A $12-million provincial offer to Gitxsan chiefs to clear the way for gas pipeline development is inadequate and ill-timed, community leaders say.
The offer is part of the B.C. government鈥檚 efforts to reach agreements with at least 30 First Nations in northern B.C. to allow billions of dollars of liquefied natural gas plants to go ahead. Premier Christy Clark has made developing LNG to export to Asia as the underpinning of her economic plan, promising five plants to create thousands of jobs and fuel a $30-billion prosperity fund.
In the Gitxsan territory, the outcome is complicated by a rift among the 65 hereditary chiefs. One group is opposed outright to gas pipelines.
Gitxsan negotiators had broken off gas pipeline talks with the B.C. government on June 21, in part, because the province continued to back treaty agreements with the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum First Nations that included land that overlaps onto territory that the Gitxsan claim.
But just four days later, the province sent a letter addressed directly to at least some of the Gitsxan鈥檚 hereditary chiefs, in which it spelled out the province was willing to pay $6.26 million for the Westcoast 91原创or gas transmission project and $5.81 million for the Prince Rupert gas transmission project.
If the Gitxsan sign a deal by Sept. 20, there is a $2.4-million signing bonus, reduced to $1.81 million until Dec. 31, then reduced again for a signing by March 31, 2015.
In return, the Gitxsan would have to confirm support for the project and not challenge LNG projects in court.
The letter came as a surprise to some chiefs, did not reach others, and left those who say they are responsible for negotiations bewildered.
Bev Clifton Percival, a negotiator for the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs, said she had not seen the letter until last week and construed the move as an effort to make an end-run around negotiators.
The gas pipeline negotiation with the Gitxsan Treaty Society were done through the Gitxsan Development Corp., she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just an offensive move on their part,鈥� said Percival, whose name as a hereditary chief is Gwaans. 鈥淭hey should be conducting negotiation with honour and good faith, and they are just not.鈥�
She also questioned the value of the offer. She said that, in total, First Nations along the pipeline route are being offered an estimated $30 million to $40 million, while the LNG plants and pipelines under consideration are worth $30 billion to $40 billion.
Even prospective Gitxsan support for LNG could be in danger. 鈥淭he pool got muddy,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are still trying to appease us with beads and trinkets. 鈥� We are educated too, we know what the value is here.鈥�
The publicity around the offer letter is already having effects outside of the Gitxsan community.
Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt called the offer an 鈥渁bsolute鈥� joke.
鈥淚 think they are really heading for a big problem,鈥� he said of the B.C. government鈥檚 LNG negotiations. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they are going to get away with this. With the small amount being offered, I would assume they are jeopardizing the ability to build pipelines.鈥�
B.C. Aboriginal Relations Minister John Rustad said it was important to address the offer directly to the chiefs who are the ultimate decision makers. He said the offer was simply part of negotiations underway with First Nations throughout B.C.
鈥淭here is nothing being offered to the Gitxsan not offered to other First Nations,鈥� he said.
Rustad would not say how much money in total is up for negotiation for First Nations in northern B.C. on the LNG file, and said he was not happy the offer had become public.
The release of the letter has also exposed the province to a split among Gitxsan hereditary chiefs.
A group calling themselves United Gitxsan Chiefs is opposed to any gas pipelines because of environmental concerns, including the possibility a pipeline could lead to gas development and production in northwest B.C.
The group does not recognize the Gitxsan Treaty Society or the Gitxsan Development Corp., said Norm Stephens, whose name as hereditary chief is Lax Giibuu.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not in favour of this at all,鈥� said Stephens, who says he has support of more than half the hereditary chiefs.
And he said it makes little sense to negotiate any type of resource benefits until the Gitxsan establish aboriginal title in the courts to their traditional lands.
He pointed to the recent landmark Supreme Court of Canada case where the Tsilhqot鈥檌n in central B.C. won title to 1,750 square kilometres.
