Burnaby, BC-First Nations and environmental groups are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to stop the Kinder Morgan process and honour his promise to restore credibility to the environmental assessment process. The groups believe the process is so catastrophically flawed, there is no way that a final recommendation from the NEB can be considered credible.

“Today we stand in solidarity with these other nations and organizations to protect our lands, air and water not only for ourselves but for the generations to come” said Carleen Thomas with the Sacred Trust of Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

“The Prime Minister said repeatedly during the election that the process is flawed and must be fixed, but so far we’ve seen nothing. The clock is ticking for Ottawa to fulfill this key election promise,” said Kai Nagata of the Dogwood Initiative. “Every day these hearings proceed, more damage is done”.

“Public faith in the NEB is at an all time low. The Trudeau government needs to act now and undo the unfair changes made by Stephen Harper,” said Karen Campbell, a lawyer at Ecojustice.

“Given last week’s Supreme Court Decision, the Province must now make its own decision on Kinder Morgan. We expect them to look at all the evidence on dilbit—unlike the NEB, who refused to allow us to file the latest report,” said Karen Wristen of Living Oceans Society.

“While the plummeting price of oil has our government scrambling to approve a pipeline to get more oil to tidewater, we cannot let Vancouver become a national sacrifice zone. If this pipeline were built we would see more than 400 oil tankers in Vancouver’s harbour each year. This is an unacceptable threat to our health, ecosystems and economies on the West Coast,” said Karen Mahon of ForestEthics Advocacy.

There will be 55 First Nations, organizations and other intervenors presenting arguments during the NEB hearings in Burnaby. Fifty of them oppose the pipeline, but there is little hope their voices will be heard. The NEB is widely expected to approve the pipeline in May.

Burnaby, BC-First Nations and environmental groups are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to stop the Kinder Morgan process and honour his promise to restore credibility to the environmental assessment process. The groups believe the process is so catastrophically flawed, there is no way that a final recommendation from the NEB can be considered credible.

“Today we stand in solidarity with these other nations and organizations to protect our lands, air and water not only for ourselves but for the generations to come” said Carleen Thomas with the Sacred Trust of Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

“The Prime Minister said repeatedly during the election that the process is flawed and must be fixed, but so far we’ve seen nothing. The clock is ticking for Ottawa to fulfill this key election promise,” said Kai Nagata of the Dogwood Initiative. “Every day these hearings proceed, more damage is done”.

“Public faith in the NEB is at an all time low. The Trudeau government needs to act now and undo the unfair changes made by Stephen Harper,” said Karen Campbell, a lawyer at Ecojustice.

“Given last week’s Supreme Court Decision, the Province must now make its own decision on Kinder Morgan. We expect them to look at all the evidence on dilbit—unlike the NEB, who refused to allow us to file the latest report,” said Karen Wristen of Living Oceans Society.

“While the plummeting price of oil has our government scrambling to approve a pipeline to get more oil to tidewater, we cannot let Vancouver become a national sacrifice zone. If this pipeline were built we would see more than 400 oil tankers in Vancouver’s harbour each year. This is an unacceptable threat to our health, ecosystems and economies on the West Coast,” said Karen Mahon of ForestEthics Advocacy.

There will be 55 First Nations, organizations and other intervenors presenting arguments during the NEB hearings in Burnaby. Fifty of them oppose the pipeline, but there is little hope their voices will be heard. The NEB is widely expected to approve the pipeline in May.