Transport Committee on Nov. 7th, 2017

[Chief Marilyn Slett]

We have seen a list of persistent oils in the schedule. We believe that there should be flexibility in the regulations and the consultations. We want to be able to drill down on those regulations through the consultation process.

[Peter Lantin]

I think for us it's always difficult. The one thing that has been happening the last few years is that the more you look into the issues in and around shipping and how shipping affects you, the more complex and difficult it becomes. Our knowledge base is becoming quite vast. That's the problem with waiting around for this consultation on the bill. We want a moratorium in place today.

We're in kind of a catch-22 around what should happen first and at what time. We want to have more consultation in and around the specificity of oil products, but we also want something in place today. It's been a couple of years that the government has been in power and we believe it's time.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

In regard to the bill itself, or in your discussions with the minister, will you be bringing up the role of Haida Gwaii in emergency preparedness? If there is a ship in distress, will there be an adequate emergency response? Who will pay for that and how will it be handled? How will they know what's acceptable amongst your communities? Has there been any discussion on that?

[Chief Marilyn Slett]

We certainly see a discussion taking place around emergency response. We will be bringing it up during our discussions with the relevant ministries, Transport Canada, the Coast Guard, and other federal units. We believe that the federal government has responsibilities here and commitments that they made through the oceans protection plan announcement last year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Hardie.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

A lot of the monitoring and enforcement, which is meant to ensure that the right things happen and the wrong things don't, would fall to Transport Canada and perhaps DFO or the Coast Guard. I'd like your quick assessment on your capabilities to handle this issue up in your area. Do they have the horsepower on the ground, or the water, to do the job?

Mr. Lantin?

[Peter Lantin]

I think the previous government, in the gutting of DFO and all the capacity it did have, and the Coast Guard previously, had a very negative impact on the ability to do things around here. The reality is that we definitely need more. They shouldn't look at the first nations as just another stakeholder. We are the rights holders and titleholders to these areas, so they should look at us as a partner, as somebody who would embrace the challenge and the difficulty of wanting to do this. That's what our expectation is.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

I want to drill down into that a little more. You mentioned playing your role as a refuge to ships that may encounter perils out in the open ocean. We also know that one of the things our government did first off was to reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard base in Vancouver. Part of that was meant to support a training regime for rescue and spill response, to train people in communities up and down the coast. I understand that this has started, but have you had any discussions, from Haida Gwaii or from the Heiltsuk, about getting people into those classes down in Vancouver?

[Peter Lantin]

Up until our incident with the Simushir, the only way we were going to deal with getting people trained in the capacity to respond was if we embraced oil or LNG. That was the political reality for us, and we weren't prepared to do that. Since the Simushir incident, our eyes are wide open in and around what our needs are, so we are now getting boots on the ground in terms of getting our people trained up to do the response.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Reg, is that your experience as well?

[Reg Moody-Humchitt]

Yes.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Okay.

Maybe I'll just turn it over. My colleague, Mr. Badawey, has an additional question.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Hardie.

I've been a member of the indigenous caucus here in Ottawa, as well as part of the government. One of the things we've been doing through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is trying to add the word “resurgence”. With that, I want to follow up on a line of questioning I had earlier with respect to developing the economy.

As you may know, last year the minister introduced the national transportation strategy and, with that, the trade corridor strategy, with the five pillars attached to the same. Unfortunately, we were stopped by the opposition in making travel a priority to go out and talk to you folks about the methods of developing your economy. That is still our intent, and we are going to make that attempt in the very near future.

With that said, do you have individually, within your communities, an economic strategy—I'm assuming you do—and where can we be of assistance to you to further those desires to ultimately satisfy the recommendations contained within your strategies?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Who would like to answer quickly?

[Chief Marilyn Slett]

Certainly, our strategy would include fish aquaculture, rehabilitation of existing stock and streams, non-extractive resources—Reg brought this up earlier—and economies like tourism. We have a fish plant here in Bella Bella, and we would like to diversify the fisheries that run through that fish plant as well. Reg also spoke of the spawn-on-kelp industry in his presentation, and certainly exploring the market on that as well.

[Peter Lantin]

We have a saying in Haida Gwaii: “If you can't do it sustainably, you don't do it at all.” Our economic strategy is built on that. We are still dependent on the resources we have. Logging and fishing are still very much alive and well, but they are now being done sustainably. We have an untapped energy opportunity here on Haida Gwaii. We are one of the biggest diesel consumers right now. A green energy economy is something that's first and foremost for the Haida Nation on a variety of levels. That's what lures people to Haida Gwaii. The tourism reality that Reg talked about is absolutely top of mind here in Haida Gwaii. It's becoming unbelievable, the visitors coming to Haida Gwaii every summer. There is more growth every year, and I think it's because of our story.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Hopefully, we'll see you soon and we'll talk more about that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Moody-Humchitt, are you trying to get a last word in here?

[Reg Moody-Humchitt]

I just want to say that we do have a 15-year economic development plan, which we presented, in the past, to Senator Jack Austin, who presented it to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It's just as relevant today as it was back then. It includes 13 major resource sectors: forestry, transportation, fishing, marine, telecommunications, etc. We would be very happy to present that.

I just want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity for you to actually reach out and invite us to come in to sit down and talk. I think this is the way forward. With the last administration, no one was talking to us. They were basically giving us information under duress and saying, “This is the way things are.” Decision were not made, and—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much to all of you.

Before we suspend to switch our witnesses around, just for information of the committee, we will have two meetings on the water quality study, which is Bob Bratina's motion from the House. If you have any witnesses who you think might be helpful in that discussion, please submit them to the clerk by Tuesday, November 14.

Thank you very much. We will suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We are reconvening our meeting.

Welcome to our new witnesses. Thank you very much for joining us this afternoon.

By video conference, we have Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, and Cameron Hill, elected councillor from the Gitga'at First Nation.

We'll start with Mr. Phillip, for five minutes, please.

[Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs]

Good afternoon to members of the committee.

On behalf of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, I'd like to read a brief statement.

Heavy crude oil pipeline and tanker projects pose an unacceptable risk to the health, safety, and livelihoods of indigenous nations throughout British Columbia and contribute to the negative environmental and health impacts experienced by indigenous peoples downstream of the tar sands, and of all people throughout the world, as a result of accelerating global climate change.

The Supreme Court of Canada has held that the crown's legislative power can and should be used to uphold the duties to indigenous peoples, and that both the federal and provincial governments have an obligation to uphold the honour of the crown.

My recommendations are as follows.

One, the UBCIC, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, has stated its strong support for the passage of Bill C-48, oil tanker moratorium act.

Two, the UBCIC supports the proposed amendments from West Coast Environmental Law concerning clause 6, ministerial exemption. It is the position of the UBCIC that the provision allowing exemption orders should be removed from Bill C-48, or at the very least circumscribed, for example, through engagement with indigenous peoples that satisfies the minimum standards laid out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, on time limits, public notice requirement, and opportunities for public comment.

Three, the UBCIC recommends that the committee seek further information from Transport Canada regarding the rationale for the 12,500-tonne threshold for the bill's prohibitions and consider whether the threshold ought to be lowered.

Four, the UBCIC recommends that the committee expand the moratorium area to include all sensitive marine habitats, especially where increased tanker traffic will bring increased threats to killer whales, in the form of noise pollution and declining marine environment, impacting the survival and well-being of killer whales and other vital aquatic species, including wild salmon.

As part of our package, we have a number of supportive Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs' resolutions that were passed by our chiefs and assembly: resolution 2017-15: protection of water, salmon, and health from diluted bitumen; resolution 2017-04: protection of orca whales and habitat; resolution 2011-54: support for the save the Fraser declaration, the coastal first nations tanker ban, and the indigenous laws banning crude oil pipeline and tanker shipments through B.C.; resolution 2010-11: opposition to the Enbridge pipeline project.

In conclusion, as an editorial comment, again we strongly support Bill C-48, but would suggest that the same level of protection be afforded to the more densely populated southern coast of British Columbia with respect to the same threats, for example, the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project and the Burrard Inlet and Fraser River Estuary.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Are you going to be submitting those comments and recommendations in a brief to the committee?

[Grand Chief Stewart Phillip]

Yes, we will.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

If you could ensure that is done within the next few days, it would be appreciated.