[IPSM] Former NWT Premier Blasts Deh Cho Pipeline Review

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Kakfwi slams pipeline hearings

WebPosted Feb 20 2005 10:57 PM MST
CBC News
http://north.cbc.ca

YELLOWKNIFE - A former Northwest Territories premier is condemning
hearings on the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline as "sad and absurd,"
and says the process must be stopped and fixed.

A pipeline can't go ahead without proper consultation with communities,
Kakfwi says

Stephen Kakfwi says communities on the pipeline route aren't being given
the money or expertise to truly assess how the project will affect them.

Those communities have been given just over $1 million to carry out that
work, he says. Meanwhile, the federal government and Imperial Oil - the
company that wants to build the pipeline - are spending hundreds of
millions.

Kakfwi says he has the impression Imperial Oil doesn't care what
communities think.

"Imperial Oil has basically been running it out of its corporate
boardrooms in Houston," he says. "It's not very community-senstive. It's
just sad and absurd. You know there's no use going ahead with this
exercise because I think we're going to fail. It's hard to say. There's
still time to fix it."

An example of Imperial's insensitivity, says Kakfwi, is their failure to
provide Aboriginal-language interpretation at meetings in communities
where few people speak English.

He says they've also done a poor job answering people's questions about
the project.

Kakfwi says he hopes to change the process.

That's one of the things he'll be lobbying for as a member of the National
Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, which he was appointed to
last week.


--
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope.
--Brecht.