Geoff Russ: Environmental NGOs love using First Nation land issues for profit

Is there a natural resource project being built somewhere in Canada? Does it overlap with the title land, reserve lands, or other jurisdictions of a First Nation? If so, expect green NGOs to turn it into another dramatic episode so they can keep fundraising.

It has been 53 years since the infamous “Crying Indian” ad was released, but it still provides the template for how environmentalist NGOs co-opt and intrude into Indigenous affairs. Made by an American NGO called Keep America Beautiful, the ad showed a tear running down the face of a Native American, dressed like he was plucked from the set of a John Wayne movie.

The cause of his tears were industrial pollution and the garbage being thrown in a river as he paddled through it in a canoe. Hilariously, the actor was actually Sicilian-American and went by the name, “Iron Eyes Cody.” Not much has changed since.

British Columbia has been at the epicenter of green activism in Canada. In too many cases, its orchestrators almost always claim to be acting partially or fully in the name of Indigenous people, who would mostly prefer those NGOs simply go away and let them settle their own issues themselves. A good example of this is playing out in northern B.C. where the Nisga’a nation is embroiled in a battle with the neighbouring Gitanyow Nation and environmentalist NGOs who have once again hopped on the bandwagon.

The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project (PRGT) was originally proposed by TC Energy back in 2014. It is slated to be a 900-kilometre natural gas pipeline that runs from the town of Hudson’s Hope near the Alberta border, to Lelu Island on the coast, near Prince Rupert, directly across from Haida Gwaii.

The project received its Environmental Assessment Certificate (EAC) in 2014, and was granted a five-year extension in 2019, making PRGT permitted until November of this year.

In March, the PRGT project was jointly purchased by Western LNG and the Nisga’a Nation, whose government has endorsed the project in a bid to create generational wealth for the nation and its members. This follows in the footsteps of many other coastal First Nations in BC like the Haisla and the Squamish who are heavily involved in LNG development.

The Nisga’a and some of their neighbouring First Nations still have lingering territorial disputes related to overlapping land claims as a result of the Nisga’a Treaty’s finalization in 2000. The Gitanyow have asserted that they control areas deemed to be Nisga’a under the treaty.

Some members of the Gitanyow and their allies ended up occupying Nisga’a land last year, resulting in the Nisga’a suing to evict them.

Unsurprisingly, many of the same members of the Gitanyow who occupied the land near Raven’s Ranch in 2023 began blockading the PRGT project that began construction at the end of August. The blockades by members of the Gitanyow were kicked off with a dramatic burning of the benefits agreement they signed with TC Energy a decade ago.

The PRGT route runs right through the hostile territory of northwestern B.C., where roving packs of radical environmentalists have spent the past few years harassing energy project construction workers and assailing pro-development First Nations.

In 2022, a work camp for the Coastal Gaslink pipeline near the northern town of Houston was attacked during the night with axes and flares, resulting in worker accommodations being destroyed and millions of dollars worth of equipment damaged.

For the PRGT, the area in question begins at the northern end of the Bulkley Valley and runs through three towns named Hazelton, and ends in the Kispiox Valley.

Importantly, Nathan Cullen, one of the occupiers of the legal Nisga’a land in 2023, ran for the B.C. Greens in this year’s provincial election, losing 57.5 to 42.5 per cent to the candidate for the B.C. Conservatives, who are unabashedly pro-resource development. Most of northern B.C. voted Conservative, reflecting in-part, a dissatisfaction with the NDP government’s approach to economic development there.

This is an area covered by the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition (SWCC), an environmental NGO formed in 2007 with an annual income of $2.8 million in 2023.

The SWCC has a history of receiving foundation funding from the United States. One is the Grant and Betty Moore Foundation, headquartered in California, which has contributed $1,018,585 to the SWCC. Shockingly, the Government of Canada has also contributed large amounts to the organization, with $166,700 going to the SWCC at the start of 2024.

Needless to say, the SWCC is rabidly opposed to resource development, with their social media feeds replete with attacks on industry, with the PRGT blockade being among the latest. Their publicly pro-Indigenous angle is reflected on their website, which is festooned with Indigenous imagery and art.

The executive director since 2004, Shannon McPhail has been the near-uncontested leader of the SWCC. Her family also owns a recreation lodge in close proximity to the planned PRGT route, which offers guests the opportunity to do yoga and pick wild mushrooms.

Given the economic depression affecting this part of B.C., the SWCC is a significant employer, and wields significant power, which now appears to be aimed at the PRGT and its Nisga’a partners.

Unlike the SWCC, the Nisga’a government has given its full endorsement to the PRGT. In their own words, “In taking an equal ownership role in this pipeline, we are signalling a new era for Indigenous participation in the Canadian economy. ”

Other nations have already blazed similar paths, like the Haisla, whose partnerships with and collaborations with the LNG industry will make them into an economic giant on the west coast.

Environmentalists seem to only back First Nations if they are blocking resource-related development, and this is a longstanding trend. The PRGT blockades are just the latest in a string of disputes between Indigenous people that environmental NGOs will hijack for their own ends.

Green activists have hurled themselves against other projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and the Coastal GasLink project, both of which were endorsed by Indigenous groups and their governments who signed benefits agreements with industry.

The PRGT controversy is rooted in a disagreement between two First Nations who have quarrelled over land for over two decades. It is their dispute, and no matter how beneficial the resource industry may be, the Gitanyow and the Nisga’a should be left alone to resolve it without outside interference. Unfortunately, this will never happen so long as every resource project serves as an opportunity for NGOs to stay relevant and keep fundraising to pay their salaries.

National Post