Prince George Citizen January 16, 2019 by Prince George Citizen

Wednesday, January 16, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Blades in the mist Skaters enjoy some time on the Outdoor Ice Oval just below the fog that covered the city for most of the day Tuesday.

Pipeline would have minor Cat rescued from impact, assessment found Prince George landfill Citizen staff

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca The Coastal GasLink pipeline should generally have minor impacts on the area governed by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs if it’s constructed, according to an environmental assessment office report on the project. However, the report also says the hereditary chiefs, as represented by the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, oppose the project, saying it is in “deep conflict with core Wet’suwet’en laws and values.” The matter came to a head last week when RCMP were called in to take down a blockade on the Morice River Forest Service Road south of Houston and arrested 14 people in the process. The move was made after CGL secured an interim injunction prohibiting interference with pre-construction work along the route where it passes through that area. The report, issued in October 2014, looks at the project’s effects on Aboriginal title, hunting, trapping, fishing, gathering and culturally important sites, trails and travelways. On Aboriginal title, the report concluded the pipeline would have low to moderate impacts and they have been addressed by ensuring the Office of the Wet’suwet’en and other groups within the First Nation are “meaningfully consulted and accommodated around the potential effects of this proposed project.” On hunting, the report found the project would have a moderate impact, saying the right to hunt in the area may be affected for a short time during the construction phase, when access may be restricted for safety reasons. It also proposed a condition allowing access to the area for traditional use activities once the project is completed. On trapping, the Office of the Wet’suwet’en did not provide any information on any trap lines that may be held by its members, the report said, but added the work may require short- or long-term relocation of portions of traplines. “However, the proposed pipeline corridor is narrow enough that the disruption to each trap line should not prevent a trap line holder from trapping in other parts of the trap line territory, and should therefore have a relatively small effect on overall access to trapping,” the report stated. As such, the project was expected to have minor impacts on members’ right to trap. On fishing, a dozen fishing sites near the route were identified of which only one, on the Nadina River, is directly on the route. The next closest is 2.8 kilometres to the

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The majority of fish-bearing watercourse crossings would be constructed using an isolated trench method to avoid and minimize potential impact on fish and fish habitat. — EAO report north at Bulkley Lake. However, the pipeline would also cross the Clore River, Gosnell Creek and Morice River. “The majority of fish-bearing watercourse crossings would be constructed using an isolated trench method to avoid and minimize potential impact on fish and fish habitat,” the EAO says in the report. “Open cut trench method would be used only for non-fish bearing watercourse crossings, or where the channel is dry or frozen to the bottom.” As well, hydrostatic testing would be planned for the summer or fall when the water supply is high and warming the water is not necessary. As well, no additives would be put in the water and CGL has assured the clean pipe used for the testing will be internally coated. On gathering, the assessment found crossing Gosnell Creek would adversely affect wetlands in that area. In answer, the report proposed site-specific mitigation and monitoring. Given the narrowness of the corridor, the report doubted access to sites to gather berries would be limited. The assessment identified a number of cultural heritage sites – used mainly for hunting, trapping or fishing and some associated with cabins, within 2 1/2 kilometres of the pipeline, particularly along the Morice River valley area, as well as a number of trails crossing the pipeline route. Requirements of the Heritage Conservation Act must be met prior to and during construction, the assessment noted, and rated the impact as minor. About 180 kilometres of the 670-kilometre pipeline would pass through Wet’suwet’en traditional territory. While all five elected Wet’suwet’en band councils support the project and have entered benefit agreements with CGL, the hereditary chiefs maintain they have authority over all off-reserve territory. The report was part of a provinciallymandated review of the project.

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A man taking his garbage to the Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill in Prince George made an alarming discovery last week. Alerted by a loud mewing among the heaps of garbage, the Good Samaritan investigated the source of the sound and found a cat that had been abandoned and left to die inside a locked carrier. He immediately rushed the cat to the BC SPCA’s North Cariboo Branch. “It is appalling that someone would throw a beautiful and loving animal out like a piece of garbage,” Alex Schare, manager of animal centre services for the North Cariboo SPCA, said. “The crate was filled with frozen urine and the poor cat was very cold, skinny and infested with fleas. There is no doubt she would have died if she had been left there much longer, trapped inside the cage.” Staff estimate the short-haired white cat is about three years old. SPCA staff have named the cat Gloria, after Gloria Gaynor, the singer of the 1970s song I Will Survive. “There is no doubt that our furry little

GLORIA Gloria is a survivor. She is very friendly and is going to make someone a wonderful pet,” Schare said. “We are treating her for fleas and building up her weight, but we’re confident she’ll make a full recovery.” Once the mandatory stray-hold period is up, Gloria will be spayed and put up for adoption.

B.C. chiefs gather in Smithers to support Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs Amy SMART Citizen news service SMITHERS — Hereditary chiefs opposed to a natural gas pipeline in Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia are holding a gathering of solidarity today that is expected to attract Indigenous leaders from across British Columbia. Chief Judy Wilson, secretary treasurer of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said she was planning to attend the meeting and other members of the group had already flown to Smithers. “I’m heading up there to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the people, the clans, in their fight to protect their land,” Wilson said. She said the difficulty that the hereditary chiefs have had in getting their authority recognized by industry and government is familiar. Elected band councils are based on a colonial model of governance, she said. Under the tradition of her Secwepemc First Nation in the B.C. Interior, title belongs to all of the people within the nation. “Collectively, people hold title for our nation,” she said.

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Coastal GasLink says it has signed agreements with all 20 elected First Nations bands along the pipeline route to LNG Canada’s $40-billion export facility in Kitimat. But the project has come until scrutiny because five hereditary clan chiefs within the Wet’suwet’en say the project has no authority without their consent. While elected band councils are administrators of their reserves, the hereditary chiefs say they are in charge of the 22,000 square kilometres comprising Wet’suwet’en traditional territory, including land the pipeline would run through. Members of the First Nation and supporters were arrested last week at a checkpoint erected to block the company from accessing a road it needs to do pre-construction work on the project, sparking protests Canada-wide. On Thursday, the hereditary chiefs reached at deal with RCMP, agreeing that members would abide by a temporary court injunction by allowing the company and its contractors access across a bridge further down the road. — see ‘THIS FIGHT, page 3

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