed boundaries of the St. John River Basin.
“As far as the pipeline, you see the route there, right through our territory. That really concerns me because our territory is a watershed. Most of our territory is a complete watershed”, explains Clanmother Alma Brooks.
Grand Chief Ron Tremblay emphasized the position of the Wolastoq Grand Council, “There’s no guarantee that these pipelines won’t leak. And our land and our water have been damaged enough, and it has to be stopped.” (VIDEO: #3of4, TIME: 14:46)
The traditional homeland of the Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) people lies within the valley of the St. John River and its tributaries. Wolastoqewiyik means “people of the beautiful river”. Their territory covers most of west-central New Brunswick, as well as parts of Maine and Quebec.
The Wolastoq (St. John River) is the longest river in northeastern North America and empties into the Bay of Fundy at Saint John, New Brunswick. With an extensive network of tributaries, including the largest freshwater body in Atlantic Canada, the Wolastoq (St. John River) is the largest watershed on Eastern North America.
The Bay of Fundy has a rich biodiversity that rivals the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest, and supports over 5000 fishermen as well as a large number of people in tourism. The St. John River Basin in New Brunswick is territory where aboriginal land title and rights have never been ceded or surrendered by the Wolastoqey Nation. Instead, both New Brunswick and Indigenous people are bound by pre-Confederation treaties called the Peace and Friendship treaties.
(3) Their rights include “free, prior, and informed consent”, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet People) still own their homeland. Their ancestors never surrendered any piece of the land in Peace and Friendship Treaties, treaties that are protected in Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution.
“My people live here by the ocean and upriver since the beginning of time”, explained Grand Chief Ron Tremblay. “We still own our homeland and our ancestors never surrendered any piece of the land. Our language is important as well as our treaties.”
Before Canada was created, Nation-to-Nation treaties were signed by the British crown and the Indigenous people living on large portions of Eastern North America. Traditional Life-Long Chiefs signed these pre-Confederation treaties called the Peace and Friendship treaties. As a result of the Indian Act of 1876, Traditional Life-Long Chiefs were deliberately phased out. But none of these treaties ever ceded land away from the Indigenous people of New Brunswick, and all current treaties are protected in Section 35 of our Canadian Constitution.
“The government is supposed to consult with its own citizens, its own members, Our right is free, prior, and informed consent.”, says Clanmother Alma Brooks. “Our right under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is that we have the right to choose who speaks for us. We have never been given that opportunity. I can tell you now that the majority of our people have not been consulted.”
“According to this document, according to the sections of UNDRIP, we need to have free, prior, and informed consent before anything moves forward”, says Grand Chief Ron Tremblay. And this is not with our colonized brothers and sisters who own consultation or consulting firms to our lands, because we know who they are.”
Grand Chief Ron Tremblay says, “We have the highest rates of suicides, of addictions, of adoptions leaving our communities, of abuses. The highest rates in all of Canada. And we still have an Act [the Indian Act] that controls us, that controls our people. And you call our communities “First Nations”. They’re not First Nations, they are communities, they are reserves. The people belong to a Nation. They are not “First Nations”. And those communities are managed by the government. They are controlled.” (VIDEO: #2of4, TIME: 00:10)
The Wolastoq Grand Council do not give consent to the proposed Energy East pipeline. This decision was announced at a Press Conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick on February 8, 2016. Grand Chief Ron Tremblay was joined with several Clanmothers, each representing their respective families.
And the Wolastoq Grand Council have joined more than 120 to sign the Treaty Alliance against the expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands.
(Image from Lindsay on Flickr (Creative Commons)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ouno/17607781978/in/pool-notankersnopipelines/)
(4) Tar sands bitumen is too dangerous because it requires large amounts of toxic chemicals in order to flow through pipelines. When this diluted bitumen leaks into water, these solvent chemicals evaporate into a toxic cloud, and the bitumen sinks and sticks to the bottom.
“So it’s not if, it’s when there’s a leak”, cautions Clanmother Alma Brooks.
“With bitumen, I understand that it’s very dangerous because it’s so laced with chemicals”, said Clanmother Alma Brooks. “It’s so laced with chemicals and very toxic that if it touches water, it evaporates into a very toxic gas. They can’t clean it because it sinks to the bottom and sticks to everything.” “……it’s the small leaks that are the most dangerous, not the big blowouts, but the small leaks, because it will leak for months and they might not even know.”
Clanmother Alma Brooks concluded, “We educated ourselves a lot about the pipeline. We’re very, very concerned. The health and well-being of my people doesn’t depend on jobs, jobs, jobs at any cost. Sure, everybody wants jobs, but not at any cost. Our health and welfare depend on the health and welfare of the environment within our territory.” (VIDEO: #3of4, TIME: 07:00)
(5) Climate change is happening now. Climate change requires us to move into alternative energy, something that sustains life, not destroys it. We have to guarantee a future for our children. Without action, Energy East could be the next Standing Rock.
“We have to guarantee a future for our children. The next seven generations”, says Grand Chief Ron Tremblay. “This could be your next Standing Rock. Is this the legacy that your Senate and your government and these corporations want to live with?”
“We prefer that we move into the direction of alternative energy – something that sustains life, not destroys it”, says Clanmother Alma Brooks. “…there’s a world movement, there’s a worldwide movement happening.” (VIDEO: #4of4, TIME: 00:02)
Clanmother Alma Brooks added, “Climate change is here. It’s not “if it’s going to be here,” it’s here now. And so we have to look at the future. What’s going to be here for our children, your children, your grandchildren. What are we going to leave for them, a mess?” “They already have the technology and they don’t want to move. Sure there is going to be a transitional period, but it shouldn’t be that long.” (VIDEO: #4of4, TIME: 00:02)
NOTES:
(1) Wolastoq Grand Council
The Wolastoq Grand Council is a participatory democracy in which extended families consisting of two-or-three generation clans (kinship group) come together to make important decisions. This governance was in existence prior to 1604 (first contact with Europeans), was interrupted for approximately a hundred years after the Indian Act, but has since been revived by the clan grandmothers.
(2) Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications
The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications conducted a series of hearings across Canada to essentially market and advocate for the Energy East and Trans Mountain pipeline projects. The hearings are under the guise of a “Special Study” on the Transport of Crude Oil which is costing taxpayers $354,652. Their pro-pipeline report was just released in early December 2016 and leaves out any concern about the safety of tar sands bitumen pipelines and Energy East. The Senate Committee advocates for the extension of the Energy East pipeline to Canso, Nova Scotia, a project which would see an additional marine terminal and supertanker transport on the Northumberland Strait side of the Atlantic Ocean. The report is reviewed here by Council of Canadians’s Robin Tress.
(3) Peace and Friendship Alliance
Our mission in the Peace and Friendship Alliance is straight forward: to protect Mother Earth. The Alliance has been holding monthly meetings around the province for the last year-and-a-half, and our networks of people and groups are involved in many different campaigns.
(4) Wolastoq Nation Flag
“The Wolastoq Woman and Man canoeing are following our Totem Muskrat. Muskrat provides our people with food, fur and guides us to medicine. The Woman, Man, Muskrat and Canoe are in red, signifies our relation to Mother Earth and our Ancestors. The yellow Sun represents our Eldest Grandfather, who rises in the east and reminds us of our connection to the Wabanaki – People of the Dawn. The blue signifies water, giver and provider of all life and the green indicates all vegetation/plant world. The red on the bottom is our Ancestors who are the roots that keep our Nation grounded and reminds us of our responsibility to protect our Homeland – Wolastokuk.”
(5) Peace and Friendship Treaties
New Brunswick and Indigenous people in this province are bound by pre-Confederation treaties called the Peace and Friendship treaties. We are all treaty people under these legally-binding documents.
Before Canada was created, Nation-to-Nation treaties were signed by the British crown and the Indigenous people living on large portions of Eastern North America. The Peace and Friendship treaties were signed by Traditional Life Long Chiefs from the Eastern Waponahki (Wabanaki) Confederacy that includes Panuwapskewiyik (Penobscot), Aponahkewiyik (Abenaki), Peskotomuhkatiyik (Passamaquoddy), Mihkomak (Mi’kmaq) and Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet).
The importance of these pre-Confederation treaties cannot be overstated. No treaties have ever ceded land away from the Indigenous people of New Brunswick, and all current treaties are protected in Section 35 of our Canadian Constitution.
