I represent between 4,000 and 6,000 members close by. In the area in the north that I represent, my members number about 3,000 people. The proposed Enbridge project would run pipelines at the headwaters, crossing some of the tributaries and streams on the Skeena River, and the tanker traffic coming out of Kitimat places our industry at risk from both ends.
An accident on the pipeline area would bleed into the main stem of the Skeena River, killing an industry that has been rebuilt over many generations to a sustainable run and that employs a lot of our people. An accident on the route that the tankers are travelling would be in the same area where the Queen of the North went down off Gil Island. In the past year or so, another tanker coming through Douglas Channel ran up on the beach. The risk to the area and to our fishing industry posed by these two projects is unacceptable.