NEWS RELEASE

UBCIC Condemns Canada’s “Ill-Fated” Buy-Out of Kinder Morgan Project, Promises “Strong, Widespread, and Unwavering” Opposition

(Coast Salish Territory – Vancouver, BC – July 23, 2018)

Today, as Canada takes possession of the controversial and ill-fated Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker project, Indigenous leaders renew vows to enact their rights as proper title holders by protecting their territories against this project and its devastating risks and impacts.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – May 29, 2018) Indigenous leaders are standing firm in their opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project after federal finance minister Bill Morneau announced this morning that Canada has reached an agreement in principle with Kinder Morgan to purchase the troubled project for $4.5 billion. 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – May 16, 2018) Billed as a “major announcement” Finance Minister Bill Morneau held a press conference in Ottawa this morning to communicate that bailout talks are ongoing with Kinder Morgan, as stockholders prepare to meet in Calgary later today.

May 9, 2018, (Estok-Na Territory/Houston, Texas) Indigenous leadership from Canada made an emergency trip to the Kinder Morgan AGM in Houston this morning to present an overview of Indigenous opposition to the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. 

April 26, 2018, Unceded Coast Salish Territories/ Vancouver BC. — Indigenous leaders, conservation organizations, and community groups are calling for an all-party investigation into the federal approval for Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker expansion project after revelations this week that insiders rigged the federal approval process.

Whistleblowers in the federal government revealed that they were pressured “to give cabinet a legally-sound basis to say ‘yes’” to the pipeline and tanker proposal,” one month before the pipeline was actually approved.

News Release

April 8, 2018

MAJOR WIN FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AS KINDER MORGAN ANNOUNCES BEGINNING OF THE END FOR PIPELINE AND TANKER PROJECT

After Saturday blockade by Indigenous leaders and allies, Kinder Morgan announces project to be canceled by May 31 unless BC comes on board

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – April 8, 2018)  A day after a widely reported full day of blockading Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain tank farm by Indigenous leaders, Kinder Morgan Canada announced Sunday afternoon they were restricting all non-essential spending on the project, in a move seen as a major victory by Indigenous leaders.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), stated “We said we wouldn’t let Kinder Morgan’s ticking, highly toxic time-bomb of a pipeline expansion happen and we won’t.  Kinder Morgan’s surprise announcement today demonstrates that when people unite and work together to protect Indigenous Title and Rights and the environment, and to stop climate change, we can win.  The proposed Trans Mountain Expansion project is coming to a screeching stop and we will be there until the end. This ill-conceived dirty oil pipeline will never be built.”

Indigenous leaders and people across Canada and the U.S. have promised escalating action to stop this pipeline from moving forward. International opposition to the tar sands project is on the rise.

“Rachel Notley’s increasingly wild threats to get the Kinder Morgan TMX pipeline rammed through are completely devoid of any acknowledgement that the project cannot happen without Indigenous consent,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin, Vice-President of UBCIC. “Even if Alberta becomes a shareholder in Kinder Morgan, that pipeline is simply not going through Indigenous territory without the ‘free, prior and informed consent’ of the Indigenous peoples impacted, as provided in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Chief Judy Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer, stated “Yesterday, the full political Executive of the UBCIC stood with Indigenous leaders including my mom Minnie Kenoras, and expressed our staunch opposition to the TMX project.  It is no accident that today, Kinder Morgan has announced the beginning of the end. Opposition continues to grow as people learn of the devastating effects this pipeline expansion would have. This should be a warning to all investors: you must respect Indigenous Title and Rights, or your projects have no certainty.”

Current opposition to Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and tanker project includes the Province of British Columbia, the state of Washington, the cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, and Victoria and 19 other BC municipalities as well as 250,000 petition signers and more than 23,000 who have pledged to do “whatever it takes” to stop Kinder Morgan’s risky and destructive pipeline and tanker project.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip –250-490-5314

Chief Bob Chamberlin – 250-974-8282

Chief Judy Wilson – 250-320-7738

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC – August 11, 2017) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) remains steadfast in its ongoing opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). 

July 4, Rapid City, SD (Black Hills) — An assembly of Tribal leaders of the Great Sioux Nation along with leaders of the Ponca Nation in Nebraska and Oklahoma today met, in the sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, with a large delegation of Chiefs of First Nations from Canada who have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. The tribal leaders and chiefs sent a clear message on this July 4^th US “Independence Day” about their independence as Sovereign Indigenous Nations and to announce a new cross-border alliance to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. The historic gathering challenging the power of Canada and the US to harm their lands and pollute their water comes on the heels of widespread Indigenous resistance in Canada challenging the July 1^st celebrations of Canada’s “150^th anniversary”.

This week, over 20 Indigenous and environmental organizations delivered an open letter to 28 major banks, calling on them to back away from funding the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (TMEP). 

Dear Prime Minister, 

You completely failed to do your job when you arrogantly announced that you were acting in the national interest by approving the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) and Enbridge Line 3 pipelines. Your main job as leader of Canada is to protect Canadians’ health and safety.