Port Clements has joined all other Haida Gwaii municipalities--and the Haida First Nation-- in calling for a ban on coastal tanker traffic. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a warning for B.C.: Keep BC's Coast Oil-Free!
The decision by Port Clements’ council to add its voice to growing calls for a ban means that all of Haida Gwaii--including the Haida Nation as well as the municipalities of Masset, Old Masset, Skidegate, Sandspit, and Queen Charlotte – is united in opposition to coastal tanker traffic.
“Everyone has their eye on what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico, and nobody in B.C. wants to risk an accident like this happening along our fragile and treacherous coast,” said Sierra Club BC Executive Director George Heyman. “The communities that stand to be most impacted are uniting in unwavering opposition to the threat of oil spills.”
Sierra Haida Gwaii and other organizations have been working together as the Enbridge Awareness Group to draw attention to the proposed 1,170 km ‘Northern Gateway’ pipeline that will flow more than half a million barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta’s tar sands to the Great Bear Rainforest area. From Kitimat, super-tankers would transport the oil out to sea through the same rough and narrow passages where the much smaller Queen of the North ferry sank in 2006.
“In communities where so many livelihoods depend on shellfish aquaculture, fishing and tourism, protecting our coast is a priority on everybody’s mind,” said Sierra Haida Gwaii chair Jacques Morin. “It has been heartening to see community after community join together in solidarity to protect our coast and livelihoods.”
Sierra Club BC is concerned about the serious threats tanker traffic would pose to the adjacent Great Bear Rainforest. Though it has been a model for land conservation, the rainforest is heavily dependent on the health of the water that surrounds and runs through it.
“An oil spill in the coastal waters off the Great Bear Rainforest would have a devastating and potentially irreparable impact on this globally-significant ecosystem,” said Heyman.
A federal moratorium on tanker traffic in BC's coastal waters has been in place for decades. However, the current federal government is denying it exists and the BC government is actively petitioning Ottawa to lift it.
The Liberal Party of Canada has said it is committed to keeping the no-tanker moratorium in place and implementing integrated ocean management as part of a comprehensive ocean strategy that would address ongoing resource use issues as well as emerging threats such as ocean acidification caused by CO2 emissions.
Learn more about our work on ocean health.
Sierra local groups take the lead
Sierra Victoria is participating in Hands Across the Sands - an international movement of people from all walks of life who want to protect our coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, and fishing industry from the devastating effects of oil spills. Come to Willows Beach in Victoria on June 26 - at noon, join hands to form a line in the sand. More event details.
Sierra Haida Gwaii, in coalition with other grassroots groups on the islands, was instrumental in getting all the Haida Gwaii local councils to stand with their First Nations neighbours and sign onto a "No Tankers" declaration.
"The response has been overwhelmingly positive in the community where so many people's livelihoods depend on shellfish aquaculture, fishing and tourism," says Jacques Morin, chair of Sierra Haida.
Take action! Write to Premier Campbell and Prime Minister Harper.
Or email the concerned oil company executives here.
First Nations Unite in Opposition
British Columbians still vividly remember Exxon Valdez, which happened practically in our backyard. The tragedy in the Gulf is another compelling reason to keep tankers out of BC's coastal waters, and dirty tar sands oil in the ground.
On March 23, on the anniversary of the Exxon Valdez spill, First Nations stood united in opposition to pipelines and oil tankers carrying tar sands oil along BC's coast.
Sierra Club BC and our allies stand beside Coastal First Nations in their unwavering opposition to the threat oil spills present to coastal communities.
Read our press release.
Read Caitlyn's blog.
Coastal First Nations from Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border are unanimous in their opposition and are joined by the vast majority of First Nations affected along the pipeline route from Kitimaat to Alberta.
Read the full story in the Globe and Mail, The Province and Reuters.
“An oil spill would literally wipe out all of our cultures,” said Art Sterritt, executive director of the Coastal First Nations initiative. “It would be unwise for Enbridge to ignore us…we are putting Enbridge on notice. We are putting governments on notice.”
Watch Art Sterritt's video on CBC.
Gerald Amos, hereditary chief of Haisla First Nation, said: “Our position right now is that this project is not going to happen. We are prepared to put boats right across the channel to stop the tankers.”
Sierra Club BC stands in solidarity with Coastal and other First Nations in their opposition to tankers. Sierra Club BC is also part of an unprecedented grouping of 150 First Nations groups, businesses, environmental organizations, and prominent Canadians who ran a full-page ad in the March 23 issue of the Globe and Mail with the headline ‘This was Exxon’s gift to Alaska. B.C. Can Expect the same from Enbridge.’ Signatories include Margaret Atwood, Ronald Wright and Terry Glavin.
Stand with the Coastal First Nations and take action to stop the Enbridge pipeline and tankers in our coastal waters.
Sierra Club of/du Canada - BC Chapter
Sierra Club of BC Foundation, 304-733 Johnson Street, Victoria, BC V8W 3C7
(250) 386-5255 : info@sierraclub.bc.ca
