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August 19, 2016

Dear Chiefs Council, sister organizations and friends:

Please find the attached briefing note with key points as presented by UBCIC President Grand Chief Stewart Phillip to the Kinder Morgan TMX Project Ministerial Panel on August 18, 2016.

The Briefing Note is pasted below for your convenience; the attached PDF file contains the appendices.

On behalf of our Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Elders, Women & Youth; members of our Chief's Council; we take this opportunity to express our profound sense of shock, sadness and loss in relation  to the untimely passing of Chief Marjorie McRae.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – August 10, 2016) Yesterday marked the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, yet on this day Vancouver stood witness to violent acts against Indigenous women in their efforts to raise awareness to the environmental devastation caused by Imperial Mines’ Mount Polley tailings dam two years ago. August 4, 2016, marked the second anniversary of the failure of the tailings dam at Mount Polley which is now considered to be the worst mining disaster of its kind in Canadian history. The dam burst flooded Hazeltine Creek with 2.5 billion gallons of contaminated water and 4.5 million cubic meters of metals-laden silt destroying the creek, contaminating Quesnel Lake and endangering the very livelihoods of the many First Nations and non-First Nations communities throughout Secwepemc Territory.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – July 29, 2016) Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada have issued federal permits to allow construction of BC Hydro’s Site C dam hydroelectric project to immediately ramp up construction. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in all of his Ministerial Mandate Letters “No relationship is more important to me and to Canada than the one with Indigenous Peoples. It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples, based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership.”

Dear National Energy Board Members:

We are writing to express our vehement opposition to the National Energy Board (NEB) granting the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project’s sunset clause extension request. We understand that the NEB will be considering Enbridge’s request for a permit extension and is accepting comments from the public before making your decision.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – June 17, 2016) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is asking the Provincial Government to provide concrete details and a clear timeline for public transportation along Highway 16, which is known as the Highway of Tears due to the tragic murders and disappearances of mostly Indigenous women and girls hitchhiking along the route.

Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC) - First Nations leadership and child-serving organizations gathered over the past two days, along with representatives of the Government of British Columbia and the Government of Canada - to discuss the current crisis in Indigenous child welfare in British Columbia.

The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) calls on the Government of British Columbia and Canada to recognize the extreme risk to which their promotion of the BC finfish aquaculture industry presents to not only the pristine coastal BC environment but to already critically low wild salmon runs on which many British Columbians rely.