Our next online Outreach session
We’re lining up speakers for our next Outreach session, coming via Zoom on Wednesday Oct. 27, from noon to 1:15pm PDT. Note: This is a new date, postponed from Oct. 20.
We’ll post more details on our social media channels as we have them.
In the meantime, check out the session we hosted on Sept. 22, which introduced and discussed our new Guide to Benefit Agreements. That’s a tool designed to help First Nations sort through the ins and outs and 16 critical issues around Benefit Agreements.
Speakers were Dr. Priya Bala-Miller of Palmyra Partners Consulting Inc., Dr. Kevin Hanna of the Centre for Environmental Assessment Research at UBC, and Rick Krehbiel, policy and special assignments expert for the Alliance.
Kevin Hanna said of benefit agreements: “It’s fair to say this is kind of a new area, it’s a little bit untilled for us in this country. So we’re beginning to see how they work, how they perform, how they can best be structured so that they support and provide benefits for Indigenous communities and Indigenous peoples when they engage and work with resource development projects; or any kind of project, for that matter, that can occur on their territories in their unceded land.”
Priya Bala-Miller: “We were able to identify 16 critical issues that we think are areas (for) First Nations who are involved in these processes already, or are looking to enter into them. . . . I don’t want to call them stumbling blocks, but they can be. Or they can be really areas that can be leveraged to generate very, very positive impacts.”
Alliance CEO Karen Ogen-Toews wrapped up the session with the point that the need for reconciliation and economic reconciliation is so real today.
“We can’t afford to wait five to 10 years. . . . We want to see action today. Reconciliation, economic reconciliation, equity ownership, that’s the language we want to be hearing, because we’re dealing with communities that live in poverty or have capacity issues; you name it.”
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
We had strong interest in our special online message to mark the new federal holiday on Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (and Orange Shirt Day).
The thrust of our message was this:
“To the First Nations LNG Alliance, this is absolutely not your typical take-a-day-off-work federal holiday. It can and should be a stepping stone on the Road to Reconciliation, and a road to ‘reconciliaction.’
“And the road to closing the stunning gap between the economic status of Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous people in Canada. That needs urgently to be addressed, along with addressing Indigenous rights as part of reconciliation. . . .
“Let us remember. Let us reflect. Let us act.”
We compiled a hefty online calendar of events taking place on the day, and gave special attention to the project by the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc Nation in BC: “Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc calls on people worldwide to drum simultaneously for the missing children of Indian Residential Schools.”
Thousands of people did check in to the nation’s website and Facebook page. Here, you can see the video of the nation’s event.
Mark your calendars for May 26-27
‘Possibilities to Partnerships.’ That’s the theme of IPSS 2022, the Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase to be presented and hosted by Resource Works next May 26-27. The Alliance supports the event, and is an advisor to Resource Works.
Learn more: https://indigenoussuccess.ca
ALSO IN THE NEWS
- Work on LNG Canada project passes 50% completion: http://ow.ly/p12J50GnjIA
- BC gov’t and Blueberry River First Nations sign $65M deal. Most industry keeps going, but 20 resource permits are suspended. This after key court ruling on cumulative industrial development: ow.ly/Cn7n50GopfJ • Gov’t news release: ow.ly/vLRi50Gopn7 #BCpoli
- Shell CEO sees LNG Canada operating in 2050s and beyond: ly/kFc050Gnfbl
- Stewart Muir: How Canadian LNG could help Europe and China. And how Indigenous partnerships are key to developing Canadian natural resources. Listen to the podcast: http://ow.ly/Wjbb50GjrTE
- Coastal GasLink construction ramps up, along with activist obstruction: http://ly/Ii6S50Ghpeq See also: http://ow.ly/sGXq50Ghxoo
- BC environmental scientist Blair King rips a ‘report’ that linked pollution in some northern BC houses to gas wells. http://ow.ly/8C5q50GgquZ
- Australian energy major says world capacity to produce LNG must double by 2030: http://ow.ly/S3mb50Gh2k0
- China surpasses Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer: http://ow.ly/tjyo50GgrpT
MORE EVENTS
- The Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference, originally set as an in-person event in Nanaimo Oct. 21-22, now will be a virtual event: http://ow.ly/qpmE50GjPnq You can register here: http://ow.ly/Tj4C50GjPnp
- The Forward Summit, originally set for Nov. 2-3 this year, has been postponed to Feb. 2-3, 2022, live and virtual, at the Grey Eagle Event Centre, Calgary: ow.ly/skXP50GnmgM
- The First Nations Major Projects Coalition sets its ‘Getting to Net Zero by 2050 Conference’ for April 25-26 in Vancouver: http://ow.ly/67KX50Gn024
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