A former chief executive officer of the Samson Cree Nation south of Edmonton, Dale Swampy is president of the National Coalition of Chiefs. He works with the coalitionB次元官网网址檚 board of directors: Chair Chief Dan George of the TsB次元官网网址檌l Kaz Koh First Nation (Burns Lake Band), former chair of the First Nations LNG Alliance; Chief Roy Jones Jr. from Skidegate, Haida Gwaii; and Bruce Dumont, a M茅tis leader from Olds, Alberta. He spoke with Black Press legislature reporter Tom Fletcher in Victoria, Nov. 25, 2019.
TF: Have you got oil and gas development for your nation?
DS: Yes, weB次元官网网址檙e part of a group of four first nations who had a deposit near Pigeon Lake. WeB次元官网网址檝e been getting royalties from that since the 1950s. ItB次元官网网址檚 pretty much depleted now, but weB次元官网网址檙e still involved in the oil and gas industry. That was sweet crude, and there is an abundance of natural gas in my region as well. I worked for my band for 22 years, and left to work with pipelines and oil companies as a contractor. So IB次元官网网址檝e been involved in the oil and gas industry my whole life.
TF: You were involved with the Northern Gateway project. Can you tell me about that?
DS: The National Coalition of Chiefs grew from the aboriginal equity partners, which was a group of 31 first nations who owned one third of the Northern Gateway project. And when it was cancelled, the chiefs were upset that they had lost $2 billion worth of benefits.
We decided that the model that we used for the aboriginal equity partners needed to be communicated across the country, because there were so many natural resources projects going on that in order to maximize the benefits we have to act as a group of community stakeholders.
The are organizing job fairs to ease poverty on reserves
B次元官网网址� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
The aboriginal equity partners proved that being in a coalition gets us a lot more opportunities for employment and business. We formed it in February of 2017. We had our first conference in April of 2018, with 26 chiefs there. We had our second conference in November in Vancouver, and thatB次元官网网址檚 where we grew significantly to 62 chiefs. And this November we had 81 chiefs at our conference.
ItB次元官网网址檚 pro-development, so we donB次元官网网址檛 invite everybody who wants to come. We warn them that this is not a venue for discussing concerns against the industry. This is where we talk cooperatively and develop partnerships, on the mandate that weB次元官网网址檙e here to defeat on-reserve poverty. We canB次元官网网址檛 do that without benefits from the natural resource industries.
TF: And jobs too, because weB次元官网网址檝e seen situations where passive income is not a long-term solution?
DS: Yes. Our whole goal is to get the family structure back together. We are in this poverty and the social despair it causes by the fact that everybody is on social welfare, and there are no jobs for them to take up. We need to get the respect back for the first nation mothers and fathers, and in order to do that we need employment.
WeB次元官网网址檝e signed an agreement with the Aboriginal Skilled Workers Association, an association that has 700 skilled workers from across Canada. WeB次元官网网址檙e working with them to develop training initiatives for first nations to participate in. We did a job fair, and recruited more than 300 potential employees in Stoney Nation, Piikani Nation [job fair] is coming up soon. Cold Lake First Nation, we just completed a job fair there. WeB次元官网网址檙e moving across the country to do these job fairs in order to get the people to understand that there are opportunities out there and we can get them jobs.
We started the Indigenous Strong program, a group of industry workers getting together to share opportunities across Canada, for employment and training. We are promoting the development of two refineries, one in northern Alberta and another one in southern Saskatchewan. These are refineries that brought to us by chiefs who want to form an alliance to build them.
We signed an agreement with project reconciliation and Iron Coalition to promote the Trans Mountain project. WeB次元官网网址檙e hoping to get not only employment and training and business opportunities with Trans Mountain, but to actually own part of it as well.
TF: Last I checked there were competing organizations looking at that.
DS: We brought together our organization, along with the and . We signed a memorandum of understanding at the conference Nov. 4-5. WeB次元官网网址檙e hoping the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group will also join us in getting a proposal in to purchase the pipeline.
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TF: YouB次元官网网址檙e here in Victoria to meet with Skeena MLA Ellis Ross, whoB次元官网网址檚 very interested in the LNG development and Coastal GasLink pipeline?
DS: We met with the First Nations LNG Alliance. The former chairman of that alliance [Chief Dan George] is also chairman of the National Coalition of Chiefs. They suggested that we get in touch with Ellis, come out here and speak to the B.C. Liberal caucus to give them an opportunity to see what weB次元官网网址檙e all about. WeB次元官网网址檙e about getting the message out to Canada that not all first nations are against projects.
Dale Swampy of says has strong support, like
B次元官网网址� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
TF: The NDP supports LNG too. There are three Green Party MLAs who are opposed, and protesters including the B.C. TeachersB次元官网网址� Federation. WhatB次元官网网址檚 your take on the continued opposition to these projects?
DS: The First Nations groups who are against it should respect the majority. The majority of the communities along the Trans Mountain right-of-way support the project. A small group of first nations should not be able to stop the growth and development of other first nations if they want to participate.
TF: And the LNG Canada project too.
DS: Like Trans Mountain, all the communities along the right of way support the project. There are some community members from that area who are financed by environmental non-government organizations to set up camps and so forth, and I think thatB次元官网网址檚 just the wrong way to do it. It sends a message that weB次元官网网址檙e against project development, when in fact weB次元官网网址檙e for it. ItB次元官网网址檚 the only way weB次元官网网址檙e going to stop being on the government payroll.
TF: IB次元官网网址檝e talked with Calvin Helin with Eagle Spirit Energy, which is working on an energy corridor to the B.C. coast, a similar route to the Northern Gateway corridor, as it was. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has talked about an energy corridor, with power lines as well as gas and oil. What do you think about that approach?
DS: The nine producers on the Northern Gateway route were asked by our group if it was ever going to come up again. Most of them said itB次元官网网址檚 very doubtful, but they would support an Indigenous-led pipeline if it viable and approved.
The problem we have now is Bill C-48, the federal tanker ban for the North Coast. Eagle Spirit Energy is a great project. I think we could develop a lot of interest from the communities along that right of way. But the first thing we have to do is get around the tanker ban.
Calvin has suggested that they go around and use a port in Alaska. ThatB次元官网网址檚 another possibility.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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