LandKeepers News Archive
MLA Coons Supports Tanker Moratorium
March 30 2009 | Media Releases | Hartley Bay Band Council
The Gitga’at First Nation of The Great Bear Rainforest is in complete accord with North Coast MLA Gary Coons, as he demands a “legislated prohibition on crude oil tanker traffic in our sensitive northern waters”.
The proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline Project will bring dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat where it will be loaded on ships headed for Asian Markets and American refineries. The ships, some larger than the Exxon Valdez will have to successfully navigate the narrow and treacherous Douglas Channel that runs past Hartley Bay’s front door and past the island that sank the Queen of the North.
No one has a bigger stake in a moratorium than the Gitga’at. They have lived sustainably in their territory for centuries and continue to fish and harvest the same grounds used by their ancestors. Each generation of Gitga’at has a duty to preserve the lands and waters for the next. One spill would end a way of life that has much to teach others and it would utterly devastate one of the richest and most ecologically diverse areas on earth.
Coons cites a recent opinion poll showing 77 percent of British Columbians feel that affected communities should have a first say in deciding if crude oil tankers should be allowed on our coast. As the ‘Watchmen of the Great Bear Rainforest’, The Gitga’at are sounding the alarm. There is nothing but risk.
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For more information about the Gitga’at – http://www.gitgaat.net
CONTACT:
Karen Romans
Gitga’at Information Officer
778-881-4380
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