Cheam Chief Ernie Crey of Chilliwack has been actively touting the benefits of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, not only for his own people of the Pilalt tribe, but for other Indigenous communities struggling to rise out of poverty.

B次元官网网址淚f the project doesnB次元官网网址檛 go through, itB次元官网网址檒l hurt our people,B次元官网网址� Crey said.

The Cheam leader was in Ottawa Monday preparing to appear this week before on a parliamentary committee considering changes to the National Energy Board and other regulatory bodies under bill C-69.

Crey has been active on social media and in the mainstream media trying to disabuse everyone of the notion that First Nations are united in lockstep opposition to the pipeline expansion.

ItB次元官网网址檚 not so black and white, he has argued, and there is no homogeneity on the pipeline issue, despite how it is being portrayed by some.

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A provincial leader came out publicly against the pipeline but that opposition didnB次元官网网址檛 take into account those communities who favour exploring the benefits of the expansion project, the local chief said.

Former Soowahlie chief and pipeline opponent Larry Commodore took issue with Chief CreyB次元官网网址檚 media blitz showing support for the project.

B次元官网网址淓rnie should spend some time talking with the overwhelming majority of Indigenous elders and hereditary and elected leaders across Turtle Island who have voiced their opposition to tarsands expansion, which the KM pipeline expansion would be a key part of.

B次元官网网址淗e would learn they are more than just a bunch of uninformed dupes, as he seems to think.B次元官网网址�

Crey used the term B次元官网网址渞ed-washingB次元官网网址� to describe the view that green groups are co-opting First Nations to further their agendas B次元官网网址渦nder an Indigenous flag.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭rust me, their goals and aspirations are far different from ours,B次元官网网址� Crey tweeted last week. B次元官网网址淐heck out where theyB次元官网网址檝e trashed Indigenous economies to meet their ends.B次元官网网址�

As co-chair of the Indigenous Advisory & Monitoring Committee, a committee to undertake the monitoring of the pipeline during and after construction, as well as chief of Cheam First Nation, which has signed mutual benefit agreements with Kinder Morgan, Crey has a decidedly different view than pipeline opponents.

B次元官网网址淭he perpetrators of urban myths and wishful thinking around the Kinder Morgan (TMX) expansion are getting called out big time today,B次元官网网址� he wrote. B次元官网网址淭he media in both B.C. and Alberta have discovered that there isnB次元官网网址檛 wall to wall opposition to KMB次元官网网址檚 expansion among B.C. and Alberta First Nations.B次元官网网址�

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There are 43 Indigenous communities who have signed mutual benefit agreements, or MBAs, with Kinder Morgan, and who may want to B次元官网网址渂uy intoB次元官网网址� the project, Crey underlined.

For example it took years for Cheam officials to negotiate security jobs for Cheam members to work the pipeline route.

The chief sees the economic relationships being built as a way for some communities to step up B次元官网网址渙ut of povertyB次元官网网址� if they get the B次元官网网址渞ightB次元官网网址� backing. They would consider putting some money toward the pipeline twinning construction, as in equity for the project, if they were to have a lengthy discussion about it.

B次元官网网址淭his pipeline, which is very important to me, fits into the realm of economic reconciliation,B次元官网网址� Crey said. B次元官网网址淚t might become the bootstrap from which First Nations pull themselves out of crushing poverty.B次元官网网址�

Chief Crey wondered in a tweet if B次元官网网址渙il by railB次元官网网址� isnB次元官网网址檛 more dangerous.

B次元官网网址淎 derailment of tanker cars in the Fraser Canyon would mean the oil would end-up in the salt chuck. Best choice, pipe or rail?B次元官网网址� he asked rhetorically.

When he commented in 2016 for a TMX panel however, he was more worried about the impact of a pipeline spill on the Coquihalla.

B次元官网网址淚 sit up nights wondering what a spill into the Coquihalla River might look like.

B次元官网网址淓ven a small spill into the Coquihalla would devastate salmon in the Fraser River and plunge First Nations into utter destitution. Global trade, investment, jobs: I know those are important, but consider what could be lost.B次元官网网址�

jfeinberg@theprogress.com
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