Indigenous People bar proposed pipeline from their territories http://intercontinentalcry.org/indigenous-people-bar-proposed-pipeline-from-their-territories/

A coalition of Indigenous Nations have issued a declaration barring the proposed Enbridge Northern gateway pipeline from transporting crude oil from the Alberta Tar Sands through their territories along Canada’s west Coast.The coalition of nine First Nations say the project, regardless of any economic benefits it may hold, poses an imminent threat to the environment, as well as their territories, cultures and livelihoods.

The Enbridge pipeline–stretching 1,170 kilometres to a deepsea port in Kitimat, B.C–would be stapled to a number of indigenous territories and and cross more than 1,000 rivers and streams before reaching through the delicate ecosystems of the west coast, including the Great Bear Rainforest.

“We all believe the Enbridge Gateway pipeline project is a threat to the very existence of our culture and our way of life,” says Art Sterritt, executive director of the Coastal First Nations.Speaking about the Great Bear Rainforest, he states, “An oil spill there would be devastating to the environment… It would literally wipe out all of our cultures. And we know it is not a question of if, but when there would be an oil spill.”