A First Nation says Alberta's plan to balance the oilsands and the environment ignores the concerns of people who live in a remote northeastern region of forest and muskeg.
The Athabasca Chipewyan say the plan puts some minor restrictions on oilsands development, but does not protect their treaty rights or cultural livelihood.
"Your plan, your land, your future? This is not our plan, it’s the governments plan to annihilate our lands and our future," Chief Allan Adam said Friday in a release.
"There are no commitments to our people and no protection of our lands and rights. We thought we were working towards a partnership with the government, but this plan doesn’t reflect that."
There are about 1,000 members of the First Nation living on four reserves in northeastern Alberta.
The Lower Athabasca Regional Plan announced Wednesday creates new conservation zones, but allows existing conventional oil and natural gas wells to continue operating in those areas.
No oilsands development will be allowed in the zones unless access can be had from outside the boundaries through, for example, horizontal drilling.
That means the government will begin talks with 17 energy companies on cancelling their leases and compensating them. No new tenures will be sold.
The plan increases protected habitat for threatened woodland caribou by prohibiting energy and forestry activity in the Dillon River Conservation Region, which is to be expanded from 27,000 hectares to 192,000 hectares.
The First Nation says the province has set weak environmental standards that won't do enough to protect the caribou and other wildlife.
The government's plan says it will look for opportunities to "engage these communities and invite them to share their traditional ecological knowledge to inform land and natural resource planning in this region."
The Alberta government appeared to be taken aback Friday by the Athabasca Chipewyan response to its plan.
Mark Cooper, a spokesman for Alberta Environment, said government officials met 107 times with 21 different First Nations and nine Metis organizations about the plan over the past three years.
He said the plan had to carefully balance the need for industrial activity, job creation and recreational opportunities along with protecting the environment.
"In achieving that harmony, we need to take into account a number of perspectives and try to balance them the best that we can and that is what we believe we have done with this plan," he said.
"Every effort was made to balance all input with aboriginal people's constitutionally protected rights and treaty rights."
Cooper said the government will continue to consult with First Nations about the plan on issues including the management of oilsands tailings ponds and the need to protect biodiversity.
The plan goes into effect Sept. 1.
Athabasca Chipewyan leaders say by not including First Nations concerns in the plan, the pledge is nothing but lip service.
"We should be equals sitting at the table from start to finish not just called on when they need to give the optics that we've been consulted," Adam said.
The First Nation wants much larger protection zones for culturally significant wildlife, such as caribou and bison herds, and for the zones to be co-managed by the band.
The environmental think-tank the Pembina Institute has called the government's plan a good start, but has also said it is concerned the amount of land being set aside for conservation isn't enough to prevent endangered caribou herds from continuing to decline.
Cooper said Environment Minister Diana McQueen is committed to working with First Nations to make the plan work.
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Hakuin
39 weeks ago
Fear not, our noble red brothers
Der great white Harpenfuhrer has a plan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBZkS0uYrpo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Fiat lux
38 weeks ago
Interesting to see that the
Interesting to see that the same governments who have killed literally millions of real, productive and beneficial jobs with their fraudulent "free trade", WTO and "globalization" rackets, are now calling the destruction of lands , environment and people "job creation"
Ed Deak.
pwlg
38 weeks ago
"The Alberta government
"The Alberta government appeared to be taken aback Friday by the Athabasca Chipewyan response to its plan.
Mark Cooper, a spokesman for Alberta Environment, said government officials met 107 times with 21 different First Nations and nine Metis organizations about the plan over the past three years."
I wonder if the Alberta government has conducted its "consultation" with First Nations similar to that of Enbridge?
The Alberta government may have consulted with 21 different First Nations but were any of them directly affected by the impending environmental destruction?
Enbridge signed "partnership" agreements with First Nations communities not directly impacted by their proposed pipeline and then went on a PR campaign to report to the public that many First Nations supported their proposed project. They failed to tell the public that the First Nations communities in BC that would significantly impacted were not interested in a partnership with Enbridge and not interested in having Enbridge on their unceded territory.
Mark Cooper from Alberta government's Environment Ministry should let us know just who he has consulted because it appears those directly impacted downstream from the destruction aren't too pleased. Cooper should also reveal what the outcome of meetings were and whether or not the 30 First Nations and Meti groups were pleased with the Alberta government's "plan".
Sask Resident
38 weeks ago
Hakuin
The plan was developed by the Stelmach government and has little or no input from the federal government. Why not blame Christy Clark instead of Harper?
BTW, many oil sands companies (and mining companies) have to chase caribou and other wildlife off their mine areas. Seems that predators don't come on the mine areas and the caribou are safer. Just like deer moving into urban areas, safer than being a target for a predator.
rangerkim
38 weeks ago
pls Sask boy
you embarass the whole province!
If you put grain out on a railroad you get all kinds of wildlife there as well; if you put salt on the road ways you get no end of animals "prefering" that location too. Not that either of these preferred locations does the particular animal or the whole species any good.
Maybe it was Stelmach, maybe it wasn't. If you have some information that adds to this conversation, please tell us about it. Otherwise ...
Fact is the brain trust managing the provinces natural resources have been working on a land use plan since at least 2002, when Krazy Kline was running the show. These goofs haven't been able to put together a functioning and usable land use plan in 10 years. What they have now are 'promises' or 'commitments' and no way of ensuring those promises show up in day-to-day operations. In fact, this is the third such attempt at a plan for this area; the first 2 were either too environmental or too industrial. Now they have, presumably, a Goldilocks version that should be as useless to all parties equally. And still no way to implement what they say they want to do.
No, the Indians up there have it absolutetly right when they coined the term "parking lot politics" to describe how the gov't of Albaturda manages to put everything on hold, into limbo, under discussion or in committee while petro development proceeds apace. This plan will come into effect next week and you just watch - nothing happens! Except petro corps will recieve 430 million or more. The staff, the procedures, the authority to actually implement any of this is not there and will not be there. Once again, if anything environmental gets done it will be the Feds and only because they were embarrased into it.
Now, just how world class is your environmental system when the Harper gov't actually has to lead the way.
rangerkim
38 weeks ago
sorry ... not 430 million,
sorry ... not 430 million, but $30 million
Conductor274
38 weeks ago
Oil corporations
There's no way that native concerns will ever be taken into account by the oil corporations or by the Harper government. It's all a matter of money. There are billions to be made and they have no intention of ever letting a few thousand natives get in their way. Just look at Africa for a perfect example of how they operate. Harper and his masters in the oil world will rape and pollute to their hearts content. All the rhetoric from politicians and corporations is nothing more than weasel words meant to placate the population while they go about their business.
amelia
34 weeks ago
use will be allowed in the
use will be allowed in the zones unless make can be had from outdoors the boundaries http://www.testbells.com/642-374.html