[IPSM] Speak out against the [Mackenzie] pipeline

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Speak out against the [Mackenzie] pipeline

I'm writing in response to the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline as a
41-year-old aboriginal from the Northwest Territories.

First of all, Fred Carmichael doesn't speak on my behalf. He believes our
people will perish if they don't have a few bucks in their pockets, even
though we have been surviving for thousands of years without a measly
dollar.

If this pipeline goes ahead then our people are not only going to suffer
from not being able to hunt, fish and trap on our land; we will eventually
lose control of our land. It will be destroyed by oil and mining companies.

Just think of how it is when you take a drive down south to the cities.
Everywhere you look it's fenced off and some white farmer owns the land. If
that's what you want, then go for it.

Maybe we have to start staking our own land so they can no longer steal it
out from under us.

I can't believe this is happening. Where are our supposed native leaders in
all of this? They must be far too close to the owners of the oil and gas
companies to realize what their own people want.

I don't believe this pipeline is going to benefit our people.

The native leaders need to start communicating with their people and quit
worrying about their own bank accounts.

I'm not saying I don't respect all the native leaders in the NWT. I respect
the leaders in the Deh Cho region: they listen to their people and have
respect for their land.

The only thing the so-called "Aboriginal Pipeline Group" is going to own is
a couple hundred miles of steel pipe that they're going to be paying back
for the next 20 years or so.

All while the oil and gas companies deplete our oil and gas reserves and
make billions of dollars.

This land is ours, along with the resources. When are our leaders going to
realize that and start fighting for it?

I think the first thing we have to do is to recognize the treaties that were
signed more than 100 years ago. The federal government had more than 100
years to honour these treaties and failed. If anyone doesn't honour a
contract with them, the contract is usually cancelled and the company is
replaced.

The only way we're going to stop this pipeline is if the native people in
the NWT are together as "one."

I've never spoken publicly on anything in my life about the issues in my
homeland, but the time for being quiet is over.

Tom Laviolette
Hay River [Denendeh/NWT]
News North Letter to the Editor - April 3 2006

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