Fort Nelson First Nation Makes Its Case

“As Chief of Fort Nelson First Nation and the surrounding territory, I wish to provide the community with a better understanding of our concerns regarding long-term water withdrawal licences for shale gas,” Sharleen Wildeman said in a press release Monday.

“Given the 20 licence applications currently before Premier Christy Clark’s BC Liberal Government, we were compelled to undertake a series of emergency actions this past week.

“Water is the lifeblood of our territory and these licences combined would result in tens of billions of litres of fresh water withdrawals for shale gas production each year.

“As a result of our concerns, we recently held a press conference and public event in Vancouver and made various appearances in the media – including CBC, CTV, CKNW and the Globe and Mail – as well as briefing elected representatives in Victoria.

“We took these actions because our repeated attempts to reach out to the Province and industry have gone ignored, forcing us to make our position public. Out of respect to our local community, we first raised these concerns publicly in Fort Nelson in September, when we invited citizens, industry, provincial representatives, mayor and council to our comprehensive, four-day ‘Keepers of the Water’ conference. Our message then and now is loud and clear: there is not enough hydrological data or the scientific basis to move forward with these enormous long-term water licences at this time.”

Fort Nelson First Nation therefore called on Premier Clark to halt the issuance of these water licences until the Province develops a responsible long-term water management plan which includes:

• Full regional baseline studies completed before any licences are issued.

• Companies and the province must submit multi-year pre-development plans which identify all proposed water sources, gas-well sites and other proposed infrastructure prior to any development permits being applied for.

• A mutually agreed, cumulative effects and environmental assessment process must be in place to ensure that gas industry water withdrawals are capped at an ecologically acceptable level.

• Culturally significant land and water resources must be protected and made off-limits to industry activities.

• Lastly, industry water withdrawals and associated gas extraction activities must be subject to rigorous monitoring and enforcement efforts by an independent body.

“We are not saying ‘no’ to development but feel strongly we must protect our water, environment and children’s future. Fort Nelson First Nation is proud to work with the citizens of Fort Nelson towards responsible development and sustainable jobs,” Wildeman said.

“In this community we have always taken care of each other. To that end, we will host a public dialogue in Fort Nelson in the coming weeks. We welcome participation by the municipality, the Province, industry, local citizens and all BC residents. We sincerely hope we can work together to address these concerns and ensure that we develop a healthy, sustainable future for the industry in our territory, based on respect and shared values.”