Documentary about Haida Gwaii blockade sheds new light on agreement
Haida Nation member Christopher Auchter went through hundreds of hours of footage to make The Stand, a film about the 1985 anti-logging blockade on Haida Gwaii that led to over 70 arrests. Four decades later, Haida leader Miles Richardson — who is prominently featured in the film — spoke alongside Auchter about the blockade's significance after the federal government signed a historic agreement recognizing the Haida Nation's title over the archipelago.
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CBC
10-04-2025
- CBC
Some voters say B.C. oil tanker ban must be lifted for national unity. Others warn it will reopen an old fight
If a ban on oil tankers off British Columbia's North Coast is lifted, Arnie Nagy is ready to fight. A member of the Haida Nation living in Prince Rupert, more than 700 kilometres up the coast from Vancouver, he spent his career working in fish canneries that once employed thousands, and still takes to the ocean for salmon. He didn't hesitate when asked what is at stake for him in the upcoming federal election. "Our way of life," he replied. "My family's way of life since time immemorial: The protection of the marine environment, the protection of our rights to go food fishing, the protection of the salmon resources and the marine resources that we used to build the economics in coastal communities." Nagy, now 61, said he's been fighting proposals to put oil tankers in B.C.'s oceans since the 1970s. Today, the issue has been brought back to the agenda by the federal Conservatives, who are running on a promise to repeal Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act. And the question of which message resonates more — getting oil to market or protecting coastal waters — could help decide the outcome of a federal election, in which this riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley is shaping up to be a key battleground if the Conservatives want to form government. Passed in 2019 under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, the moratorium act prevents tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tonnes of oil from travelling along B.C.'s coastline between the north tip of Vancouver Island and Alaska, and was celebrated by Nagy when it became law. But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre argues the legislation is choking Canada's resource industry and has promised to lift it should he become prime minister. He's attacked Mark Carney for saying a new Liberal government would keep the ban in place. Poilievre has also framed the issue as a matter of national security in the face of tariffs and economic threats from the United States, arguing there is a renewed importance on opening up overseas markets for oil produced in B.C. and Alberta. WATCH | Nagy says he'd fight tanker ban reversal: Haida fisherman ready to fight any repeal of tanker ban 1 day ago Duration 2:09 Arnie Nagy says he's been fighting oil transport proposals through B.C.'s coastal waters since the 1970s, and at 61 years of age, he's ready to do it again should a new federal government seek to repeal the ban put in place in 2019. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, meanwhile, has put out a list of demands for whoever becomes prime minister. It includes lifting the tanker ban alongside several other measures aimed at getting Albertan oil to market in order to "avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis." "Albertans will no longer tolerate the way we've been treated by the federal Liberals over the past 10 years," she wrote on X. Nagy, however, believes that's simply a smokescreen, dressing resource projects up in a message of patriotism when in reality they would reopen old conflicts. "We've got to be united as Canadians, not divided on silly proposals that don't really benefit the Canadian people," he said, arguing the money from projects goes to companies rather than communities, while putting marine environments at risk. Divisive Northern Gateway pipeline still looms large Down a gravel road through farmers' fields north of Red Deer, Alberta, are the historic Leduc Oil Fields. Leduc kicked off Alberta's post-war oil boom in 1947 and today crews are still working to power the local economy — and, as they see it, that of the country as a whole. WATCH | Trump's threats puts controversial pipeline back on the agenda: Trump tariff threats put scrapped Northern Gateway pipeline project back in the political spotlight 3 months ago Duration 2:13 With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening tariffs on Canadian products as early as Feb. 1, some Canadian business leaders and politicians are opening up discussions on the Northern Gateway pipeline project to secure alternative markets for Canadian oil. As CBC's Katie DeRosa reports, even some First Nations leaders who once opposed the pipeline are now open to it. But, they say, they often feel ignored or worse, maligned by other parts of the country — a feeling Bryan Gould, CEO of Aspenleaf Energy, believes is about to boil over depending on the outcome of this year's election. "I see a sort of crossroads, frankly, where we either leverage the great strengths and the bounty that we have as a country, or we put barriers in place, don't realize our potential, and that can have, you know, really dramatic unity impacts in a negative sense," he said in an interview with CBC Radio's The Current. Chris Simeniuk, a former oil worker, expressed enthusiasm for Poilievre's plans to streamline the regulatory approval process for new energy projects. "Let's get something happening," he said. WATCH | Oil and gas workers on their election priorities: 3 Alberta voters want economic prosperity — and a voice 3 days ago Duration 0:46 He also lamented the death of Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline, a project whose name is often brought up in discussions around efforts to get Canadian oil overseas. That development would have seen about 525,000 barrels of petroleum a day shipped from just northeast of Edmonton through more than 1,700 kilometres of pipeline to Kitimat, B.C., just east of Prince Rupert, for export overseas. The pipeline was approved by Stephen Harper's Conservatives, and protested by hundreds of people in both Kitimat and further afield. Its approval was reversed when the Federal Court found Ottawa had not adequately consulted Indigenous people along the project's route, and effectively killed once Trudeau came to power and announced the tanker moratorium in 2016. But the Conservatives already have a strong foothold in Alberta, where the tanker ban is maligned. Where they are attempting to win new voters is on B.C.'s North Coast, in the vast Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding which has returned NDP candidates since its creation in 2004 and where opposition to Northern Gateway and oil shipments remains strong. In January, when Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said he was prepared to rethink his opposition to the pipeline in the face of tariff threats, he was quickly faced with backlash and retracted his comments the next day. Indigenous leaders, including the elected Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations and Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, reiterated their opposition to the project, warning they would do everything they could to stop if from moving forward. 'Not a risk people are willing to take': NDP Also opposed to reopening the debate is Taylor Bachrach, who as mayor of Smithers joined in a council vote opposing the project. Today, he is running for re-election as the NDP MP in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, a riding so large and remote that he visits some of his constituents by canoe. "For 10 years, people in this part of the world — communities, First Nations, ranchers, fishermen — stood together and said, 'We don't want crude oil coming through our watersheds or going up and down our coast.' It was one of the greatest acts of unity, I think that I've ever seen," he said. The impact of the ban being repealed, he said, would be "really devastating" for the region, with the potential it would last long after a Trump presidency is over. "The implications of an oil spill in a wild salmon river or on the North Coast would last for over a century," he said. "It's not a risk people are willing to take." Also prominent in his opposition to the pipeline, at the time, was Ellis Ross. As the chief councillor of the Haisla First Nation, he went so far as to join a lawsuit against Enbridge for failing to consult with Indigenous communities on the project. In a 2012 interview with CBC, he echoed many of the same points made by Nagy, saying a single oil spill would devastate the marine life that his people have long relied on. At the same time he was fighting Enbridge, Ross supported the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, saying that while it, too, had risks, they were not nearly as great as those posed by oil tankers, adding the economic benefits to First Nations and local communities could not be ignored. He rode that message in the 2017 provincial election campaign, where he ran under the banner of the centre-right B.C. Liberals, flipping the riding away from the provincial NDP. And now, he's hoping to do it again, this time as the hand-picked candidate for the federal Conservatives. He joined Poilievre at a campaign stop in Terrace this week, where the party leader vowed to unleash the natural resource industry by creating a "one stop shop" to speed up approvals for natural resource projects, specifically citing the Canada LNG plant currently coming online in Kitimat that Ross had championed. WATCH | Poilievre campaigns in Terrace, B.C.: Conservatives promise 'one-and-done' project approvals to cut wait times 2 days ago Duration 2:10 Pierre Poilievre campaigned in Terrace on Monday alongside Skeena-Bulkley Valley candidate Ellis Ross. The former MLA helped bring LNG Canada to the region. But as Jon Hernandez explains, not everyone is on board with the party's pledge to support more megaprojects. But shipping LNG isn't nearly as divisive as oil tankers, and the industry has received the backing of both the federal Liberal and provincial NDP governments. Meanwhile, Poilievre's speech in Terrace made no mention of his promise to allow tankers into the nearby Douglas Channel, in contrast to an appearance a week earlier in Newfoundland, where he checked "repeal the tanker ban" off of a giant to-do list and criticized Carney for opposing Northern Gateway. Neither Poilievre nor Ross took questions from the media on the tanker ban while speaking in Terrace, and Ross' team has also declined multiple interview requests put forward by CBC News to clarify his position on the topic. Ross did, however, tell a special senate committee meeting in 2019 that he feared opposition to resource development, including the tanker ban, is based more on ideology than fact. He has also been vocal on social media saying there needs to be more pipelines in order to diversify the economy. That message isn't particularly at odds with that coming from Carney, who has said he wants to work with Canada's energy industries and First Nations to move more resource projects forward. But Nagy said no matter who wins the election, coastal First Nations are clear: no tankers in B.C.'s waters. "We've been through this battle … and we've come to the conclusion that it is not a safe proposal," he said. "It may be another fight."
CBC
19-03-2025
- CBC
Why a statue by a Haida artist is featured in Quebec City's Plains of Abraham
The historic Plains of Abraham is where one of the most pivotal battles in the Seven Years' War was fought, that ultimately led to the formation of Canada as we know it. Now, a statue called Three Watchmen by Haida artist James Hart stands there. Hart and James Robert, the chair of the National Battlefields Commission, explained the statue's significance and how it came to be installed.
CBC
08-03-2025
- CBC
Trudeau's final weeks strike balance between cementing his legacy and managing a crisis
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works through what is likely to be his last week in office, he and his government appear to be moving to cement his political legacy. Trudeau and his ministers have been making significant announcements on infrastructure, social programs and reconciliation. Trudeau has also made recent international trips to the United Kingdom and Ukraine to discuss and demonstrate Canada's ongoing support for Ukraine and future role in global security. All this has come against a backdrop of leading the country through an economic, security and existential crisis instigated by the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump. Randy Besco, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, says that making announcements on your way out the door is common for outgoing prime ministers, as is tying up loose ends. "One way to look at it is: they are trying to cement a legacy. Another way to look at it is: they might lose so they are trying to get a lot of stuff done. And that's also a pretty standard thing," he told CBC News. Here are some of the major steps the Trudeau government has taken in recent weeks to shore up signature policy moves made over the last decade. Indigenous reconciliation Trudeau has repeatedly said that there's no relationship "more important to Canada than the relationship with Indigenous Peoples." Over the last decade he's made significant, although not perfect, progress toward his promise to renew that relationship, and further reconciliation. Those efforts saw Trudeau deliver apologies for the federal government's past child welfare and residential schools policies, as well as lift 147 long-term drinking advisories in Indigenous communities. In his final weeks in office, Trudeau and the Haida Nation reminded the country of that mission by signing an agreement recognizing Aboriginal title over the archipelago of Haida Gwaii off British Columbia's northern coast. A week later, Trudeau announced that he'd struck a $270-million agreement to support jobs and conservation projects in the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut. "When we invest to protect [and] safeguard biodiversity, we protect those who protect us, our environment and our livelihoods," Trudeau told reporters. On Thursday, the government announced a settlement agreement for survivors of federally run Indian hospitals where claimants are eligible for up to $200,000. Ukraine While the issue of how to continue support for Ukraine will fall into the lap of Canada's next prime minister, Trudeau reminded the world in recent weeks that he is still front and centre to voice Canada's support for the country. Since Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the federal government says it has provided almost $20 billion in military and humanitarian support to the European nation. Canada has also provided strong political and diplomatic support, sanctioning more than 3,000 people and entities, and another 109 naval vessels that it says are in some way participating in the invasion of Ukraine. Trudeau has reinforced this financial and political support by visiting the country four times since the invasion began, including his latest trip on the three-year anniversary of the invasion. Trudeau attended a summit in Kyiv last month, in which he publicly praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "remarkable personal bravery, resilience and resolve." Earlier this month, Trudeau went to the United Kingdom where he and other European leaders met in London to discuss their ongoing support for the country. Child care In 2021, the federal government announced a $30-billion, five-year child-care plan to create 250,000 new affordable spaces across the country. About 150,000 spaces have been created or funded so far. In the 2021 budget, the government said that of the $30 billion promised, $27.2 billion will be used to "bring the federal government to a 50/50 share of child-care costs with provincial and territorial governments." In time, all of the provinces and territories signed on to the deal, which was funded until 2026. This week, Trudeau announced another five-year agreement to extend the program until March 2031. Trudeau said the $37-billion deal with 11 provinces and territories (Alberta and Saskatchewan have yet to sign on) will help the provinces create another 100,000 spaces by this time next year. The base funding is also being increased by three per cent, per year, for four years starting in 2027-28 in order to make sure the program can keep pace with rising costs. Trudeau said the deals "will allow this to lock in, to become something that no government, a year from now, five years from now, 20 years from now, could ever go back on." Pharmacare A year ago, Health Minister Mark Holland released the details of the Liberal government's pharmacare plan that he said would start out by covering the costs of some diabetes treatments. Delivering the program was a condition of the Liberal and NDP supply-and-confidence agreement. The Liberal government said the plan also gives the nine million Canadians of reproductive age better access to contraception to ensure "reproductive autonomy, reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies and improving their ability to plan for the future." The Pharmacare Act passed through Parliament and received royal assent in October. Although it started providing only limited coverage, the plan is to eventually expand it into a comprehensive national pharmacare program. While the enabling legislation is in force, the program needs provinces to sign on. Late last month, Holland announced that Manitoba was the first province to make a deal. The federal government will provide the province with $219 million in funding over four years. On Thursday, B.C. became the second province to sign on, inking a deal with the Liberal government worth $670 million over four years. That was swiftly followed by Prince Edward Island, which signed a $30-million deal on Friday. School food program Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a national school food program, according to the Breakfast Club of Canada. Last April, the Liberal government announced it would spend $1 billion over five years to launch such a program that it said would deliver 400,000 meals for children annually. Last year, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island signed deals with the federal government to participate in the program. New Brunswick, Nunavut and Nova Scotia signed their deals last month, and just this week Quebec, B.C. and the Northwest Territories signed on as well. High-speed rail Trudeau launched a six-year, $3.9-billion design and development plan last month that he said would eventually connect Quebec City and Toronto via a high-speed rail line. Trudeau said the new rail network will run all-electric trains along 1,000 kilometres of track, reaching speeds of up to 300 km/hour, with stops in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City. Transport Canada initially estimated that the cost of such a project could be as high as $80 billion. Multiple provincial and federal governments have mused about building high-speed rail, but Canada is still the only G7 country without some form of high speed rail either in operation or under development. Asked why he was launching a multi-year infrastructure project on the eve of his departure from office, Trudeau said a project that large would always have to "cover multiple governments … from municipal to provincial to federal." "Obviously, future governments will make their determinations about how they invest. But this investment in Canadians, which starts right now, is going to be very difficult to turn back on," Trudeau said.
