On-going negotiations with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs will not impact the continuation of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, according to BC’s Indigenous Relations Minister, Murray Rankin.
In 2020, BC and Canada entered in to negotiations with the Chiefs in an attempt to resolve title rights disputes.
But Rankin says the results of those negotiations are to better define the terms of the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa Supreme Court Decision.
That decision came down in 1997, and determined the Nation to have title rights over their territory, but lacked details on what that meant.
Rankin was asked whether or not the negotiations would impact the controversial pipeline’s completion in Legislature by Skeena MLA Ellis Ross.
In response, Rankin said the negotiations and pipeline are not dependant on each other, though admitted progress has been slow.
He says he has invited both the Hereditary Chiefs and Elected Council to a summit, in hopes to progress what he calls Wet’suwet’en reunification.
But there’s no doubt the on-going pipeline dispute will impact those negotiations, with the Hereditary Chiefs adamantly opposed to the pipeline.
While 20 Nations along the route, including the Wet’suwet’en elected council, have approved the pipeline, the Hereditary Chiefs have not.
They claim that full jurisdiction over the land belongs to them, and that the elected council only has jurisdiction over reserve lands.
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