Skip to content

Nisga'a add to Enbridge opposition

The Nisga'a are "concerned about the threat that an oil tanker mishap would pose."

THE NISGA'A of the Nass Valley are adding their voice to those opposed to Enbridge's Northern Gateway oil pipeline project.

In a Jan. 19 release, Nisga'a Lisims Government president Mitchell Stevens said the Nisga'a are acting in solidarity with other aboriginal people who oppose the $5.5 billion project.

"First Nations have vital stewardship responsibilities in protecting their lands and resources from destruction at the hands of the petroleum industry," said Stevens.

Although the pipeline does not go through Nisga'a land, the release said "the Nisga'a Nation is greatly concerned about the threat that an oil tanker mishap would pose to the fish and other marine resources to which Nisga'a citizens are entitled under the treaty and on which Nisga'a citizens depend for food and resources."

Stevens said the Nisga'a also reject statements by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet ministers that pipeline opponents are "environmental radicals or doing the bidding of foreign interests."

The Nisga'a this year mark the 12th anniversary of their signing of the groundbreaking treaty providing land, certainty and self government in the Nass Valley.