First Nation leaders meet with provincial premiers to debate "fair share" of natural resources
Premiers, aboriginal leaders debate 'fair share'
Divisions over natural resource revenues looming for Council of the Federation talks
By Laura Payton, CBC News
Posted: Jul 25, 2012 5:28 AM ET
Premiers prepare to sail on the tall ship Amistad in Lunenburg, N.S. on Wednesday. Earlier, premiers met with aboriginal leaders as part of the annual Council of the Federation gathering. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
Aboriginal summit2:35
Political pipeline feud2:41Aboriginal leaders and Canada's premiers said economic opportunity is the key to self-reliance as they emerged from a meeting Wednesday in advance of the Council of the Federation gathering in Lunenburg, N.S.
But it was British Columbia Premier Christy Clark's frank assessment of her province's "fair share" of economic opportunities from a controversial pipeline project that drew heat on the premiers' first day together.
Clark elaborated on B.C.'s demand for a bigger share of the revenues should the Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C. from Alberta's oilsands be approved. Asked what she would do if Alberta Premier Alison Redford retaliated in the face of B.C.'s resistance, Clark threatened to block the pipeline.
"If the proposal that British Columbia gets its fair share - if that's going to cause such a big problem that there are trade barriers - there is a very easy way to solve that," Clark said. "No pipeline."
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Asked how much revenue she had in mind, Clark said she didn't have a number yet, "and I'm not going to negotiate that in public."
Speaking to guest host Hannah Thibedeau on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, cabinet minister John Baird seemed unimpressed with Clark's conditions for approving the pipeline across her province, calling her comments "deeply disappointing."
"We can't have a Canada where we try to toll gate different goods and services in different parts of the country," he said, calling the oilsands a "great resource for Canada" that has to get to market.
"We should all be in the same boat rowing together," Baird said. "It's certainly not a welcome addition to federal-provincial relations."
Baird noted his government's "strong support" for the project, mentioning recent efforts to expedite its environmental review process.
Summit planned on violence against women
Nova Scotia Premier Darryl Dexter, Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and other aboriginal leaders sounded pleased with the meeting as they took questions from reporters.
The premiers are all interested in looking to economic opportunities and working with aboriginal groups, Dexter said.
Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, president of the Native Women's Association, and Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger are planning a summit this fall to look at ways to prevent violence against aboriginal women and girls.
Dexter wouldn't commit the premiers to push for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, but Atleo pointed to the aboriginal leaders' recommendations to the premiers to have police forces better co-ordinate on those cases.
Dexter says the premiers feel there are too many unnecessary barriers created by the federal government when dealing with emergencies on reserve lands, and that they "need the federal government to have a clear and consistent approach."
Urban aboriginals 'next labour force'
Manitoba Métis Federation leader David Chartrand said the leaders are leaving the meeting with clear directions on how to advance. But he noted their continuing desire to have a first ministers meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"Today's discussion on duty to consult and clarity is, I think, a very, very big direction that the premiers are taking," Chartrand said.The national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, who represents urban aboriginals, said they're the fastest growing population in Canada that can feed gaps in the workforce.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, left, talks with Manitoba Métis Federation leader David Chartrand during Wednesday's talks in Lunenburg, N.S. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
"It's very important because we are a young generation, we are fast-growing and we are the next labour force for Canada. We do not need to be bringing in immigrants. We are ready and prepared to work. We are a mobile people. We just need a little bit of help," said Betty Ann Lavallée.
The meeting today in Lunenburg comes in advance of the annual Council of the Federation summit on inter-provincial relations.
The premiers, like Atleo, are consumed with devising better ways to develop natural resources so that more people can benefit and so that the environment does not pay too steep a price.
Dexter said the Nova Scotia government and others are already working to ensure First Nations groups have a say in resource development.
"Government on a day-to-day basis makes so many decisions that to keep it on the forefront of your mind is sometimes a challenge. But we have found that with experience, we've gotten better at it," he said.
'Full partners' in natural resources
Fresh off his re-election as national chief, where he was criticized for being too friendly with the federal government, Atleo said the federal government has to "assume their rightful responsibility to work with First Nations on how this has to be driven at the regional and local levels."
"What it's time to do is to recognize that these rights are real, that they're legal, that they're valid. We must be, as [the Canadian Council of Chief Executives] said, full partners and not be an afterthought when a major project or development is being considered. It must be early engagement and it must be often."
The Canadian Council for Chief Executives indicated earlier this month that aboriginal communities should be fully included in energy and mining developments
Some leaders referred to a national energy strategy, something Redford has talked about, but details of what that strategy would look like are vague, and buy-in from all the provinces is uncertain - especially now that Alberta and British Columbia are sparring openly over the Northern Gateway pipeline.
Clark says shipping heavy oil poses a unique challenge for the environment, and she's fighting to make sure her province can protect its environment. She said she raised the issue this week because it would have been disingenuous not to mention it when she was meeting with her counterparts to discuss energy policy.
At their annual general meeting last week, First Nations chiefs made it clear they will insist on playing a larger role, either through negotiation with the provincial and federal governments, through the courts or through protests and blockades, Atleo said Tuesday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Indeed, many individual First Nations are in the midst of opposing some of Canada's largest resource developments: the Northern Gateway pipeline to take Alberta bitumen to the West Coast; the Plan Nord for Quebec and the Ring of Fire mineral deposit in northern Ontario.
The conflict "becomes a familiar pattern that we're trying to break out of," Atleo said.
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AFN chief Atleo to push for partnerships at premiers' meeting
HEATHER SCOFFIELD
Ottawa - The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, Jul. 25 2012, 10:32 AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Jul. 25 2012, 11:17 AM EDT
National chief Shawn Atleo wants the premiers to recognize first nations as full and equal partners in developing natural resources, but he says such recognition should not have to wait for politicians to agree on a national energy plan.
The head of the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal leaders are meeting today with premiers in Lunenburg, N.S., in advance of the annual Council of the Federation summit on inter-provincial relations.
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The premiers, like Mr. Atleo, are consumed with devising better ways to develop natural resources so that more people can benefit, and so that the environment does not pay too steep a price.
But details of what a national energy strategy would look like are vague, and buy-in from all the provinces is uncertain - especially now that Alberta and British Columbia are sparring openly over the Northern Gateway pipeline.
Mr. Atleo says the premiers don't need to reach agreement on a strategy to recognize and support the fundamental concept of first nations having the right to have a say and share in the wealth that comes from exploiting natural resources.
"We have to be full partners," he said in an interview from Halifax on Tuesday night.
That means engaging with first nations early and often, obtaining their consent in the plans for development, and devising ways to share the spoils, such as through equity stakes or investment in communities, he said.
At their annual general meeting last week, first nations chiefs made it clear they will insist on playing a larger role, either through negotiation with the provincial and federal governments, through the courts or through protests and blockades, Mr. Atleo said.
Indeed, many individual first nations are in the midst of opposing some of Canada's largest resource developments: the Northern Gateway pipeline to take Alberta bitumen to the West Coast; the Plan Nord for Quebec and the Ring of Fire mineral deposit in northern Ontario.
The conflict "becomes a familiar pattern that we're trying to break out of," Mr. Atleo said.
With the Canadian Council for Chief Executives indicating earlier this month that aboriginal communities should be fully included in energy and mining developments, and with the premiers agonizing over similar issues, Mr. Atleo says the time is ripe for crafting a broad framework that takes into account all interests.
"I hope we're at a turning point," he said.
For the national chief, a successful meeting with the premiers today would be one in which the premiers recognize first nations as full partners, with still-valid historical rights to health care, education and the land.
On education, he wants premiers to agree to work with first nations educators so that native children can have their schooling recognized in provincial systems.
And on violence against women, he hopes to see premiers back the call from aboriginal groups for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
Mr. Atleo is meeting the leaders of the other aboriginal groups this morning so they can form a common front on how best persuade premiers to join them in mitigating violence against women.
"There isn't any one us in any one community who has not been touched by this issue," he said. "I know what it's like to feel unsafe in a community as a child."