Duty to Consult, pipeline:

Enbridge meeting with First Nations Canada.com - Don Mills,Ontario,Canada Band members and leaders from Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 territories feel Enbridge and the government have fallen short of their duty to consult and accommodate ... See all stories on this topic

Protest Meeting Arranged 650 CKOM News Talk Radio - Saskatoon,Saskatchewan,Canada A series of meetings have been ongoing that Draude will and has attended to further discuss the duty to consult that company's and Government must now meet ... See all stories on this topic

First Nations protesters get meeting over pipeline Calgary Herald - AB, Canada The First Nations contend that the "duty to consult" and accommodate First Nations on such developments, established in a Supreme Court ruling, ... See all stories on this topic

Dispute shuts Alberta Clipper pipeline Two separate native groups block construction over contracts http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081001.PIPELINE01/TPStory/TPNational/?page=rss&id=GAM.20081001.PIPELINE01 JOE FRIESEN From Wednesday's Globe and Mail October 1, 2008 at 3:55 AM EDT Native groups shut down construction of the $3-billion Alberta Clipper oil pipeline yesterday in an escalating dispute over contracts and the duty to consult and accommodate aboriginal groups. Two separate groups, one outside Regina and the other in Saskatchewan's northwest, blocked machinery from moving yesterday morning, prompting the contractor to send his employees home. "It was done very peacefully with many helloes and how are yous, but we basically dictated that no machinery would be leaving and they need to take our concerns a bit more seriously," said Chief Sheldon Wuttunee of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, who is part of a group that is staying in teepees erected in the pipeline's path near Kerrobert, Sask. He also led a demonstration through town on horseback Monday. Mr. Wuttunee said his band signed a contract with Enbridge last year that promised jobs and contracts for members of his community, whose traditional territory is traversed by the pipeline plan. They expected to be able to bid on multimillion dollar contracts to build large sections of the pipeline, which will run 1,600 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta., to Superior, Wisconsin. "We were told when we met with [the contractor] that 95 per cent of the contracts were already awarded and we didn't get offered more than port-a-potties and some fencing," Mr. Wuttunee said. "The first nations have had enough of being left out of the process. This is a billion-dollar development that's going to run through our land and we need to be partners in that." Glenn Herchak, a spokesman for Enbridge, said his company is doing its best to find a solution. Senior company officials will attend talks with native leaders and representatives of the federal and provincial government tomorrow in Saskatoon. He said the pipeline, scheduled to be completed in 2010, is still in its early stages and 140 aboriginal people have already been employed; the company plans to continue to engage the 40 Indian and Métis communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba whose territories are touched by the project. The demonstration near Kerrobert was launched by bands that signed Treaty 6 with the Crown, while the demonstration outside Regina was led by signatories to Treaty 4. The pipeline is also the subject of a legal challenge in Manitoba led by signatories to Treaty 1, including Roseau River Chief Terrance Nelson, who was in Kerrobert to lend his support this week. Mr. Wuttunee said work on the pipeline will be stopped for as long as it takes to get firm, good faith commitments on native rights from the president of Enbridge. "They've made a lot of promises," he said. "We'll be there until things get rectified."