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RE: Bill C-48, Upholding the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act and respecting Indigenous Rights and Title
Dear Prime Minister Carney,
As the Rights and Title Holders of the North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii, we are writing to express our profound, unwavering, and continued support for Bill C-48, the 2019 Oil Tanker Moratorium Act. We request that your government continue to respect and uphold this legislation as part of your government’s legal obligations and commitment to reconciliation.
Bill C-48 is Canada’s recognition of over 50 years of efforts by our communities, as well as citizens throughout BC and across Canada, to protect the North Pacific coast, which includes the Great Bear Rainforest and Sea and Haida Gwaii, from the risks of a devastating oil spill.
This area, stewarded by First Nations for over 14,000 years, is home to ancient temperate rainforests, wild Pacific salmon rivers, and various marine wildlife from seabirds to dolphins and whales. These lands and waters sustain our coastal communities, cultures, economies, and is one of the most productive and spectacular ecosystems on Earth. It is also globally recognized as the site of groundbreaking partnerships and innovative solutions that mesh conservation with sustainable economies.
Our Nations understand the economic challenges Canada is facing. We also know that investments that grow and sustain our natural capital are our best pathway to a future that puts people first, creates jobs that support our communities, fosters resiliency, and builds Canada’s natural security in times of economic uncertainty.
Our track record shows that when we work together, we can build forward-looking, innovative, and creative economic partnerships that benefit all Canadians. In recent decades, partnerships between First Nations, governments, and industries across the region have proven to protect and grow natural capital while creating jobs and diversifying the regional economy. A reversal of Bill C-48 would put all of these values, and all of our shared achievements, at risk.
Crude oil pipelines have been the nation-building projects of the past generation, not the present or the future. Let us invest instead in infrastructure and initiatives that build our natural wealth, nurture healthy and resilient communities, and support sustainable economies – on this coast and across the country.
In 2010, our Nations banned crude oil tankers from our territorial waters based on our ancestral laws, and our rights and responsibilities over our lands and waters. We will never permit oil tanker traffic through the Great Bear Sea. We have fought pipeline proposals since the 1970’s – on the courts and on the water – and if necessary, we will do so again, but we would rather put our time and effort into working together.
We will continue to do our part on the North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii to diversify our trade relationships and support BC’s contributions to the Canadian economy, which already includes future estimates of as many as 600 LNG tankers transiting our territorial waters each year by 2030, but we will do so with our sights set on the future.
We invite you, Prime Minister Carney, to meet with us to better understand the incredible ecological treasure that is the North Pacific Coast. We ask you to join us in focusing on nation-building projects that meet the needs of our future generations, not projects that would put everything that sustains us at risk.
Coastal First Nations – Great Bear Initiative urges you to uphold Bill C-48, to reject any proposal for a northwest BC oil pipeline or oil tanker project, and to continue walking the path of reconciliation together.
Yours sincerely,
Chief Marilyn Slett President, Coastal First Nations – Great Bear Initiative