Coastal GasLink's pipeline construction has been flagged for environmental violations, including repeated failures to protect senstive watersheds and wetlands in parts of northern B.C.
A unanimous vote to abandon the British Columbia Treaty Commission (BCTC) at last week’s Treaty Forum held on the Nak’azdli Reserve, near Fort St. James, has some members of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council (CSTC) upset.
Chief Leonard Thomas of Nak’azdli wasn’t in attendance when the vote was taken, having had to leave the meeting early on March 28, but he was dismayed with the actions of the council.
“I wasn’t impressed with the resolution being passed at that particular forum,” said Thomas.
What has Thomas upset is the forum wasn’t for making any major decisions, it wasn’t an annual general meeting, it was to inform and discuss the CSTC position and to hear from community members. Thomas wasn’t the only Chief absent at the time of the vote. Other chiefs weren’t present, including Chief Thomas Alexis of Tl’azt’en Nation and Chief Robert Charlie of Ts’il Kaz Koh First Nation (Burns Lake). In total the CSTC has eight member nations.