Wet'suwet'en band that refused pipeline money hope talks lead to land
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2020 02:52:23 +0000
HAGWILGET, B.C. — For Hagwilget First Nation chief Cynthia Joseph and Gitxsan hereditary chief Norman Stephens (Spookwx) the tentative agreement reached Sunday between Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and government must go beyond the pipeline and into the litigation of Aboriginal rights and title.
And not focus on cash.
Joseph, a UBC-grad lawyer elected last summer after defeating longtime chief Dora Wilson, said pipeline builder Coastal GasLink approached her band with two cash offers.
Hagwilget councillor Jack Sebastian said CGL first offered $50,000, then $250,000.
“Chief councillor Wilson declined,” Joseph said. “It was proper for her to decline the money.”
Joseph said Hagwilget was approached because the reserve — near Old Hazelton at the top of the Bulkley Valley in Northern B.C. — was classed Wet’suwet’en under the Indian Act and the pipeline was going through traditional Wet’suwet’en territory. In reality, less than half of Hagwilget members are Wet’suwet’en, with 60 per cent being Gitxsan.
Hagwilget was the only Wet’suwet’en band that did not sign a cash and benefits agreement with CGL. The five Wet’suwet’en bands that did sign received grants most likely in the millions and a promise that CGL would spend hundreds of millions on First Nations contracts for road-building, clearing, camp construction and management, fuel supply and security. CGL has agreements with 20 First Nations bands along the 670 kilometre route from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.
Joseph said she hasn’t heard from CGL since her election, but if she did she would say no to any offers anyway.
CGL vice-president of External Relations Neil Sweeney said the company was only required to consult with the five Wet’suwet’en bands that signed and the Office of the Wet’suwet’en in order to get permits. And while the Office of the Wet’suwet’en refused to allow the pipeline, the provincial government’s Environmental Assessment Office was content that enough consultation had occurred and permits were issued.
Sweeney could not confirm by deadline what contact was made with Hagwilget, but said the company reached out to many First Nations bands along the route.
The Hagwilget First Nation band office in Old Hazelton, B.C.
The refusal of the Office of the Wet’suwet’en to agree to the pipeline has become a national crisis over the past three weeks as protests and rail blockades grew in support, after police broke through a blockade on Wet’suwet’en territory near Houston in early February to permit pipeline work.
On Sunday, after three days of negotiations, the Office of the Wet’suwet’en and federal and provincial government announced a tentative deal around “the recognition of Wet’suwet’en rights and title throughout the (Yintah) territory and the issues arising out of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) project.”
For Gitxsan hereditary chief Spookwx, who has been working with Wet’suwet’en chiefs but was not part of the negotiations, the government must acknowledge both Wet’suwet’en and Gitsxan rights to their traditional territory.
In 1997, the Delgamuukw Gisday’wa Supreme Court of Canada ruling acknowledged that Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan had not ceded their rights to over two million hectares of traditional territories — proven in part by oral history from a large group of hereditary chiefs — and that hereditary chiefs had governance rights over the lands.
After making the ruling, the judges said it was now up to the government and Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan to negotiate a treaty. This has not happened.
Joseph said that any agreement over treaty rights had to include government paying for Aboriginal legal fees, as the high cost of litigation was at the root of nothing happening over the past 23 years.
In a prepared statement, the provincial and federal governments and Office of the Wet’suwet’en said “With respect to rights and title, the parties focused intensely on commitments to an expedited process to implement Wet’suwet’en rights and title. The result of these discussions was a draft arrangement that will be reviewed by the Wet’suwet’en clan members through Wet’suwet’en governance protocols for ratification.
“This arrangement for the Wet’suwet’en will breathe life into the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision so that future generations do not have to face conflicts like the one they face today. As the late chief Wah tah Kwets (Pat Namox) said in the Delgamuukw case, ‘It is up to us to create a new memory in the minds of our children.’
However, the two parties have still not come to any agreement on allowing the pipeline to run through Wet’suwet’en territory.
“On the Coastal GasLink project, the parties engaged in direct discussions and explored means to come to a resolution. The Province agreed to provide further information on the project. All parties at the table recognize that the differences relating to the CGL project remain,” the statement read.
For Spookwx, whose territory encompasses the Hagwilget First Nation, any negotiation must accept the word no if presented.
“The only way you know you have title is when you say no, and they accept no,” he said.