B.C. has signed a declaration along with coastal First Nation leaders calling on the federal government to uphold the North Coast tanker ban.
“We call on the federal government to recognize what generations of leaders have: We need to protect our coasts in order to grow our economy,” Premier David Eby said on Wednesday (Nov. 5) morning at the First Nations Leaders’ Gathering in Vancouver.
This declaration comes after months of lobbying by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to resurrect plans for an oil pipeline between Alberta and B.C.’s North Coast. For such a project to be viable, the federal government would need to end the ban on oil tankers in North Coast waters carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude oil.
Representatives of area First Nations have been firm in their opposition to ending the ban.
“We are here today with the province of British Columbia to call on the federal government to commit to upholding the oil tanker moratorium act to protect our ecosystems and to grow our coastal economy for the benefit of all British Columbians and for all Canadians, from coast to coast to coast,” said Chief Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations, a group of six area nations.
More to come.