For the second time, opponents of the reindustrialization of Howe Sound have been dealt a crushing blow from a source that many saw as a key ally – Squamish Nation.
First it was the Skwxwú7mesh support for the Woodfibre LNG project in late 2015. Though many of its people were ardently opposed to the LNG facility, council cut a deal that included 25 conditions, some legally binding, and a 10 per cent stake in the project. That support gave the provincial and federal governments an easy path to granting environmental approvals soon after.
Now we’ve learned that Skwxwú7mesh has given its support to the Burnco aggregate mine at McNab Creek. The Nation’s approval of the contentious project was disclosed by Burnco representative Derek Holmes at a Sunshine Coast Regional District committee meeting on Feb. 22. Reported by Sophie Woodrooffe in last week’s Coast Reporter, Burnco’s revelation caused quite a stir and caught Squamish Nation officials off guard.
The March 5 weekly newsletter for band members led with this message:
“Dear Squamish People
“On March 1, the Coast Reporter published a story confirming Squamish Nation’s ‘approval’ of the Burnco Aggregate Mine Project at McNab Creek in the Howe Sound without providing the details of the agreement or process. We sincerely regret not informing you about Squamish Nation Council’s position on the project before it came out in the media. This project has been in negotiations before the new term of council was elected since 2010. We had a short window to make a decision due to timing of the provincial and federal process.”
The message goes on to explain that since the provincial and federal environmental assessments did not meet the Nation’s standards, council demanded to assess the project “from our unique perspective based on our inherent title and rights to the land and water.” Burnco agreed, and the Nation hired “independent environmental specialists” to review the project.
The result was a series of conditions that required Burnco to “enter into a legally binding agreement regarding ways to avoid, mitigate or accommodate impacts on our deer/elk, fish, and our access to practice Aboriginal rights; maintain current habitat for our deer and elk; [and] ensure water levels and quality are not affected and fish habitat is constructed. The Nation also won the right to override specific decision-making processes on the operations of the project.”
Council had voted in favour of the agreement two weeks earlier, the newsletter said, and it lists the seven councillors who voted in favour, three who were opposed, two who abstained and four who were not present.
No details about possible resource-sharing were mentioned, but the next step will be to invite band members to two information meetings where council will “present to our people the terms and conditions we won on a confidential basis.”
So it turns out that while opponents of the Burnco project were focused on critiquing the flaws in the environmental assessment process, Squamish Nation was following a different track entirely, carrying out its own review with its own experts.
As with Woodfibre LNG, the Nation’s leaders can go back to their members and say their assessment, conditions and enforcement tools are more robust and authentic than Victoria’s or Ottawa’s, and that tangible benefits for the community are part of the deal. And as with Woodfibre LNG, both senior governments will likely green-light the project now that the company has obtained First Nation consent.
Last month in Ottawa, in her first speech since she stepped down as B.C. Liberal leader, former premier Christy Clark told a gathering of conservatives that Indigenous communities “are the single most important piece” in the pipeline equation. “If we want to get our resources out to market, we have some incredibly powerful voices on our side,” she said. “So, let’s fight with them.”
It’s an insight that applies across the board in debates over resource extraction. The side that works with Indigenous communities is increasingly the side that wins.
