I recently traveled up to the Northwest of BC to help facilitate the second round of community dialogue sessions on LNG and cumulative impacts management co-hosted by West Coast Environmental Law and the Northwest Institute for Bioregional Research.
Here at West Coast, we have received many calls from community members in the Northwest who were feeling overwhelmed by the various LNG pipeline proposals and who were struggling to understand what the combined effects of so many projects might be. A recent map prepared by the Northwest Institute highlights the multitude of pending pipeline proposals planned for the near future. This situation inspired us to launch the current dialogue series.
West Coast and the Northwest Institute, along with many First Nations and local governments, have been calling for the provincial government to work with us to design and implement a regional strategic environmental assessment that applies best available scientific, local and indigenous knowledge to achieve a “big picture” perspective on the potential combined effects of proposed LNG and other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future development in the region.
Without this “big picture” perspective, the true impacts of development on the environment and human well-being remain unknown. Unfortunately, the project-by-project provincial environmental assessment process currently lacks this “big picture” perspective.
The purpose of the dialogue sessions is to facilitate a conversation among affected communities about the things they value, how these values may be impacted – positively or negatively –by proposed development, and how we can make informed decisions about the right nature, pace and scale of development for our communities.
The dialogues provide community members, indigenous and non-indigenous alike, with a forum to share information and to begin tackling these hard questions ourselves. Although focused on LNG, a broader aim of the sessions is to create a space for dialogue about community members’ desired vision for the region and how the cumulative effects of development can be managed to achieve that vision and safeguard things they value.
To date the sessions have brought together entrepreneurs, healthcare workers, social service providers, union representatives, resource industry employees, First Nations representatives, local government representatives, non-government organizations, and concerned residents to share local knowledge and information.
Listening to individuals recount their personal experiences can be an intimate process, all the more so when tensions surrounding industrial development run high. I am grateful for the opportunity to have received so many important stories. Over the course of facilitation, several themes - the first of them distressing - became apparent.
First and foremost was my perception that many participants felt incredibly disempowered and detached from provincial decisions on resource development. Even if they had faith in their municipal councilors, which many lacked, most participants felt they had little control over industrial development within their community. This despite the fact that they remain immediately and viscerally affected by current resource development projects. Many of the indigenous and non-indigenous attendees had previously participated both in the environmental assessment processes and Crown consultation processes. These participants consistently described such meetings as ‘meaningless.’ I repeatedly heard people say that their words held little power to persuade provincial ears. Most citizens felt consultation was an afterthought, added only once high-level decisions had already been made, and presented as something to be appreciated instead of a decisive negotiation process. Rather than the mere chance to provide input, it seemed that participants wanted meaningful control over projects set to take place on the land they know best.
Secondly, many of the non-indigenous participants expressed indebtedness to indigenous participants. These participants felt that it was only due to the fact of First Nations’ greater constitutional protection that their town remained relatively free from large-scale, commercial resource development. This was perceived as a positive point. I saw gratitude among non-indigenous participants for the indigenous laws and rights that served to protect the environment they too hoped to preserve. As someone born on the east coast of Canada, I often find many non-indigenous people lack a general awareness of aboriginal rights. I found the widespread consciousness of aboriginal rights at the sessions refreshing. This knowledge was frequently accompanied by gratitude for those rights. Attendees understood the political sway that constitutionally enshrined aboriginal rights played in mitigating the pace of development over the territory they all called home.
Thirdly, I also saw a great deal of community alliance building. Participants discussed unifying despite differences. As participants answered our questions, they also began to imagine what an optimal future would look like and I observed their ideas gain momentum and generate discussion among the larger group. We were told that our questions ignited a desire for further discussion within the larger community. I sensed that participants were feeling part of something larger than themselves, each taking steps toward broader shared goals. Many people told me this was the first LNG discussion forum that felt ‘meaningful’ to them. Some individuals even approached me at the end of the session to say this was the first time that they felt anyone had listened to them. I was amazed because, from my position, the participants were really listening to each other and feeding off their shared passion to protect common values.
West Coast will be publishing a report that will incorporate what we heard from the session attendees. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this project and, moving forward, I hope the province listens carefully to what British Columbians have to say.
Holly Langille is a 3rd year law student at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. She is passionate about environmental protection, Aboriginal law, and the revitalization of Indigenous legal orders. She is currently working at West Coast Environmental Law as part of Osgoode’s Intensive Program in Aboriginal Lands, Resources, and Governments.