June 5, 2018

The IAMC raised five key concerns, with respect to the government’s intended purchase of the Trans Mountain system.

The IAMC’s Key Messages to the Prime Minister:

1. The government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain system will have huge impacts on Indigenous nations in the pipeline corridor and shipping lanes. Some Indigenous Caucus members come from nations that support the pipeline, others who are opposed. But all have a shared interest in minimizing the impacts of the TMX expansion and existing pipeline.

2. The IAMC must be transformed from advising government to truly co-managing with government, in a manner consistent with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We urged the Prime Minister to work with us on regulatory changes and protocols in order to make co-management a reality.

3. If the government is going to build the TMX, then it must build it better than Kinder Morgan would have – safer, more respectful of Indigenous rights and title and treaty rights, and fairer in its distribution of economic benefits to affected Indigenous nations.

4. The IAMC must be improved to remove bureaucratic roadblocks and to support the work of the Indigenous Caucus.

5. Although IAMC is not a consultation body, we took the opportunity to urge the Prime Minister that Indigenous nations must be consulted and accommodated regarding the government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain system.

We appreciated the opportunity to have an open and forthright discussion with the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister wants to bring about real change in the nation-to-nation relationship, we want him to work with us.