In January, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) signed onto the Save the Fraser Declaration offering support to the Yinka Dene Alliance (YDA) and those opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines. The YDA are now travelling by train on the Freedom Train tour from northern BC to Toronto, Ont. for Enbridge's AGM on May 9 to enforce their legal ban on the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipelines. We at ACFN understand what is at stake for them, as our homelands are at the centre of the tar sands developments that are fueling this controversy. 

From a First Nations perspective, it doesn't matter whether we stand on the coast of BC or in the heart of the tar sands-- our struggle is largely one and the same. We don't want our lands, our rights, or our people to be sidelined and destroyed by irresponsible development. As Denesuline People, we have an intricate relationship with Mother Earth that keeps our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being in balance. This sacred connection is shared by our brothers and sisters in BC and is the very reason we support the opposition to the Enbridge Gateway Pipelines. We intimately understand their struggle to protect environmental values--values not only significant to First Nations peoples, but are the heart of what it used to mean to be Canadian. 

Throughout a vast tract of our traditional lands, the lands, air and waters upon which our people depend for our culture and livelihood are being devastated to extract the very bitumen that would be shipped through pipelines to the West Coast. In Alberta, ACFN are challenging two tar sands proposals by Shell Oil: oneto expand the existing Jackpine Mine and the Pierre River Mine, another new open pit tar sands mine. The Pierre River Mine is proposed in a pristine region of

the Peace-Athabasca Delta and would adversely impact critical habitat for species at risk, traditional lands, and the ecology of the fragile and globally signifi-cant Delta that our people are reliant on. Both projects would be developed with adjacent wet tailings and require additional withdrawals of water from the Athabasca River -a waterway that is a sacred lifeline for our community. 

Shell's proposed projects would more than double their production producing 600,000 b/p/d of tar sands oil not only contributing to cumulative impacts already felt in the region but would be enough to fill the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines. The proposed Enbridge pipelines would cross over 1,000 rivers, three major salmon bearing rivers, and across unceded territories of many First Nations. A spill from these pipelines would devastate the lives and economies  ofthese communities and the fragile rivers and ecosystems they rely on. 

What is more, despite assurances by Canada and Alberta that our  environmental regulations are among the strongest in the world, both governments are taking steps to reduce environmental regulation in order to accelerate the pace of development. In recent years, Canada has shirked its duty to properly enforce the Fisheries Act, Navigable Waters Protection Act, Species at Risk Act, and the constitutionally protected provisions of Treaty 6 and 8. Now, the federal government has proposed significant changes to the Canadian  Environmental Assessment Act and the Fisheries Act, both designed to streamline and reduce regulatory approvals processes for tar sands projects, including pipelines. 

Approval of the Enbridge pipelines would threaten BC's $1 billion ecotourism and fishing economy and enable further expansion of tar sands development in our traditional lands, pushing us beyond the tipping point of what our lands and way of life can sustain. However, if First Nations in BC are successful in asserting their rights in the face of this unwelcome development, then we may share in their strength in meeting the challenges we face here in Northern  Alberta. 

It is clear to us the Enbridge pipelines and tar sands expansion are linked at the source, and they all weigh heavily on our common future. It is our people--not those making the decisions in Ottawa, Calgary and elsewhere--that endure the constant concern of contamination, loss of livelihood and diminishing water quality. And yet, our concerns and the impacts to our people go largely unrecognized, unaccounted for, and unaddressed, as project after project receives approval and corporations continue to profit at the expense of our culture and way of life. 

Chief Allan Adam Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation

Credit: Slave River Journal