Saanich Coun. Nathalie Chambers has withdrawn her motion asking Saanich to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose a pipeline across their territory in northern B.C.
Chambers failed to find another councillor to second the motion calling on the provincial and federal governments to suspend work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline and to consult with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
Before the council meeting Monday night, Chambers said she was temporarily going to shelve her motion because B.C. and the federal government had reached a proposed arrangement with the Wet’suwet’en Nation to recognize its hereditary governance system.
“I’m still just as supportive as I was before, but these negotiations are going on and some of the things that were included in my motion are actually occurring right now naturally,” she said.
“This is a process between senior levels of government and the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and I’m really, really proud and happy that we’ve had this historical moment and that so many people stood up in support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and wanted to be on the right side of history. Many of those people are Saanich residents.”
The proposed $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline — a key part of the $40-billion LNG Canada project — would span 670 kilometres in northern B.C., starting near Dawson Creek and extending to Kitimat, where an $18-billion liquefied natural gas export plant is being built.
In January, Victoria city councillors voted 6-1 to endorse a declaration calling on the provincial and federal governments to take action in the dispute.
The vote was controversial, as some questioned what role the municipality of Victoria had in an issue in northern B.C.
The First Nations LNG Alliance, a collective of First Nations in support of LNG development in B.C., wrote its own motion, arguing that Victoria council had no right to interfere in the democratic processes of First Nations or “meddle in an issue that is for the Wet’suwet’en people alone to decide.”
