No pipeline approval from First Nations without safeguards: Grand Chief – CTV
May 17, 2015
A B.C. aboriginal leader says no pipeline projects will be approved by the province’s First Nations until they are consulted and satisfied with the steps taken to protect the environment and land rights.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip told CTV’s Question Period that, to date, energy companies and the federal government have disregarded the rights of First Nations people and their environmental concerns when proposing major natural resource projects, such as pipelines.
“The First Nations people in British Columbia have long held their absolute constitutional and legal right to defend the environmental integrity of their territories,” said Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. “The aboriginal title and rights interest and everything they represent to the First Nations people in British Columbia are not for sale.”
