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Wednesday, May 29, 2013
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Wet’suwet’en Chiefs say No By Jerome Turner
FUN RACE
Smithers/Interior News
SMXA hosts first Fun Race of 2013.
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RELAY FOR DAD Travis Giddings honours the memory of his father.
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IRVINE HONOURED Local nurse honoured by peers.
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The first step in a total ban of any type of pipeline across Wet’suwet’en territory took place March 20, when a feast was hosted by the Tsayu (Beaver) clan, one of five Wet’suwet’en clans. Namoks (John Ridsdale) is the head chief of the Tsayu and he spoke at length about the feast and what it means to the crowd gathered at the Rock the North benefit event in Hazelton May 19. “We didn’t come to this decision lightly,” Namoks said to the assembled crowd. “These pipeline projects threaten everything we as Wet’suwet’en are bound to stand for.” Namoks went on to explain the intricacies and importance of the feast held on March 20. “Now that the Tsayu have stepped forward and held a pipeline banning feast, the other four clans must follow suit,” he said. It is the hope of the Wet’suwet’en that companies like Enbridge, who are proposing a bitumen transportation pipeline to traverse Wet’suwet’en territory from east to west, finally get the message. “Everything we’ve tried so far has not reached their ears,” Namoks said. The Wet’suwet’en have employed several methods to be heard by Enbridge especially.
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They have been granted the ability to speak on proxy votes, nominated by organizations that own shares in Enbridge stock, and have, for the past few years let their position be known to the Enbridge executive council. “Unless you own at least one share you have no right to speak at their AGM,” Namoks said. “This is my fourth time speaking at one of those meetings and the security Enbridge had there was much more than we’ve seen before.” Namoks also spoke at Enbridge’s last AGM nearly a year previous at the company’s Toronto headquarters. “We had between four and five thousand people there and blocked off Bay Street during that meeting,” he said, which was part of the two-week Freedom Train that travelled from the westcoast to the meeting. Namoks and the rest of the Wet’suwet’en have made this latest decision based on the government of Canada’s activity in recent years. “They change the environmental standards so drastically that we had to ban all pipelines,” Namoks said. “The omnibus bills that were pushed through would potentially allow all pipelines through if one was approved. “Enbridge was the initial focus, but there’s so many proposals we felt we had to make where we stand absolutely clear.”
BIKE TO WORK NDP MLA for Stikine, Doug Donaldson, preps his bike Monday morning for the trip to Smithers from Hazelton.
ICE CREAM
Percy N. Hébert photo
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