This week, the Supreme Court of Canada released two important decisions relating to indigenous rights.
In one decision, the Court upheld a ruling by Canada’s controversial National Energy Board that allowed pipeline company Enbridge to expand Line 9. Line 9 is a tar sands pipeline that lies on the territory of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in southern Ontario. Line 9 will now carry highly toxic heavy crude across the Thames River.
In its second decision, the Court struck down an authorization given by the NEB to various petroleum exploration companies that would have allowed those companies to conduct seismic testing in Arctic waters off of Clyde River hamlet in Nunavut.
In this interview for The Real News, I discuss the implications of these two decisions with Jerry Nattanine, the former mayor of Clyde River, and Eugene Kung, a lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law:
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19648:Indigenous-Groups-Win-One%2C-Lose-One-in-the-Canadian-Supreme-Court