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In Canada, the coronavirus is placing Indigenous rights in jeopardy. Months of protest over Coastal Gaslink’s plans to build a pipeline through the territory of the West’suwet’en First Nation have been brought to an abrupt halt by social distancing measures, leaving land rights in the balance.

Coastal GasLink plans to construct a 670-kilometre pipeline from northeast British Columbia to the coast, supplying the $40-billion LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) Canada export facility in Kitimat. The pipeline is being met with staunch opposition, with Coastal GasLink having been criticized by Amnesty International, B.C.‘s Human Rights Commission and the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for failing to attain prior informed consent from the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. 

In December 2019,  The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted Coastal GasLink an expanded injunction against the Wet’suwet’en blockades impeding construction, leading to dozens of arrests. The injunction sparked protests nation-wide, ramping up pressure on the Federal government for the perceived breaking of Federal law in infringing on sovereign First Nation territory. 

Hereditary clan chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation hold that they have vehemently denied consent for the building of the pipeline since 2010 with the establishment of the first blockade in the Unist’ot’en Camp. While Coastal Gaslink claim that their operations are legal, making reference to a signed agreement with the elected council of all 20 First Nations, the elected councils only have authority over reserve lands and not the wider traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. Following the precedent set by the case of Delgamuukw v British Columbia in 1997, it is the Hereditary chiefs opposing the pipeline’s construction who hold authority over the territory which the pipeline is expected to cut through. 

In addition to the Federal illegality of the pipeline, there seems to be little economic incentive for its construction. Canadian LNG as a domestic product was an economically uncertain commodity even before the economic devastation of the virus.  In 2018, the Canadian Energy Research Institute examined the economics of the LNG projects across Canada, finding that Canadian LNG would be $1 to $3 more expensive than the spot price in Japan at $8 per million (BTU). LNG prices in Asia had been steadily collapsing prior to the pandemic which has only exacerbated this disparity, accelerating the collapse to acutely sink the value of LNG, with the Asian market dropping 80% in value. With this dramatic collapse in rivalling markets, it is unlikely that Kitimat LNG project will be able to compete in the global market and will instead be a drain on the Canadian economy overall. With an uncertain future for LNG, there remains no economic incentive to infringe on land rights in the wake of the virus. 

With the economic viability of the project resting on shaky ground, the question of why the pipeline is being built remains to be answered. Recently revealed Freedom of Information (FOI) documents have uncovered an extensive history of corporate lobbying in British Columbia to influence provincial treaty negotiations following the Delgamuukw ruling. CEOs of mining, gas, forestry and other industries had expressed severe concern for business interests in the province going forward, with the director of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association Mary MacGregor explicitly stating “we will be putting great pressure on the provincial government to commit to a cede, release and surrender approach” regarding First Nation Land Title. The documents reveal a history of collusion between the Liberal provincial government and private industry hoping to utilize treaties in overcoming the ruling of the Delgamuukw case to lay claim to resources on traditional First Nation territories. 

With these documents revealing a history of provincial-corporate collusion over Indigenous land title in B.C, the Coastal GasLink pipeline can be compared to another controversy marring the Liberal party at the Federal level – the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Facing charges of fraud and corruption in connection to nearly $48 million in payments made to Libyan government officials between 2001 and 2011, Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin lobbied federal officials to grant them a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), preventing the company from going to trial and facing possible conviction by amending the Criminal Code. The scandal saw the dismissal of Canada’s first Indigenous Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, who revealed the extent of pressure placed on her by the federal government and from the Prime Minister directly to dismiss the case of SNC-Lavelin.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline and the SNC-Lavelin case show a worrying pattern of private corporate interests overriding federal law and the interests of Canadian citizens.  The Wet’suwet’en blockade isn’t just an issue concerning land title and environmental sustainability, but a fight to preserve the efficacy of democracy in Canada. These controversies offer the Canadian public a glimpse of the ideologically neoliberal realpolitik of the Liberal government glossed over by their use of identity politics. Justin Trudeau has made numerous appeals to the rhetoric of Reconciliation and environmentalism throughout his time as Prime Minister, painting himself as a progressive voice in a Western world seemingly veering to the Right.  Yet, he has no qualms infringing upon Indigenous land title in the name of unsustainable energy and profits, much like a particular Jair Bolsonaro. It is clear that in recent years the Canadian state has prioritized corporate interests at the expense of Indigenous peoples rights and Federal law, trumping the democratic will of the Canadian public. 

The arrests in Wet’suwet’en marked the death of Reconciliation and with it, the death of the identity politics that have shielded the Liberal party from critique for too long. The party’s veneer of progressivism which saw them win back to back elections may no longer hold sway now that the unpopular neoliberal politics that informs their decision-making is explicit. 

With the coronavirus exposing the ineptitude of governments worldwide Trudeau is unlikely to be spared from scrutiny. The coronavirus is set to have grave economic consequences for the Canadian state which may well weaken support for Trudeau’s government and expose the ongoing prioritisation of corporate interests over those of the Canadian public. As the world prepares to ease the lockdown, it is crucial that Canadians place sustained political pressure upon the government to preserve Inidgenous land rights and the future of Canadian democracy.

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