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Fort Chipewyan, Alberta
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I am a beneficiary of Neil Young’s 2014
Canadian tour, or rather my First Nation Athabasca Chipewyan is.
At the beginning of this year, musician Neil
Young began a four-city “Honour the Treaties” tour to raise money for
litigation to stop Shell’s Jackpine oil sands mine expansion near Fort
McMurray, Alberta. After expenses, all
proceeds raise from the four-concert tour is to go to the Athabasca Chipewyan
First Nation for their litigation defence fund. According to media reports, the
amount raised was approximately half a million dollars. A second fundraising
contest, to win tickets for the concert and other promotional gifts, ran online
at the same time as the concert. It netted
an additional approximately $77,000. Not
bad for a week’s work!
The title of the benefit concert series was
“Honouring the Treaties,” although the organizers ought to have titled it “Canada’s
Hiroshima” because our Treaty was not the main focus. There was no real
conversation on the Treaty, certainly not in any meaningful way, because the
emphasis was placed on what Neil was saying.
However, Neil didn’t seem to know enough about
the Treaty to speak on this subject, so he
talked about what he knew, and his
message was overwhelmingly anti-oil and anti-industry. Even our Chief deferred to Neil. Our Chief, who was on stage for all of the pre-concert press
conferences was virtually silent. It
appeared to those of us on the sideline that it continues to be acceptable to
allow well intended non-natives speak for us, even in the 21st century.
Neil pulled no punches at his first press
conference at Massey Hall, in Toronto, Ontario, where he repeated his earlier analogy
of Fort McMurray’s oil sands industry to that of Hiroshima. The intent was to
be provocative and controversial, and it was that and more.
That said there was a small “teach-in” after
the press conference prior to the last concert, but by that time, media had fatigue,
and even APTN didn’t file a report on this portion of the tour. There was virtually no news about the “teach-in,”
presumably put on to provide information on the Treaties, the one area where
information had been lacking on tour. Regrettably,
it came too late to be newsworthy. The story of that day was that the Canadian
Association of Petroleum Producers left after Neil and David Suzuki would not
accommodate their request for a neutral moderator for a debate.
According to the tour organizers, the tour was
an overwhelming success. Media, politicians and the public alike responded on a
very emotional and visceral level to what Neil was saying. The conversation
that followed was very polarized, much of it played out on social media.
Actually, at this moment the public relations
battle may have been won. The tour
generated support from many quarters.
But it is also possible that we have not seen the full extent of the
ramifications resulting from this anti-oil campaign yet. And I have no doubt,
if there are any negative implications, it would not be Neil Young who will
bear the brunt, but the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
I am of very mixed feelings about the tour. On
one hand, I am very proud that our Chief was able to gain the attention of and partner
with a high profile celebrity to draw attention to our plight and to raise
much-needed funds for litigation. In my
immediate family, Neil Young has always been held in high esteem for his
musicianship and songwriting. Last
Christmas, long before Neil became involved with our First Nation, I bought
Hubby a very expensive set of Blu-ray discs that are the first instalment of
Neil’s Archives as well as Neil’s book Waging
Heavy Peace.
On the other hand, I also feel cheated and duped. I feel
that the response to Neil’s celebrity and his flamboyant rhetoric overrode our First
Nation’s interests and the balanced message our Chief started out expressing.
Clearly, the entire tour was on his terms, or at least the media coverage of
the tour gave that strong impression. One of the organizers admitted as much,
that it was Neil who decided who was on stage with them when an appeal was made
to include Dene elders at the press conference.
When I recommended that the message be clarified and moved to a more
balanced one, away from the virulent anti-oil and anti-industry position, I was
told that Neil’s publicists and the inner group didn’t want to appear they were
backing down. At that point, it became
clear that the tour ostensibly about Treaties, was really about anti-oil at all
costs.
If the intention was actually about honouring
our Treaty, there should have been an effort to engage the public in a transformational
conversation about how the treaty is a living document and is just as relevant
today as the day it was signed. Instead the
Treaty became secondary, almost an afterthought.
The tour had an opportunity to identify specific
serious breaches resulting of the Treaty.
Our Treaty means to us reconciliation, coexistence and sharing. It also means honouring and protecting the earth
and its plants and animals.
Our Treaty
position is not anti-development; it is that development must be carefully scrutinized
and justified so that economic gain does not come at too great a cost to our
land and our way of life. That should have been the headline.
- The approval
of the Jackpine expansion should be challenged.
From what I understand it poses too great a risk to the
environment. We have to figure out where
to draw the line.
- The tour could have started a conversation on
how our First Nation does not live on a reserve because the reserve land set
aside for us is virtually inhabitable. And because we are not on a reserve,
exemptions enjoyed by other First Nations are not available to us.
- It could have brought to the conversation how the
Bennett Dam in BC wiped out our traditional trapping and harvesting lifestyle
in one season by draining the lake that fed the delta where our people had
always harvested. Our members who relied on their traditional occupation were
forced to seek alternative employment with industry.
- The tour could have brought to the conversation
that the “cows and ploughs” clause in the Treaty remains unresolved. This means that the main economic
development provision in our Treaty remains unfulfilled.
At this critical point in development, with pressure for
expansion on all fronts and an ongoing weakening by the federal government for
environmental protections, it is vital that we hold industry accountable. But I don’t think taking the fight public by
shaming and over the top rhetoric was the correct way to get there. Or at least, at the conclusion of the tour,
there should have been a gesture of reconciliation, or a willingness to coexist
with industry and an attempt to heal wounded feelings that the tour had caused.
Our First Nation’s relationship with the oil industry is complex. It is an intricate dance, of
give and take, balancing the economic benefits with our responsibility to
maintain the integrity of the environment. We assert our legal rights but always with an
awareness that we cannot “match industry dollar for dollar,” as Neil mistakenly
put it at one of the press conferences.
A half-million dollar legal defence fund is a grain of sand in the
multi-billion dollar energy juggernaut that is the Alberta oil sands.
We are mindful of our traditional harvesting
activities, protecting the sensitive wetlands, other pristine ecosystems, and
our culture. Our elders advise the process. We jointly work with
industry, ironing out these elements as we draft our impact benefit agreements.
And again when we partner with them on contracts through our company. It is at
this stage where we can’t give up, where we can make the changes required. It
is not an easy task, but a necessary one to ensure that this equilibrium is
preserved. This relationship took years to cultivate.
The fact is that just about everything we own
is directly or indirectly paid for with revenue from the oil sands industry. We are proud owners of a multi million-dollar
company, ACDEN, that services the industry around Fort McMurray. We own a $38 million state of the art
building occupied by ACDEN, which is made possible by revenues from industry. Our programs, environmental studies, and
elders meetings, are all funded by industry dollars. There are many examples, but the point is the
fabric of our community is directly interwoven with the oil industry and
whether we want to admit it, we are dependent on it for the livelihood of our
members.
I am afraid that the tour’s negative oil
campaign, and the notoriety of partnering with Neil Young, may have put us on a
self-destructive path. The momentum the tour started has left us in a position
that may make it increasingly difficult to continue to partner with industry. The
rhetoric generated by the tour seems to have put us in a position that we have
to make a choice: are we with industry or against it? Until now we have been able
to take a balanced position: we support
responsible development and oppose development that is not responsible. We partner with industry when it conducts
itself responsibly and respectfully. Now
it is beginning to feel as if we have to take a stand. A choice must be made, are we with industry
or against it. We can’t be both. We can’t one day be slamming industry in the media, and the next day sit across from
them in a boardroom hashing out contracts without having that impact the negotiation on some level.
You have to be all the way in or you have to be all the way out.
I feel today that the gamble that our leaders
have taken with our corporation and the livelihood of our members is reckless. At this point I am not sure if it was worth the
half a million dollars we got for litigation from the tour. That will remain to
be determined.
I regret that this tour, and some statements by
Neil, that has such potential to shed light on our situation and bring
understanding to the complexity of our circumstances, has instead insulted and
offended not only those oil industry partners who have conducted business in a
responsible manner, but also the municipality of Fort McMurray, and not least
of all the hard-working people who make a living in this industry.
And while I would like to be on the bandwagon
cheering on our Chief with the rest of the activists, I find I simply can’t. It
is lonely to feel like the odd person out, when so many First Nations and
environmental activists are cheering on our Chief and the aggressive message
that the tour has sent. Many people who
don’t fully understand our economics and how we are entwined to this industry
just see us as the little guy fighting the giant. How can they not cheer for
him?
I don’t make my living in this industry, and it would be easy for me to join the activist. I understand the arguments against development and the health issues surrounding industry. I understand, but I also understand the community has little choice, and they look to our leadership to mitigate these damages.
So why
do I care so much? Because it is my
community, I was raised there, and I care what happens at the
community level. I am certain the community is also conflicted about industry. Members from the community are going to work
at camps for over 14 hours a day, living away from their families for days at a
time, they are aware of what industry is about, but with few alternatives
available, they make that choice for the betterment of their family. It is a balancing act. It has been for a long time now. How can you
ask them to risk what they have sacrificed to have a roof over their head and
food in their belly?
I know my position is not a popular one, and I
am sure people will see me as a sell-out, and less of a warrior. Some of my brothers confronted the FBI at
Wounded Knee in the 1970s. I come from a
family of activists, so my position is that much more difficult.
It is essential to look beyond the emotional
surface of the issues, and to deliberate them on deeper levels. This is a community, where I grew up, that has
struggled to overcome many hardships to be in the position we find ourselves, a
position of economic influence, that is very close to economic independence
from government funding because of our relationship with the oil industry. The risks must be balanced against the
probability of the success.
I can’t shake the feeling that there is too
much at stake for my community and that the direction we take next will
determine if we win or lose what Neil Young’s “Honouring the Treaties” Tour
started. All I know is that if I were Chief
I would ensure that all of my members were on board, and I would discuss with
them the risks and benefits of taking this stand. More importantly, I would get a clear mandate from my members moving forward.
Indeed, something that
began as positive and empowering has left a bad aftertaste, for me at least. I find myself surrounded by people with
extreme opinions, extreme feelings, pride on one side and anger and resentment
on the other. It does not seem to bode well
for our First Nation or for a calm discussion of what our Treaty means, and how
it must be honoured.
