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An Open Letter to Enbridge

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Created on Thursday, 25 November 2010 18:29
Written by Ingmar Lee
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Open Letter to Jody Whitney,
Manager, Enbridge Pipelines Inc.
by Ingmar Lee
Dear Jody Whitney; I haven't heard back from you since we met at your Enbridge Gateway Pipelines presentation to the Heiltsuk community of Bella Bella BC in October, during which you saw an overwhelming demonstration of  emphatic and unanimous opposition to your corporation's appalling scheme to pipe tar sands oil products out to BC's pristine coastal waters.

The meeting was inaugurated with a powerful demonstration by the Heiltsuk Singers, -singing songs from their ancient (more than 10,000 years) and thriving culture. That was followed by a presentation by the children of the Bella Bella community clearly expressing their opposition to your project.
 
After the second slide of your Enbridge Power Point discussing technical trivia, which was clearly designed to eat up most of the time allotted, the moderator shut your presentation down and opened the floor to the full-house turn-out, who let you all know, for about 2 hours, unequivocally, in no uncertain terms, that your Pipeline/Supertanker project, which hopes to deliver massive quantities of Alberta Dirty-Oil Tar-Sands product across our province, to be loaded onto hundreds of giant supertankers annually for global distribution, was absolutely unwelcome in Heiltsuk territory.
 
It was also made clear that BC Coastal First Nations are unanimously, and adamantly opposed to your project.
 
To: Jody Whitney, Manager, Aboriginal Consultation & Regulatory Compliance, BC Region
Enbridge Pipelines Inc. Box 50, One Bentall Centre Suite 660, 505 Burrard St.
Vancouver, BC V7X 1M4
Tel  604 694 7750 Fax 604 694 7755 Cell 778 229 7039


Re: Enbridge Pipelines Inc "Community Consultation" -Oct 2010 Heiltsuk First Nation community of Bella Bella, BC
 

During the meeting, you and your 4 Enbridge colleagues promised the people of Bella Bella and environs, that you were truly interested in their views, were open and accountable to the community, and that you wished to return on numerous occasions to communicate with people about your Enbridge project. After the meeting you reaffirmed to me that you were open to communicate with everyone, and you gave me your business card.
 
You asked me to help you to understand why people were so passionate about protecting the region from the inevitable oil catastrophe that will result if your project manages to proceed. I agreed to this and sent you a few examples (see below) of what is so very special about the area. I then asked you to send me whatever feedback about the meeting you and your colleagues reported back to your Enbridge superiors. Since then I have not heard back from you.

You acknowledged receipt of that information, but when I asked you to send whatever report you submitted to your Enbridge superiors regarding the meeting, I have not heard from you. So why did you give me your card after the meeting if you had no intention of communicating??
 
You and your colleagues promised the Bella Bella community that Enbridge wanted an open process, that you intended to return on numerous occasions to discuss your plans and that you were open and willing to communicate.

It is of great importance, not only to the Bella Bella community, all of the First Nations of BC, and all of the people of BC, that we hear back on what you, the face of Enbridge Pipelines Inc., are reporting back to your superiors after you go about "consulting" with people along your proposed pipeline and supertanker route across this province. Your title states that you are in charge of "Aboriginal Consultation."
 
Consultation is where you ask people about their concerns. Why would your feedback to your boss after the meeting, in which a unanimous aboriginal concern was expressed, be a secret that cannot be freely divulged?

At the meeting, you were personally asked to divulge the 10 corporate sources of Enbridge Pipelines Inc.'s $100 million Public Relations fund, from which I assume you draw your salary. You stood up in front of the Bella Bella community and said that you were not permitted to divulge that crucial information. The people of this province are demanding to know the source of Enbridge's massive propaganda fund.
 
Why are you keeping such critical infomation a secret??

Your refusal to communicate puts the lie to Enbridge's claim, one that you yourself promised to the community at Bella Bella, that Enbridge was genuinely interested in communicating with the community, regardless of what people's opinion of your project.
 
I expect that your dishonesty is being repeated everywhere that you and your Enbridge PR entourage is going. Therefore you are an unmitigated liar, -something which must be made clear to every community you reach as you travel along your proposed pipeline corridor across our province, "consulting" with First Nations and other communities along the way.

With disgust,

Ingmar Lee
Box 60
Denny Island, BC

www.ingmarlee.com
 
On 11 November 2010 18:19, Ingmar < This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > wrote:
Hi Jody, thanks for your reply, -after a week I was wondering if, because I am a person who is vehemently opposed to your Enbridge project, that perhaps you are not permitted to communicate with me. Of course that would mean that you would not be able to communicate with a clear majority of BCer's, and certainly nobody in Bella Bella. May I ask if you've sent in a report, vis-a-vis your Bella Bella meetings to your boss? If, as we were told at the meeting that you would like to discuss your project in an open and honest way, then that report should be made available? I'd be interested to know what sort of feedback they are receiving from those of you who are representing the corporation on the road. Cheers,  Ingmar

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On 11 November 2010 11:14, Jody Whitney < This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > wrote:
 
Ingmar,

 

Thank you very much for this.

 

It was a pleasure meeting you last week.

 

Regards,

 

Jody Whitney | Manager, Aboriginal Consultation and Regulatory Compliance | Northern Gateway Pipelines

 

Suite 3000 | 425 1st Street SW | Calgary, AB  T2P 3L8

 

T: 403.767.3693 | T: 604.694.7750 | F: 403.718.3525 | C: 403.831.3395 | C: 778.229.7039

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.northerngateway.ca

 

This email and any accompanying attachments contain confidential information intended only for the individual or entity named above. Any dissemination or action taken in reliance on this email or attachments by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you believe you have received this message in error, please delete it and contact the sender by return email.  Thank you.

 

From: Ingmar [mailto: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ]
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 8:31 AM
To: Jody Whitney
Subject: a few comments after yesterdays meeting...

 

Hi Jody,

My name is Ingmar and I spoke with you after yesterday's meeting in Bella Bella. You had mentioned that you hadn't spent enough time in this area to quite understand what was truly threatened out here by the Enbridge project.

I thought I'd start by sending you a few examples of what we are doing up here to help people understand just how special and magnificent this place is. We are involved in the PacificWild remote camera project, which is where we go out into the wilderness and set up a "pan-tilt-zoom" camera, which is relayed directly into the school network at Bella Bella, from where the students can manipulate the camera and see live action wild footage.

We've collected and posted some of the best footage on the front page at www.pacificwild.org  -in particular, I recommend that you check out the clips:

Wolf pack fishing in October, 2010

Wolfpile in salmon season, Great Bear Rainforest, B.C.

You should also check out the Sandhill Crane footage in the PacificWild Live section of the website.

Here's an article I've written about my kayak experience a few years ago:

http://www.counterpunch.org/lee10012007.html

Of course, nothing can be as convincing as actually going out into this magnificent wilderness and seeing it for yourself, which I very much encourage you to do!

I sincerely hope that you might take a good long look at your options, and reconsider the career. If you'd like us to organize an immersion experience into this wilderness for you, please consider yourself invited!

Sincerely,

Ingmar

Ingmar Lee
Box 60
Denny Island, BC
V0T-1B0
www.ingmarlee.com