STOP THE TAR SANDS, SAVE THE PLANET!
RAVEN’s values are embodied in our program to support the Beaver Lake Cree Nation’s fight against the Alberta tar sands developments. RAVEN is among those who view the massive destruction of the landscape as an environmental crime. It is also illegal and unconstitutional because the climate-destroying oil sands are in violation of the treaty that guarantees the Beaver Lake Cree people to the right to hunt and fish on their traditional territories for all time.Former Chief Al Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree First Nation ~ "I look at what is happening to our traditional hunting lands, and I lie awake at night. I worry that this is not just the end of our way of life, but the end of all of our lives."
Initiated by former Chief Al Lameman, and now carried on by Chief Henry Gladue, this band is doing something few would dare to try, but many believe needs doing. They are suing the federal and Alberta governments for the health of the planet, to preserve the integrity of the boreal forest and the habitat that has sustained their people for generations, and to ensure the future happiness and freedom of their children and all our children in a world that has controlled greenhouse gas emissions. They have drawn a line in the "tar sand" against the rapid, unmitigated expansion of the Alberta oil sands industries. Check out this five-minute video, produced as part of the Cooperative's Toxic Fuels Campaign, which explains more about the tar sands and the Beaver Lake Cree Nation's legal action.
CURRENT SITUATION: The Beaver Lake Cree Nation has a crucial hearing in Edmonton court at the end of January 2012. The band's legal team must defend against a motion entered by Canada and Alberta to strike (i.e. kill) the legal action launched in 2008. (Instead of filing a Statement of Defence to the band's Statement of Claim, both governments opted to try to get the lawsuit thrown out of court as "frivolous" and "vexatious," suggesting the 17,000 permits should be handled individually by the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB).) RAVEN has raised enough funds for one of the lawyers - David Rosenberg Q.C. - to present the argument (for reduced fees). The argument was written pro bono by members of the Tooks Chambers law firm in the UK. However, funds are still needed for other court costs, plus the travel and accommodation for Chief and Council to be in Edmonton for the five days. Please consider contributing today to this important effort!
WHY SUPPORT BLCN'S FIGHT AGAINST TOXIC FUELS? This is really the only action in play at the moment that can do something concrete - because it's based on the band's constitutionally guaranteed right to hunt and trap on their ancestral lands in perpetuity. This gutsy little band of 900 is going for a Supreme Court declaration that the cumulative impact of the tar sands infringes on their treaty rights - and that would make the 17,000+ permits issued to big oil illegal - and worthless. Jack Woodward of Woodward & Company LLP explains how this lawsuit will work to stop the expansion of the tar sands industry.
The Co-operative Bank in Manchester, England has generously supported the fight because as they state on their website, this legal action is the best chance at stopping the destruction and saving the planet from run-away climate change. Flora Gladue, BLCN member ~ The fish don't taste good any more because of the pollution from the oil sands. They used to be pure fish, clean fish. Now, with all the pollution from oil sands development, they don't taste the same.
The law is clearly on the side of First Nations - the greatest barrier to justice for the Beaver Lake Cree is the high cost of the legal system. For First Nations in Canada, to protect their traditional land and way of life, and act as stewards for the planet, they must take the issue to court. That's because in Canada our strongest environmental laws are the constitutionally guaranteed treaty rights of First Nations. But to get to court - that's the problem! Native leaders and their legal teams face overwhelming David vs. Goliath-style battles. They must face off against the established interests and deep pockets of large corporations and the governments that support them. And as you might imagine Canada and Alberta do not want to lose this case, so they are putting up a serious fight.
RAVEN has intervened to attempt to bring some fairness to this situation. We provide resources needed so that native leaders have access to the necessary research, preparation and legal support. Without this, native causes are bound to fail in non-native legal systems simply for lack of funds. RAVEN's mission is to redress this inherent imbalance and to obtain justice in the courts for First Nations struggling to protect rights and lands, and to ultimately protect the planet we all live on. YOU play a crucial role in the outcome of this effort. Donations are currently supporting Phase One of the legal action, which is to get through the pre-trial motions. The Beaver Lake Cree must successfully clear this hurdle in order to get to an actual trial. Please donate today!
SAVE THE CARIBOU, STOP THE TAR SANDS
In addition to our main Beaver Lake Cree Nation program, RAVEN successfully raised the funds to allow three First Nations to launch a judicial review to force Canada to act on its obligation to protect threatened species - in this case, woodland caribou. The time is now to Save the Caribou and Stop the Tar Sands!One of RAVEN's achievements in 2010 was raising the funds to cover the costs of launching a judicial review at the Federal Court in Edmonton, Alberta on behalf of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Beaver Lake Cree First Nation and Enoch Cree First Nation on September 8, 2010. The legal action is an effort to save the dwindling caribou herds in northeastern Alberta. The animals are being threatened by industrial development, including the expansion of the tar sands industries. The argument is that the federal minister of the environment has a statutory duty to protect the animals under the Species at Risk Act (SARA.)
Preserving animal habitat and First Nation land base is really the only way to have an impact on the rapidly expanding tar sands and other devastating industrial developments.
WHERE IT'S AT WITH THIS STRATEGY:
On January 24, 2012, lawyers filed a motion in Edmonton brought by ACFN, Beaver Lake Cree First Nation, Alberta Wilderness Association and Pembina Institute. Because this is a motion done by way of written representations, there won’t be a hearing. Canada will have to respond on or before February 2, then applicants will have four days after government responds to file a reply. A decision from the court will follow; however, there is no timeline for that.The short story is that despite a court order issued in 2011, the federal Environment Minister continues to delay in protecting Woodland Caribou.
Last year, the applicants brought a court case challenging the Federal Minister of the Environment’s refusal to recommend an emergency order that would offer immediate, concrete protections for boreal caribou in NE Alberta (The herds at issue in the litigation that are within ACFN’s traditional territory are Red Earth, Richardson, East Side Athabasca and West Side Athabasca River ). On July 28, 2011 Mr. Justice Crampton ordered the Minister to reconsider his refusal to issue an emergency order, and this time to take into account treaty rights and the honour of the Crown. Specifically, the court told the Minister to consider:
. . . the extent to which . . . continued inaction with respect to boreal caribou would, in all the circumstances discussed in this decision and in the more detailed Certified Record pertaining to the Decision, would be consistent with the honour of the Crown. . .
Almost six months later, there still is no decision from the Minister.
This motion is for a variance of the Court’s July 28 order. The court is being asked to impose a very short deadline (three days after the Court makes a decision) for the Minister to issue his decision.
A side issue that is being raised in the pleadings is that the urgency of the situation has increased because the Minister continues to disregard the mandatory timelines in the Species at Risk Act, and has not even finalized a Recovery Strategy yet. Therefore, protections for the Herds under the Species at Risk Act will also be delayed. During the hearing of this matter, Canada promised to post a draft recovery strategy by September 1, 2011 (they were already four years late to meet the statutory deadline to do so). According to s. 43 of the Species at Risk Act, the Minister was to provide a 60 day comment period on the strategy, and then finalize the strategy within 30 days after the end of the comment period. If the Minister had respected the statutory timelines of SARA, the recovery strategy would have been finalized by late November 2011. But Canada extended the public comment period till February 22, 2012 (saying they did so in order to consult with First Nations.) which means that at the very earliest, the recovery strategy won’t be finalized until approximately March 23 – if the Minister respects the statute’s limit of 30 day to incorporate comments and finalize the strategy. Meanwhile, Alberta continues to approve more development within the herd’s ranges.
