NO TO TRANS-CANADA PIPELINE IN OUR MALISEET TERRITORY

NO TO TRANS-CANADA PIPELINE IN OUR MALISEET TERRITORY

Messagepar admin » Dim 4 Mai 2014 16:02

From: Chief Paul R. Pollard,, Malecite D’Viger First nation
To: All Malecite citizens of Viger and the St. John River Bands
Re: Trans-Canada Pipeline

After respectfully reviewing the opinions of everyone concerned, I find the proposed actions of the band council of Viger, in reference to the Trans-Canada pipeline to be appalling to say the least. To even consider entering into negotiations or accepting any proposal regarding the routing of this black snake through Cacouna is unacceptable.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of all the Alaskan nations who are still being plagued with dangerous situations with the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. The continual leakage along this pipeline causes vital habitat, water aquifers, and ancestral hunting grounds to be compromised on a daily basis. The detrimental impact on that region’s wild life & fisheries, as well as ancestral rights has been great over the years, due to the never ending quest for progress and oil.

To quote and Inuit elder: “Why should we keep paying the price for the desires and wants for the people of the lower 48 and across Canada. We are sovereign people and yet we are continually forced to absorb the impact of this pollution, without any recompense.”
And what of their financial compensation? The Alaskan people REMAIN the poorest of indigenous people because they have NEVER received proper compensation for the taking of their land and its continued pillaging.

Is the financial compensation too appealing to the band council, that they would sell their own people for the price of a barrel of oil? Do you really believe that Trans-Canada Oil will compensate you fairly? At what price? Is the compensation worth the death of our lands and habitat? Perhaps our vital water supply? Water is the life source, given by the Creator. May I remind you….we cannot drink oil!
Has anyone considered the long term effects of having this port in Cacouna? The future of fish and crabbing would be devastated, not to mention the hunting rights of our people! Who will compensate us for our wild life when we have nothing left to hunt because the animals have all migrated to safer ground or are dead from toxic pollution? Currently, one in five of our hunted species have cancer due to toxic pollution; making it unfit for human consumption. Do we need to invite more?

Who will compensate us when our waterways become contaminated and can no longer support our life ways? Monetary compensation can never replace the vital foundational habitat that lives in our water ways. Our water ways contain many of the foundation species for the entire food chain. There is no compensation for the extinction of vital species and eventually our own! Haven’t they tried to exterminate us enough already? Who will compensate us when our flora and fauna, nuts, berries; those things we rely on for traditional medicines are gone?
I am going to ask the Viger band council again…at what cost? The cost will be too great in the long run and will not sustain us as a people; nor will it ensure the future of the seven generations to come. If we engage in this treacherous dance, we will only ensure the slow death and extinction of our people. Corporate entities and their oil have no consideration for the ethnic origins of our people, wildlife, plant life or fisheries! For all the money in the world do you find this acceptable?

In the short term, these effects are not as obvious, but we must think of the long term and the generations to come. Officials can provide you with all the feasibility studies they want but it will happen. We are prostituting our children’s future by entertaining this endeavor.
One need only look around at the current condition of our earth mother, to see the devastating consequences brought about by the need for greed. Look at the devastating oil spills that have already occurred elsewhere, the de-stabilization of the land under our feet, due to fracking, altered weather patterns, due to deforestation. How much more has to happen before we say no more?

Other places that have suffered the devastating effects of this black snake are still trying to recover years after the fact. This is the time to be “Idle No More”! All Malecite people must give consideration to the future generations of OUR blood citizens. The Malecite people of Viger need to get a back bone and stand up for what is appropriate for OUR people; not the few with deep pockets on the band council!

Am I angry? You bet I am! All this is being done for money that no one will ever see! We will be as the Alaskan peoples, who were given false promises. Ask any Indian in the States if their government ever kept any of their promises? 470 un-honored treatise…we call it the Trail of Broken Treatise! The only promise they kept was to take our land and our sovereign rights. If we accept this pipeline through Cacouna, we will be as slaves to the big oil companies, displaced from our own territory. This is nothing more than further subjugation by a colonialist mind set!

I would like to issue a challenge to the future blood of the Malecite to stand up and be counted and take your rightful place as our true Malecite! This is of the utmost importance! The voice of our youth must be and will be heard to echo in the ears of our ancestors!! Stand against this wretched black snake that seeks to destroy us! Do not fall for their empty promises of jobs and money. Ensure your future and the future of your children!

Does anyone think that our ancestors would have allowed any situation that endangered our life ways to proceed? Look through their hearts and eyes. The answer is within you. Take the politics away and look to the future of our existence. The band council by tradition does not sit above our clan mothers or the elders. Go to our clan mothers and hear what they have to say!

Our true clan mothers and elders will always consider the future well being and health of our nation as a whole, not by each band. We are a nation…never forget that! Since we, the Malecite people are stewards of the environment, I would like to remind every one of you of their obligation, given by the Creator, to protect our ways of life and to protect the total environment, whether marine, winged, four legged, insect, and all flora and fauna. Acceptance of this project places all life ways in danger.

If this pipeline is acceptable to you…don’t even call yourself a citizen of the Malecite Nation! As a Malecite citizen of a prominent clan, I find any consideration of this endeavor to be appalling and unacceptable! This is a direct insult to our ancestors, who would never have allowed such a thing to take place! You might as well just spit on them!

Does the true blood Malecite of Viger want this? We need all the Wabanaki Nations to band together, having one voice and say NO to Trans-Canada!

I ask all the Wabanaki Peoples to join me on May 15, 2014; wherever you might be and in prayer ask the Creator and our Ancestors for their wisdom, knowledge, and guidance to show us a peaceful way to stop this project. The true blood of the Malecite of Viger needs to be heard by all other Malecite communities.

Reject and say no to this pipeline project! Not in our back yard! Not in our Territory!

Woliwin um sood nogumaw!
Paul R. Pollard ll (Denis Clan – Can Chief)
Chief Malecite Grand Council
Chief Wabanaki Confederacy Grand Council
Claude Aubin
Métis et administrateur de ce site.

info@claudeaubinmetis.com
Avatar de l’utilisateur
admin
Administrateur du site
 
Messages: 433
Inscription: Mer 20 Oct 2010 11:42

Revenir vers Les écrits de mes amis

Qui est en ligne ?

Utilisateurs parcourant ce forum : Aucun utilisateur inscrit et 5 invités

cron