B.C. First Nation leader apologizes, walks back on Northern Gateway pipeline support

President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, waits for a news conference to begin in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs apologized Wednesday and walked back comments he made earlier this week suggesting he supported reviving the Northern Gateway pipeline project.

“I do not support resuscitating dead projects such as the failed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would have been an absolute disaster for our lands and waters,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said in a statement released by the union.

“I sincerely apologize for any confusion on this point.”

Phillip said he viewed his participation in protest movements and legal challenges against the pipeline plan that was scrapped in 2016 as “an absolute honour and privilege,” and he wanted to commend the thousands of others who also opposed it.

The union said in the statement that the answer to the Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific “is still no,” after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith suggested reviving the project in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on Canadian exports.

“The Union of BC Indian Chiefs has a long history of resolutions from the Chiefs Council opposing large-scale destructive resource projects including Enbridge Northern Gateway and the proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline,” the statement said. “This mandate has not changed.”

On Tuesday, Phillip had been at a news conference about Smith’s suggestion to revive Northern Gateway, and the chief responded that Canada had “no choice” but to reconsider such projects given the current status of relations with the United States.

“We are staring into the abyss of uncertainty right now with climate change, the climate crisis and the American threat,” Phillip had said, describing past efforts opposing the pipeline as a “different time.”

“I would suggest that if we don’t build that kind of infrastructure, Trump will,” he said, adding that the new U.S. president would do so without “consideration for the environment or the rule of law.”

Phillip also said on Tuesday that a number of resource development agreements since Northern Gateway had yielded “clearly evident” benefits for Indigenous communities.

But on Wednesday, the chief said that while everyone should be planning for the possibility of U.S. tariffs, it did not mean building more pipelines.

Other B.C. First Nations leaders in the union also stated their continued opposition to Northern Gateway.

“Our people were on the front lines and fought hard to successfully stop the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline,” said Chief Marilyn Slett, elected chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council and an executive at the union.

“The environmental risks to our territories were and are too great. Nothing has changed and we are not going to back down.”

Slett said temperatures continue to trend higher in B.C., highlighting the urgency of continued resistance against non-renewable energy projects and infrastructure.

“We must do everything in our power to stop the planet from warming more,” she said. “This includes ensuring we do not support fossil fuel extraction and transmission through pipeline, no matter what kind of threats Trump makes.”

Smith had suggested that projects such as the Northern Gateway are needed to diversify Canada’s export markets, instead of being “so reliant on a single trading partner” such as the U.S.

“That’s really the way that, through those kinds of major infrastructure projects, that we can start diversifying our customer base around the world,” Smith said in an interview from Washington, D.C.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2024.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press