Canadians are demanding respect for our people, natural places and values

“All I know is how to be a reasonable person.”
It was a simple yet powerful statement declared at day two of the hearings on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project.
Cheryl Brown is a member of Douglas Channel Watch, a group formed about two years ago to participate in community discussions about the project. Cheryl told the panel how her group had done its best to get this far – from distributing leaflets and organizing community meetings, to wading through reams of technical reports.
Despite their growing uncertainty about the integrity of the process, the group mustered the courage to register as official interveners in these hearings. And now they’ve been branded as “radicals” by their own government, a term Douglas Channel Watch member, Murray Minchin, jokingly opened his presentation with.

North Coast residents don blue scarves to opposed the pipeline. c. Mike Ambach / WWF-Canada
Murray used photos and stories to give a detailed tour of the 90-km Douglas Channel, proposed as the first leg of a route that would be travelled by more than 200 oil supertankers a year – if Enbridge gets its gateway.
Deep connection to the community
On this second day of hearings, Kitimat region residents spoke about their deep connection to the region that could be affected by an oil spill. if the project goes through.  This was more than backyard environmentalism. From economic values like the sports fishing industry and the vast potential of ecotourism, to recreation and spiritual values, they made their views clear. The risk to their livelihoods and culture is too great.
Making this point, engineer Dave Shannon addressed one of the gaps in the environmental assessment of the proposed project: problems with the construction technology of the oil tankers that would be traveling the waters of Douglas Channel. Murray’s presentation showed how the complex mixing of tidal and freshwater currents in the region would greatly exacerbate the damage caused by an oil spill.
I’ve lived in the Northwest for close to a decade now and have never seen this level of concern. It cuts across all spectrums of work, age and culture.
Members of this community are shocked by the recent stance taken by the Minister of Natural Resources. He’s called individuals and groups opposed to this project anti-development radicals and suggested the review process be fast-tracked.
Douglas Channel Watch had this to say in its presentation to the hearing panel:  “It is to (our) dismay that the federal government has, in recent days, taken to intimidation and bullying of these individuals.  They are calling well-intentioned people ‘radical ideologists.’  As (people) who believe in citizen involvement and have worked to enable it, this interference is unbelievable and is beyond (our) previous experience.”
When the cheering subsided at the end of this presentation, members and supporters from the region gathered for a photo, proudly wearing blue scarves to symbolize their unity.
The proposed pipeline project is not without its supporters, to be sure.  And while the arguments in favour must also be heard, something else is happening that needs to be considered.  Canadians are demanding that this process acknowledge a higher value, an intrinsically Canadian one: that of respecting the places, people, and values of Canada that make us who we are.
It’s chilly out.  I think I’ll get myself a scarf.