CANADA- THE COLD HARD TRUTH- World’s elite and United
Nations #YourAllTrump Mafia greed has exterminated millions of innocents
globally for greed, power and domination at any costs...From Syria to
Environment to #InYourFaceTrump ing... at least he’s honest... world’s ordinary
weep
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Syria offers Russia priority in reconstruction contracts
following civil war destruction
A Russian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Rogozin has met Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad in
Damascus. As the Syrian civil war approaches its sixth year, hundreds of
thousands of people have been killed or displaced and buildings nationwide lie
in ruins. The nation’s officials reportedly discussed the destruction in
practical terms, with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem confirming Russian
companies had been offered priority in reconstruction contracts. Russia, an
ally of the Syrian regime, began leading air strikes across rebel-held eastern Aleppo
in September. Local health authorities and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights say containers of a chemical suspected to be chlorine were dropped
on the east of the city on Tuesday (November 22), causing breathing
difficulties for some residents. One eastern Aleppo resident described the
fight to survive. “This is a civilian area. There are no centres for the Free
Syrian Army… These are civilian areas. They are hitting us with barrel (bombs)
and rockets. Where are the Arab states? Where are the Muslims? Where are the
Muslims? Do they not fear God seeing this? They are killing little children…”
The United Nations condemned the destruction of the city. Jens Larke, UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman said: “It is absolutely
heartbreaking and unacceptable that we all are witnessing what is happening,
almost on direct television, directly transmitted, what may amount to war
crimes in eastern Aleppo.” The UN described the situation as ‘horrendous’ and
‘unremittingly awful’ and reiterated that if strikes on hospitals were proved
deliberate and part of a systematic pattern, they could be tantamount to war
crimes. Days earlier, the UN said the 275,000 civilians believed to be besieged
in the east of the city had no food rations left.
-------------
Syria army announces new anti-terrorism force
Syrian army to form
anti-terrorism force
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s military announced
Tuesday it is forming a new anti-terrorism commando force, calling on
volunteers interested in “achieving the final victory against terrorism” to
apply.
The announcement, which named the new
anti-terrorism force the Fifth Corps, didn’t specify where the force would be
deployed. After nearly six years of combat, the Syrian conscriptionbased armed
forces has become overstretched and has increasingly relied on its regional
allies that have boosted its numbers and capabilities. Iran, Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah
group have sent in hundreds of fighters who have fought alongside government
troops, sometimes leading combat units, in decisive battles against armed
opposition groups and extremist militants.
This comes a year after the Syrian armed
forces announced the formation of the Fourth Corps, also an anti-terrorism
force, soon after Russia began its military operations alongside the Syrian
government.
Russia’s military backing of the Syrian
government, with intensive aerial bombings and long-range missiles fired from
the Mediterranean, has dramatically turned the fortunes of the Syrian
government — emboldening ground advances on multiple fronts, including in the
besieged rebelheld parts of Aleppo city.
The Syrian army declaration read on State TV
also comes as the pace of government warnings to the residents of the besieged
rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo city rises. State TV on Tuesday aired
announcements urging armed opposition groups to allow civilians to exit the
besieged enclave through government-designated corridors. Another warning urged
residents to co-operate with government forces. A third called on residents to
avoid going out in the streets except in “dire need” and to stay clear of areas
where armed groups operate.
The media campaign comes after a week of an
intensified aerial bombing of the rebel-held enclave that left at least 140
civilians dead, including 18 children, according to the Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights. The government aerial campaign began as Russia
announced an offensive against militants in the armed groups’ stronghold in
Idlib province and in the central province of Homs.
The bombing campaign, which has put most of
eastern Aleppo’s health facilities out of service, incurred widespread
international criticism. At the U.N. on Monday, the organization’s chief
humanitarian officer condemned Assad’s government for “bombing its own people.”
On Sunday, the Syrian government dismissed a U.N. peace proposal to establish
limited autonomy in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
------------
Syrian
group: Rebels preventing refugees from fleeing Aleppo
View photos
In this photo released by
the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right,
speaks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in Damascus, Syria,
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. Russia has backed Assad with vast military support as
he fights to put down an uprising that is approaching its sixth year. (SANA via
AP)
More
BEIRUT
(AP) — A Syrian monitoring group alleged Tuesday that rebels are preventing
dozens of families from fleeing eastern Aleppo as Russian-backed government
forces intensify their bombardment of the besieged quarter.
Such
claims are difficult to verify and often distorted owing to the propaganda
value of the matter. Syrian and Russian state media maintain that rebels are
holding the enclave's 275,000 remaining inhabitants hostage to use as human
shields, even as the government's air force pounds the east's hospitals and
first responder groups.
Opposition
outlets on the other hand want to show that civilians will never accept
returning to the government's heavy-handed rule. Russia has backed Syrian
President Bashar Assad with vast military support as he fights to put down an
uprising that is approaching its sixth year. Over 300,000 people have been
killed in the raging war.
A
resident of Aleppo's frontline Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood corroborated the
report by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring
group, which maintains a network of contacts among both government and
anti-government institutions.
Hajj
Mohammed al-Jasim told The Associated Press his uncles' families were trying to
cross from the Bustan al-Basha neighborhood in the east to the predominantly
Kurdish enclave of Sheikh Maqsoud.
"They've
wanted to cross for a while because the circumstances have become very difficult,"
said al-Jasim, who confirmed his location near the al-Riz crossing via phone
location services.
He said
his relatives told him they were prepared to cross during the day but were
advised by three rebel groups to wait until dark.
"Then
in the evening, (the rebels) began to fire at the crossing" to prevent
passage, al-Jasim said. He said about fifty families were waiting to cross.
The
autonomous Kurdish defense forces, the YPG, have promised housing in Sheikh
Maqsoud to any families who cross, or secure passage on to opposition-held Azaz
or Kurdish-held Afrin, two towns north of Aleppo, according to the al-Jasim.
The
Observatory reported 100 families are waiting to cross, while Ahmad Hiso Araj,
a political official for the YPG-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces, said 250
civilians were prepared to go. He said they were communicating with their
relatives in Sheikh Maqsoud to evacuate Bustan al-Basha.
The
government has recently stepped up its bombardment of eastern Aleppo, and by
Sunday it had knocked out every hospital in the quarter, according to the World
Health Organization. The Observatory says at least 140 civilians, including 18
children, have been killed.
The
U.N.'s chief humanitarian official Stephen O'Brien said Monday the conditions
had gone "from terrible to terrifying and now barely survivable."
U.N.
humanitarian official Jan Egeland warned two weeks ago that the east was
running out of food. The area has been under siege by pro-government forces
since August.
The
government's air assault has been accompanied by pro-government troops pushing
their way into neighborhoods on the edges of eastern Aleppo.
Fighting
on the southern edge, in the Sheik Saeed neighborhood intensified Tuesday. A
major rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham, said one of its leading commanders was killed
there as they repelled advances by government troops.
In
Damascus, Syria's military command announced it was forming a new
anti-terrorism commando force, calling on volunteers interested in
"achieving the final victory against terrorism" to apply.
The
announcement, which named the new anti-terrorism force the Fifth Corps, didn't
specify where the force would be deployed. After nearly six years of combat,
the Syrian conscription-based armed forces has become overstretched and has
increasingly relied on its regional allies that have boosted its numbers and
capabilities. Iran, Iraq and Lebanon's Hezbollah group have sent in hundreds of
fighters who have fought alongside government troops, sometimes leading combat
units, in decisive battles against armed opposition groups and extremist
militants.
This
comes a year after the Syrian armed forces announced the formation of the
Fourth Corps, also an anti-terrorism force, soon after Russia began its
military operations alongside the Syrian government.
The
Syrian army declaration read on State TV also comes as the pace of government
warnings to the residents of the besieged rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo
city rises. An announcement Tuesday urged armed opposition groups to allow
civilians to exit the besieged enclave through government-designated corridors.
Another urged residents to cooperate with government forces. A third called on
residents to avoid going out in the streets except in "dire need" and
to stay clear of areas where armed groups operate.
Also on
Tuesday, Syria's president received a Russian delegation in Damascus, headed by
the Russian deputy prime minister, in a show of close ties between the two
governments in the face of international criticism.
And the
Pentagon on Tuesday said a Nov. 18 U.S. military airstrike killed senior
al-Qaida leader Abu Afghan al-Masri, who had ties to militant movements across
the Middle East.
-----------------------
CLIMATE
CHANGE- UNITED NATIONS BULLSHITE- it was all bullshite and ordinary weep
BLOGGED:
CALIFORNIA- oil, gas, coal and
fracking, drought and firies- IDLE NO MORE FIRST PEOPLES- save your lands as we
in Canada are saving ours - we deserve better - so many years of waste and
personal greed imho.... we must do better- USA is in Climate ruins over 2
million fracking wells alone/UK is starting 2 follow suit/the White Man and
Greedy Men have already destroyed the First Peoples of Americas, Africa and
Asia... Austalia.... imho/we mourn for the firefighters who died in vain trying
to save us all - greed and indifference and God is now so angry with us all
/USA a Climate Disaster-Check TedTurner story
------------
Oil industry wary of Trump’s policies
Experts worry president-elect will have negative
impact on Canadian efforts
DAN HEALING THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — The election of Donald Trump is good news
for U.S. oil and gas drillers and potentially bad news for the Canadian
industry, says the head of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling
Contractors.
President Mark Scholz said the association’s 2017
drilling forecast released Tuesday is based on information gathered prior to
the U.S. election.
He said its forecast of a 31 per cent increase in
Canadian drilling next year after its least active year on record in 2016 would
have been “tempered” had it known Trump was going to win.
“If I was a U.S. driller, I would be very optimistic
about the prospects of greater activity in the United States,” said Scholz.
“He (Trump) has talked about lower business taxes, he
has talked about reducing regulations and no doubt that is going to have an
impact on our forecast on Canada’s prospects.”
Scholz added Trump’s vow to open U.S. federal lands
to more drilling could lead to investment dollars diverted from Canada to the
U.S., further increasing a glut of American oil and gas production which has
been blamed for lower North American commodity prices.
He cited Alberta’s carbon tax scheduled to start Jan.
1 as an example of an “investment barrier” for the Canadian drilling industry
that will put it at a disadvantage with U.S. rivals.
Gary Leach, president of the Explorers and Producers
Association of Canada, agreed in an interview that Canada must improve its
competitive footing compared with the U.S. to attract investment. “From what we
know about Trump’s agenda, we think the U.S. is now going to be a more
formidable competitor to draw capital,” he said.
In a two-and-a-half minute video posted on YouTube on
Monday, Trump said he intends to create jobs in the U.S. by “putting America
first.”
“On energy, I will cancel job killing restrictions on
the production of American energy including shale energy and clean coal,
creating many millions of high-paying jobs,” he said, without giving specifics.
He also said he would require lawmakers eliminate two
regulations for every new regulation they propose.
Scholz said governments in Canada can help the
industry by approving pipelines to new markets, such as the Trans Mountain to
the West Coast and Energy East to Eastern Canada, to help counter a price
“discount” on Canadian products in U.S. markets.
He said Trump’s vow to approve the Keystone XL
pipeline would help the Canadian industry get more barrels to the U.S. Gulf
Coast where they would fetch better prices.
In its forecast, CAODC said it expects 4,665 oil and
gas wells will be drilled in 2017, up 31 per cent from 3,562 expected this
year, but down from 11,226 wells drilled in 2014 and 5,394 in 2015.
Scholz said the average number of active drilling
rigs in 2017 is to rise to 139 from 112 in 2016, allowing the industry to hire
back about 3,900 people based on an average of 145 direct and indirect jobs per
rig.
The resulting total employment of just over 20,000
next year would still represent a 63 per cent drop from almost 54,000 jobs in
2014, the last time world oil prices were above US$100 per barrel.
CAODC said it expects the Canadian drilling rig fleet
to shrink next year to just 610 from 680 as idle older rigs are retired but not
replaced. The fleet numbered 809 rigs in 2014.
Three weeks ago, the Petroleum Services Association
of Canada forecast 4,175 wells will be drilled in 2017, up about six per cent
from 3,950 wells this year but 63 per cent lower than the number of wells
drilled in 2014.
Donald Trump’s victory has many worried about the
state of Canadian oil and gas exports following a promise to revamp trade
deals.
LARRY MACDOUGAL • CP
-----------------
Trump's vow
to soon ramp up production in U.S. raises concern in Canada's oilpatch
CALGARY — U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's promise to ramp up energy
production soon after he takes office is raising concern in Alberta's oilpatch,
where several industry groups say such a move could set Canada back in its
ability to compete for investment.In a video posted Monday on YouTube, Trump committed to cancelling "job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale energy and clean coal" within his first 100 days of power.
While his message lacked specifics, it has caught the attention of oil and gas groups north of the border.
"What we saw last night, I think, was a reaffirmation that the new administration wants to make energy a centrepiece of the economic rejuvenation of the U.S.," said Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
"I think it's a bit of a call to action to us as Canadians."
President Mark Scholz of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors said Trump's vow could spell bad news for his members.
Scholz said Trump's push to open U.S. federal lands to more drilling could divert investment away from Canada to the U.S. and exacerbate a glut of American oil and gas production, which has already been partly blamed for lower commodity prices.
"If I was a U.S. driller, I would be very optimistic about the prospects of greater activity in the United States," said Scholz.
"(Trump) has talked about lower business taxes, he has talked about reducing regulations and no doubt that is going to have an impact on our forecast on Canada's prospects."
Earlier in the day, Scholz's association released a report forecasting that 4,665 oil and gas wells would be drilled next year, a 31 per cent increase from the 3,562 wells expected to be drilled this year. But Scholz said that was based on information collected before the U.S. election and the forecast would have been "tempered" had it been known Trump was going to win.
Nonetheless, the number of wells projected for next year would be less than half of the 11,226 that were drilled in 2014, according to the association.
Gary Leach, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, agreed Canada must improve its competitive footing compared with the U.S. to attract investment.
"From what we know about Trump's agenda, we think the U.S. is now going to be a more formidable competitor to draw capital," he said.
Leach, Scholz and McMillan all said Trump's comments reinforce their view that Canada needs more pipelines, such as the Trans Mountain expansion to B.C. and Energy East to New Brunswick, to access new markets.
There was one Trump promise, however, that they said would be a lift to Canada's oil industry: his commitment to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship more barrels of crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where they would fetch better prices.
Follow @HealingSlowly on Twitter.
Dan Healing, The Canadian Press
----------
NOVA SCOTIA- AND HERE
BEHIND OUR BACKS.... NOT IN YOUR FACE LIKE #TRUMP ... is selective #NSliberals
... and the ordinary among us trying to save our planet and everyday
humanity....
Protesters vocal at Cape
Sharp turbine launch
THE CHRONICLE HERALD
newsroom@herald.ca @chronicleherald
Energy Minister Michel Samson, Emera representatives
and members of FORCE weren’t the only ones to go to Parrsboro on Tuesday to
witness flicking the switch to turn on an in-stream tidal power turbine.
A group of 20 people, including fisherman,
Mi’kmaq, scientists and community members protested on the West Bay Road on the
way to the FORCE site. They blocked one side of the road with a tree so
everyone attending the event would have to drive around it and see them.
Local RCMP were called but didn’t disband the
group or ask them to leave.
“We were peaceful but wanted to put our point
across that we still do not consent to this,” said weir fisherman Gerry Taylor.
Taylor fishes out of Parrsboro and his weir is
closest to the FORCE site. He’s also president of the Fundy United Federation,
representing fishers and driftnetters in the Minas Passage and Minas Basin.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans
recommended to FORCE that the Bay’s weir fishermen would be good to use for
monitoring effects.
“We have always been open to that, but the
proponents haven’t so much as approached us,” said Taylor in a phone interview.
“But we’re the canary in the coal mine and will be the first to see effects.”
Fishers also keep detailed records of their
catches, he added, “So it will be interesting to see what happens in the
spring.”
Comments by some of the most vocal fishers,
including Taylor, were deleted from Samson’s social media post about Tuesday’s
event. The Chronicle Herald obtained screen captures of them.
“Liberals have not taken care of fishermen,
First Nations. You are trading the backbone of N.S. and what we are known for —
fishing industry — for one big power source. The Bay of Fundy is a food source
NOT power. Nova Scotia will suffer and so will it’s (sic) people,” wrote Taylor
on social media.
A positive comment congratulating the
government wasn’t deleted.
“They just seem intent on shutting us out at
every turn,” said another weir fisherman, Darren Porter. “We were promised a
public meeting before deployment (that) we never got. This is not democracy,
it’s autocracy. I will never vote Liberal again, and I always have.
“The number and scope of these projects are
growing before the effects of this first turbine have been determined. There is
no monitoring on that marine environment right now. The technology they’re
using only monitors the environment’s effects on the turbine.”
Retired biologist Mike Dadswell, who was
present on the day the province’s first tidal turbine was switched on in
Annapolis more than 30 years ago, was in Parrsboro Tuesday. So was Willy
Courtney, president of the Shubenacadie River Commercial Fisherman’s
Association and a vocal opponent of the Alton natural gas storage project.
Since the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fisherman’s
Association lost their stay case last month, meetings with individual
fishermen’s associations have been quietly taking place, but representatives of
two groups told the Chronicle Herald that the first rule of engagement the
proponents set down is to not talk to media.
Courtney said he sees the parallels of how
government and proponents work on the two projects and confirmed that
proponents are happy to talk in a coffee shop but not in a public forum on the
record.
“You just get so frustrated at the arrogance
and complete dishonesty,” he told the Chronicle Herald. “They have no
compulsion to consult with us, they just ignore us.
“And for some reason we let them get away with
it.”
-----------------
Election reignites offshore-oil debate in Atlantic
Ocean
PATRICK WHITTLE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The controversy over drilling for oil in the Atlantic
Ocean has been reignited by the election of Donald Trump, and environmentalists
and coastal businesses say it could be the first major fault line that divides
them from the new president.
The Obama administration has moved to restrict access
to offshore oil drilling leases in the Atlantic, as well as off Alaska.
Commercial oil production has never happened off the East Coast — and
environmentalists consider that a major victory during Obama’s tenure.
But president-elect Trump has said that he intends to
use all available fuel reserves for energy self-sufficiency — and that it’s
time to be opening up offshore drilling.
While supporters say that expanded oil exploration is
poised to become one of Trump’s signature accomplishments, environmentalists
and other opponents see oil drilling policy as a looming conflict. Jacqueline
Savitz, vice-president of the ocean conservationist group Oceana, said she
fears a return to the hard-fought struggles environmentalists faced with the
previous Republican administration.
“We’re hoping we’re not about to fall back into the
‘drill, baby, drill’ way of thinking,” she said. “Offshore drilling in the
Atlantic is not a good investment.”
The American Petroleum Institute, a key voice of the
oil and gas industries, has long said more aggressive drilling is needed for
the U.S. to remain a world leader in energy production. The group accused Obama
in May of lacking a long-term “vision” for fossil fuels extraction; its leaders
say that Trump’s presidency represents a new dawn and that they intend to hold
him to his word about fossil fuels.
“As a candidate, President-elect Trump pledged to
pursue an energy approach that would include opening federal lands for oil and
gas production including offshore areas,” said institute spokesman Michael
Tadeo.
Early signs suggest Trump will make good on his plans
for more aggressive drilling.
One of his favourites to lead the Environmental
Protection Agency is Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and
Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a prominent rejecter of
the scientific consensus on climate change. He is a longtime ally of the
petroleum industry and a critic of the agency he would lead.
Trump’s favourites for energy secretary include
Oklahoma oil billionaire Harold Hamm and drilling proponent Rep. Kevin Cramer
of North Dakota.
The Trump transition team did not respond to requests
for comment. Trump has said that it’s “incredible that we’re going slow on
drilling,” and that he supports coastal drilling when it “can be done
responsibly.”
Trump’s stance threatens to put a political promise
ahead of science, said Cascade Sorte, a professor of biology with a focus on
marine systems at the University of California, Irvine.
“I’m concerned there might not be the data that we
need about what we’re destroying before we destroy it,” she said.
The Gulf of Mexico is the main offshore area that the
U.S. plumbs for oil and gas. But in March 2010, Obama’s administration released
a report that said the Gulf alone can’t be expected to meet increasing energy
demands. The report included the possibility of opening up offshore Virginia
for oil and gas exploration, and the administration signalled leases in the
middle and southern East Coast were possible.
The plan got immediate pushback from environmental
groups, who feared it would damage ecosystems. A month later, the Deepwater
Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico put a hold on plans for expanding
drilling.
Environmentalists say any attempt to reverse Obama’s
restrictions on Atlantic and Alaskan drilling would galvanize resistance, as
happened after the Gulf spill — and before that, following the 1969 Santa
Barbara, California, oil spill and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster in
Alaska.
“If President-elect Trump tries to undo any of those
measures, he will be rejecting both science and the people and he will meet
opposition,” said Greenpeace spokesman Perry Wheeler.
Democratic senators on both coasts have called for
Obama to block any possibility of Pacific or Atlantic drilling before Trump
takes office.
A section of a giant oil rig is docked after arriving
at the Portland Ocean Terminal in Portland, Maine. President-elect Donald Trump
hopes to open up offshore drilling in an effort to bring jobs back to the
American people. ROBERT F. BUKATY • AP
--------------------
AND THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE CANADA
Environmentalists have impoverished First Nations, pro-pipeline chief says
'If it weren't for the oil, my people would be in poverty right now': Fort McKay chief Jim Boucher
Chief Jim Boucher, from Fort McKay, Alta., told the Assembly of First Nations' gathering in Gatineau, Que. that his community has seen a financial windfall from its involvement in oil and gas extraction. (CBC News)
Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline has been vehemently opposed by many First Nations groups, but voices on the other side of the divide emerged Wednesday to launch a strong defence of the oilpatch.
Chief Jim Boucher told the Assembly of First Nations' gathering in Gatineau, Que,. that his community has seen a financial windfall from its involvement in oil and gas extraction, and that environmentalists should be ignored because they are to blame for widespread poverty in Canada's north.
His community of Fort McKay, north of Fort McMurray, the epicentre of the oilsands, has an unemployment rate of zero, an average annual income of $120,000, and financial holdings in excess of $2 billion, thanks to its willingness to do business with Canada's oil and gas companies, Boucher said.
That money has been pumped into education, long-term care homes for seniors and other infrastructure projects.
"When it comes to pipelines and oilsands development, it's clear from our perspective that we need to do more," he said, during an open session on energy policy at the special assembly. "We're pro-oilsands; if it weren't for the oil my people would be in poverty right now."
- Chiefs focus on Trans Mountain
- Leaders who back pipelines face 'stigma'
- 'No warning intended' to protesters
Change of heart
Boucher said he wasn't always a strong supporter of the oilsands, but had a change of heart after the fur trade became unviable in the 1980s."Please don't buy into the environmentalist argument," he said to his fellow chiefs. He noted it was environmentalists and animal rights activists who lobbied the European Union to ban fur imports.
"They're the ones who, at the end of the day, were successful in creating poverty in northern Canada, right across the board. That's why we see all the communities impoverished."
He said ending oilsands development would be devastating and would put his people back on social assistance, "where we really don't want to be," adding he thinks some environmentalist groups have co-opted First Nations communities as part of their fight to put the fossil fuel industry out of business.
Dean Manywounds, vice-chair of the Indian Resource Council, a group formed by chiefs from oil and gas producing First Nations, said resource development leads to self-sustaining communities. (CBC News)
"The resources are all around us, and we do have to participate," he said. "We have to find a way to build a successful future for our people and our kids."
Pro-pipeline chiefs reluctant to talk
Chiefs supportive of Trans Mountain have avoided the media this week at the special assembly.National Chief Perry Bellegarde has said these chiefs are afraid to speak for fear of being "stigmatized."
"There's a stigma now attached to supporting economic development. There's a stigma that somehow you're not a First Nations person, if you support a pipeline," he told CBC News before the assembly's start.
Quebec Chief Serge Simon, a Mohawk from Oka, was up on stage after Boucher and Manywounds to make the case for keeping oil in the ground, adding it could contaminate water supplies.
Serge Simon, grand chief of Kanesatake, holds up a signed treaty on Sept. 22 in Montreal. Canadian First Nations and U.S. tribal communities have signed a treaty to fight the development and distribution of oilsands crude from Alberta. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
"I'll tell you eventually Chief Boucher and his people are going to need friends when this finally crashes," he said. "We would welcome them with open arms in Mohawk territory, if they want to invest in the East and diversify their investments."
Despite the opposing views, Simon said he is not looking to deepen divisions amongst First Nations peoples, adding he agrees more often with the likes of Boucher than he disagrees.
"I'm not going to let the industry divide Chief Boucher and myself. I just don't agree with expansion of the tarsands. They're already using the existing infrastructure, and more pipelines will simply mean an expansion."
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