Chris Sankey is a former elected councillor for the Lax Kw’alaams Band, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a businessman.
Oil and gas sector emissions caps proposed by Ottawa will hurt hundreds of Indigenous communities who need responsible resource development to achieve prosperity and opportunity. The Trudeau government is ignoring its political and legal obligations to Indigenous peoples.
Liquified natural gas (LNG) production is extremely important to our communities in northern British Columbia. In other areas, oil production, processing and distribution hold the key to prosperity. Indigenous communities have been working for years to identify projects that our nations could support. We intend to pursue such opportunities as we see fit.
This is an expression of our right to development and self-determination, and undermining our basic autonomy is a violation of our human rights. You would think our people have been through enough.
That is why the proposed emissions cap raised serious concerns. Once again, our leaders were informed of the plan only recently and were not consulted as required. Government sure has a strange view of their obligations to consult.
For the rest of this article: https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-killing-canadas-world-class-energy-industry-destroys-indigenous-aspirations