Sea Levels Around The US Aren't Just Rising, They're Accelerating Year on Year

(Shannon Honey/EyeEm/Getty Images)
ENVIRONMENT

Sea Levels Around The US Aren't Just Rising, They're Accelerating Year on Year

CARLY CASSELLA
16 FEB 2020

The worst case scenario for sea level rise in the United States is more than just a dim possibility. It's becoming more likely.

An annual "report card" for the US coastline shows sea levels are speeding up in most places measured.

"Acceleration can be a game changer in terms of impacts and planning, so we really need to pay heed to these patterns," says John Boon at William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).

Out of the 32 tidal stations monitored from Maine to Alaska, the team detected sea level rise in no less than 27. What's more, 25 of those locations experienced higher rates of sea level rise in 2019 than in the year before.

The Gulf Coast in Louisiana, and Galveston and Rockport in Texas were at the very top of the list. In fact, Rockport trumped all 32 stations, exhibiting a rate of sea level rise that the authors say would ultimately leave water levels 0.82 metres higher in 2050 than in 1992.

In the end, only five stations around the country experienced falling sea levels, four of which are located in Alaska, where coastal mountains are in the process of forming (whereas, on the east coast, land is generally busy sinking).

"Although sea level has been rising very slowly along the West Coast," says marine scientist Molly Mitchell, "models have been predicting that it will start to rise faster. The report cards from the past three years support this idea."


It's not just the team at VIMS, nor is it just the US experiencing this. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) thinks sea level rise is accelerating around the world, and it's been doing so since around 2013 or 2014.

In a 2017 report of sea level rise scenarios, experts at the agency predicted that even if our emissions stayed low, global sea levels would very likely rise at least 0.3 meters (12 inches) within a century.

If emissions grew, on the other hand, the waters could rise by as much as 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) by 2100.

Three years after this prediction, Mitchell has bad news.

"Seeing acceleration at so many of our stations suggests that - when we look at the multiple sea-level scenarios that NOAA puts out based on global models - we may be moving towards the higher projections," she claims.

In 2017, these higher projections were 2.5 metres by 2100, 5.5 metres by 2150 and 9.7 metres by 2200.

The acceleration is being driven mainly by increased melting in Greenland and Antarctica, experts claim. Together, these land masses have the ability to double the total sea level rise by 2100; today, Greenland is losing more than seven times as much ice each year as it did in the 1990s.

Under the current rate, NASA and European data indicates the world's oceans could rise 0.65 metres (26 inches) by the end of the century. And researchers think this is probably conservative.

"Our extrapolation assumes that sea level continues to change in the future as it has over the last 25 years," said a member of NASA's Sea Level Change team at the time.

"Given the large changes we are seeing in the ice sheets today, that's not likely."

If sea levels continue to accelerate, the risk of saltwater infiltration, flooding and storm surges will only grow worse, as will the likely displacement of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

So far, our predictions for sea level rise, such as those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have tended to underestimate the problem, especially given recent acceleration. But with the reality speeding towards us, we might not be able to do so for much longer.

The sea level report card can be accessed on the VIMS website.

After 40 Years of Hunting, Scientists Identify a Key Flaw in Solar Panel Efficiency

DAVID NIELD

14 FEB 2020

Solar panels are fantastic pieces of technology, but we need to work out how to make them even more efficient – and last year, scientists solved a 40-year-old mystery around one of the key obstacles to increased efficiency.

The 2019 study outlined a material defect in silicon used to produce solar cells that has previously gone undetected. It could be responsible for the 2 percent efficiency drop that solar cells can see in the first hours of use: Light Induced Degradation (LID).

Multiplied by the increasing number of panels installed at solar farms around the world, that drop equals a significant cost in gigawatts that non-renewable energy sources have to make up for.

In fact, the estimated loss in efficiency worldwide from LID is estimated to equate to more energy than can be generated by the UK's 15 nuclear power plants. The new discovery could help scientists make up some of that shortfall.

"Because of the environmental and financial impact solar panel 'efficiency degradation' has been the topic of much scientific and engineering interest in the last four decades," said one of the researchers, Tony Peaker from the University of Manchester in the UK, back in June 2019.

"However, despite some of the best minds in the business working on it, the problem has steadfastly resisted resolution until now."

To find what 270 research papers across four decades had previously been unable to determine, the latest study used an electrical and optical technique called deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) to find weaknesses in the silicon.

Here's what the DLTS analysis found: As the electronic charge in the solar cells gets transformed from sunlight, the flow of electrons gets trapped; in turn, that reduces the level of electrical power that can be produced.

This defect lies dormant until the solar panel gets heated, the team found.

"We've proved the defect exists, it's now an engineering fix that is needed," said one of the researchers, Iain Crowe from the University of Manchester.

The researchers also found that higher quality silicon had charge carriers (electrons which carry the photon energy) with a longer 'lifetime', which backs up the idea that these traps are linked to the efficiency degradation.

What's more, heating the material in the dark, a process often used to remove traps from silicon, seems to reverse the degradation.

The work to push solar panel efficiency rates higher continues, with breakthroughs continuing to happen in the lab, and nature offering up plenty of efficiency tips as well. Now that the Light Induced Degradation mystery has been solved, solar farms across the globe should benefit.

"An absolute drop of 2 percent in efficiency may not seem like a big deal, but when you consider that these solar panels are now responsible for delivering a large and exponentially growing fraction of the world's total energy needs, it's a significant loss of electricity generating capacity," said Peaker.

The research has been published in the Journal of Applied Physics.

A version of this article was first published in June 2019.

Alberta is an outlier in the country's housing market, says RBC report

ALMOST A YEAR IN POWER AND KENNEY AND UCP

 HAVE DONE NOTHING TO HALT THE ECONOMIC DECLINE IN ALBERTA
RATHER THEY HAVE MADE IT WORSE WITH TAX CUTS TO BIG OIL AND 
ATTACKS ON PUBLIC SERVICES AND PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS 

EDMONTON JOURNAL 

Updated: February 14, 2020

Home prices are up, and sellers are in the driver’s seat. If that doesn’t sound like Alberta’s housing market, it isn’t.

It’s the year-end performance for all of Canada’s real estate market, and Alberta is an outlier in the bunch.

“Alberta’s economy and its housing market are largely out of synch with the rest of Canada,” says Robert Hogue, a senior economist with RBC Economics.

RBC Economics released its Monthly Housing Market Update last month, showing the nation’s housing market had moved into sellers’ territory with prices jumping more than three per cent in December year over year. The hottest markets are in Ottawa, Montreal and British Columbia, it noted.

Ottawa led the nation in price gains with a 12.5 per cent gain, and Montreal saw prices rise more than nine per cent year over year.

Despite prices continuing to fall in both Edmonton and Calgary, the report found both cities’ price declines were not as steep as previous years. Calgary’s fell 1.4 per cent, the report showed. It did not provide data for Edmonton, but Realtors Association of Edmonton data show the average price fell about 2.3 per cent year over year.

“The big correction (in home prices) that we saw followed the crash in oil prices back in 2014, and the recovery has been a work in progress for a very long time,” Hogue says.

Recent positive news on the Trans Mountain pipeline, however, could boost consumer confidence, he adds. In turn that can help increase activity in the province’s housing market. “I think a lot of Albertans have been thinking, ‘We’ll believe it when we see it as far as pipelines are concerned.’ ”

Hogue adds more good news on that front is needed to have a more profound effect on the market. “The economy is partly based on perception, and Alberta suffers from low confidence for businesses and households.”

This sentiment translates into lower housing demand — an issue for more than five years now. At the same time supply has been increasing.

“One of the parallels between Edmonton and Calgary is both have faced high inventory levels.”

He notes housing supply has come down somewhat, but levels are still elevated historically. What’s more, RBC had forecasted that 2019 would be a strong year for housing in both cities.

“But they really moved sideways instead.”

Despite no clear indication the key problem ailing the economy — a lack of pipeline access — will be solved soon, Hogue notes Albertans have reason for optimism.

“Population growth is picking up again in Alberta and that’s good news for both Calgary and Edmonton, because that will help reduce inventories.”

Last year population growth in Alberta was 1.7 per cent up from 1.4 per cent the year before.

“That is now stronger than it is in Canada overall, where it’s 1.5 per cent.”

Hogue further adds both cities have seen rising sales on the resale market and falling inventories in recent months.

Coupled with steady economic growth and more good news on the pipeline front, Alberta’s real estate market could join other parts of the country with positive price growth this year.

“I think for the second half of this year we might to see inventories come down with stabilization in prices, and at that point, we might to see the confidence turn around.”

Digging Into Oil Sands Divestment

The Canada Letter speaks with a New York Times reporter who has looked into large investors who have turned away from the oil sands.



By Ian Austen

Another energy story was somewhat lost this week among turmoil from protests over the natural gas pipeline construction in Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia. On Wednesday, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced one of its fast-growing green-oriented funds would no longer put money into companies that get revenue from the oil sands in Alberta.

The Syncrude Canada plant north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.Credit...Ben Nelms/Bloomberg

My colleague Christopher Flavelle, who follows how people, governments and industries are coping with the effects of global warming, reported on the decision as part of his in-depth look at investors who are divesting oil sands-related holdings.

[Read: Global Financial Giants Swear Off Funding an Especially Dirty Fuel.]

Christopher, by the way, was born and raised in Toronto, obtained a B.A. in political science at McGill University and once worked at The Walrus magazine

I asked him to expand on some of the points from his article in which the head of a fund at BlackRock describes the oils sands as being “the worst offenders, if you want, from a climate perspective.”

Some of the investors you spoke with said that they are taking their money out of the oil sands for environmental reasons. But is the current oil glut and the prospect of continued low oil prices also influencing their decisions?

I spoke with equity analysts, economists and fund managers for this story, and they all made a version of that point: The recent low rate of return on oil has made it easier for investors to pull out of the oil sands, because it means they’re not sacrificing a lucrative investment. That’s especially true for the oil sands, which have been hurt by the lack of new pipelines that would make it cheaper to get more of that oil to market.

Other people took that argument a step further, predicting that when, or if, oil in general and the oil sands in particular become a more attractive investment, some of the investors who left will come back. And that seems like a valid point: One test of these divestment policies will be whether investors stick to them over time.
 

Obsolete oil sands equipment on display near the Syncrude plant.Credit...Ian Austen/The New York Times

Alberta has responded by attempting to embarrass some financial services companies for pulling out of the oil sands and by threatening to no longer do business with them. Has anybody noticed any of that effort outside Alberta or Canada?

The investors and insurance companies that have been the targets of that pressure have certainly noticed. But I couldn’t find evidence that the pressure from Alberta has caused any of those companies to change their policies.

The closest might be HSBC, which seemed to get more attention from Premier Jason Kenney than any other company. HSBC softened the language in its policy statement on the oil sands last year, its spokeswoman told me, removing what she called “the suggestion that our exposure to the oil sands industry would diminish.” But it didn’t shift its pledge to stop funding new oil sands projects.

The bigger question that came up during my reporting is whether lenders that might otherwise want to invest in oil sands projects will decide not to as a result of the Alberta government’s willingness to publicly criticize foreign investors it disagrees with. That’s a much harder question to answer.

Pipelines at the Suncor Firebag oil sands operations.Credit...Todd Korol/Reuters

Have some oil sands companies made significant progress on reducing carbon emissions, as Alberta’s government has said?

It depends how you define ‘significant.’ Joule Bergerson, a professor in the chemical and petroleum engineering department at the University of Calgary, told me that she’s seen reductions in carbon intensity — the amount of greenhouse gas emitted per unit of energy extracted — in the range of 15 percent to 20 percent.

The companies themselves report having made significant reductions. Cenovus told me in a statement that its greenhouse gas intensity had fallen 30 percent in 15 years. Suncor said in a statement that emissions intensity at its oil sands base plant was down more than 60 percent since 1990.

But Dr. Bergerson added that reductions on the scale we’ve seen so far aren’t necessarily going to change investors’ minds about quitting the oil sands because they still leave most of those projects well above the global average for carbon intensity. As she put it, those companies “are really trying, and putting their money where their mouth is in terms of developing new technologies.” Still, she said, it remains unclear whether they’ll be able to cut emissions enough to persuade other investors not to leave.

How willing were people in the industry and the Canadian financial community to speak with you?

I was surprised by how difficult it was to get Canadian investors and oil sands companies to talk to me. Aside from the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, none of the large pension funds agreed to my requests for interviews. The biggest oil sands companies likewise declined my requests for interviews, though some agreed to respond to written questions.

When I mentioned that to the people I spoke with, many of whom asked not to be identified, the explanation was that nobody wants to be the next one to get targeted by the premier’s office. I would have asked Mr. Kenney about that, but his office declined my request for an interview.

Trans Canada

A protester at the Mohawk camp in Tyendinaga, Ontario.Credit...Tara Walton for The New York Times

The protest in support of the hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs alongside the main Canadian National Railway in Ontario by the Mohawks of Tyendinaga has produced some significant results. As of Friday, it had shut down all of the railway’s operations in Eastern Canada and caused Via Rail Canada to park nearly all intercity passenger trains across the country. But when I went down to the Mohawk camp, I found the low-key scene there to be a stark contrast with its disruptive effect.

Forty years ago, the National Film Board of Canada released a documentary about the carving of the first totem pole in almost a century in the Haida village of Masset in the Haida Gwaii archipelago of British Columbia. For the Op-Docs series from the Opinion side of The Times, Christopher Auchter, a Haida filmmaker, has used that footage to retell the story.

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto and currently lives in Ottawa. He has reported for The Times about Canada for more than a decade. @ianrausten

A list of major civil disobedience events in recent Canadian history

The Canadian PressFebruary 14, 2020

A list of major civil disobedience events in recent Canadian history

VANCOUVER — Protesters around the country have blocked rail lines and used other forms of civil disobedience to show support for the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and their fight against a natural gas pipeline. 

Here is a look at some other disputes over the development of natural resources in recent Canadian history:

Temagami, Ont. — Long-running protests over logging northeast of Sudbury led to arrests of demonstrators. The protests included people locking themselves to road construction machinery in an attempt to stop the extension of the Red Squirrel logging road. Environmentalists argued the area was home to a rare stand of old-growth pines. Among those arrested at one protest in 1989 was Bob Rae, who was leader of the Opposition NDP in Ontario at the time and was demonstrating his support for environmentalists and members of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai First Nation.

---

Oka, Que. — An armed standoff in Oka between Mohawks and the Canadian army ended on Sept. 26, 1990, after 11 weeks. The conflict partly stemmed from the town of Oka's plan to expand a golf course on land the Mohawks claimed. After a failed July 11 police raid in which an officer was killed, Mohawks at the Kahnawake reserve south of Montreal blocked the Mercier Bridge that connects Montreal to its populous south-shore suburbs in a show of support. Trouble later erupted near the Kahnawake reserve shortly after the events at Oka, when a crowd of 400 to 500 bat-toting and rock-launching Mohawk protesters threatened soldiers. By the end, army officials had taken 34 men, 16 women and six young people into custody. In the aftermath of the standoff, Ottawa appointed a royal commission on Aboriginal issues.

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Clayoquot Sound, B.C. — More than 700 people were arrested in 1993 during a peaceful three-month anti-logging protest on Vancouver Island. They objected to the B.C. government's logging plan for the Clayoquot, which would have allowed some form of logging in two-thirds of the 350,000 hectares of forest, home to some of Canada's largest and oldest trees. On July 15, police estimated nearly 2,000 people attended a rally in Tofino to hear the Australian rock group Midnight Oil perform in support of the protesters. The band's visit was organized by Greenpeace Canada. In 1995, the B.C. government said clearcutting — when large tracts of forest are stripped of trees — would be replaced with a new form of harvesting that requires loggers to leave more trees standing.

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Ipperwash, Ont. — One man was killed during a standoff over a land claim by Chippewa protesters outside Ipperwash Provincial Park on Lake Huron near London, Ont., in September 1995. Dudley George was killed in a confrontation with police at the park on Sept. 6. The land claim dated back more than 50 years and involved an abandoned military base. Nearly three weeks after the shooting, hundreds of people occupied the base and dozens more refused to leave the park, saying it was the site of a sacred burial ground. A police officer was later convicted of criminal negligence causing death. The standoff by members of the Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation ended on Sept. 13.

---

Gustafsen Lake, B.C. — An armed standoff between police and Indigenous people occupying a private ranch in Gustafsen Lake came to an end on Sept. 18, 1995, when a medicine man was allowed into the camp. Twenty people, two of whom were juveniles, were charged with a variety of offences, from mischief and trespassing to attempted murder and weapons offences. Those who occupied the ranch said it was on sacred ground and had never been ceded from Indigenous control.

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Burnt Church, N.B. — In the early 2000s, First Nations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia set lobster traps under their own management plans, which led to a series of violent clashes — most notably at Burnt Church, now known as the Esgenoopetitj First Nation. Most First Nations in the Maritimes and Quebec have since signed interim fishing agreements with Ottawa, but some Indigenous leaders have complained about the pace of talks. In 2017, non-Indigenous fishermen in western Nova Scotia started a series of peaceful protests at federal offices to draw attention to their claims that a small faction of Indigenous fishermen were selling their catches out of season and using their food and ceremonial fishery as cover.

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Rexton, N.B. — Forty people were arrested after RCMP enforced an injunction on Oct. 17, 2013, to prevent people from blocking a compound near Rexton where SWN Resources was storing exploration equipment. Police said they seized guns and improvised explosive devices when they enforced the injunction to end the blockade of the compound.  Six police vehicles were burned and police responded with pepper spray and fired beanbag-type bullets to defuse the situation. Among those who opposed shale gas development was the Elsipogtog First Nation. The RCMP blocked Route 134 on Sept. 29 after a protest there began spilling onto the road. Protesters subsequently cut down trees that were placed across another part of the road, blocking the entrance to the compound. The protesters wanted SWN Resources to stop seismic testing and leave the province. In 2014, the Liberal government in New Brunswick brought in an indefinite moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. It also instituted five conditions on allowing fracking, which included a plan for regulations and waste-water disposal, a process for consultation with First Nations, a royalty structure and a so-called social licence.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2020

The Canadian Press

The Supreme Court case behind the pipeline protests

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs on the front lines of the fight to stop a pipeline in their traditional territoriesare pointing to a Supreme Court case from the 1990s — Delgamuukw vs. British Columbia — that underscores their authority over the land. 

Crippling rail blockades spark debate over policing and politics

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer calls on PM to direct RCMP to intervene

Kathleen Harris, Catharine Tunney · CBC News · Posted: Feb 14, 2020

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will not interfere with police operations related to ongoing protests, but Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says it's time for the government to direct the RCMP to end the blockades. (Canadian Press )


Protests that have shut down most of Canada's rail system have opened a debate about the intersection of politics and policing — with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisting government must remain hands-off and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer insisting it's time for the PM to direct the RCMP to end the blockades.

On Friday, Scheer held a news conference in Ottawa and called on Trudeau to direct the national police force to "enforce the law" and end the "illegal" tactics.

"Democracy and the rule of law are fundamental pillars of our country, and it's time they are enforced," he said.

"If they are not, the Trudeau Liberal government will set a dangerous precedent that a small few can have a devastating impact on countless Canadians."

Trudeau rejected Scheer's demand. "We are not a kind of country where politicians get to tell the police what to do in operational matters," he said today following a security conference in Germany.

A statement from the office of Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who oversees the RCMP, said "police independence is crucial to public trust in our institutions."

"The minister of public safety does not direct police operations. The minister may not attempt to influence in any way an investigation, or direct the conduct of specific police operations," says the statement provided to CBC News.

"Our government is committed to protecting the constitutional right to lawful peaceful protest, keeping Canadians safe, and upholding the rule of law."
'Weasel words'

But some policing experts say an elected government does have the authority to direct police to act in the public interest.

Rick Parent is a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University who spent nearly 30 years as a municipal police officer. He said there's a difference between interfering in a criminal investigation and responding to a politically-motivated demonstration. Governments represent the public but sometimes try to "pass the buck" to police in controversial situations like this, he said.

Via Rail cancels most trains nationwide, CN closes Eastern Canadian network as Indigenous protests continue
Legault calls for action as Wet'suwet'en solidarity protests halt movement on Quebec railways
LISTENWet'suwet'en: Why B.C. is a battleground for Indigenous land rights

"I think it's an easy way out to say that the police are independent. I think those are like weasel words in the sense that we're trying to pass the buck on to the police and hold them accountable for this, when in fact ... it is a political thing," Parent said.

"It's not a crime against an individual that's occurring."

Parent said court orders must clearly state what powers the police are permitted to exercise in a specific situation, and any government direction must be in line with that court order.

According to the RCMP Act, officers are to "enforce all Acts of Parliament and regulations and render assistance to departments of the government of Canada as the Minister directs."
A 'political issue'

Christian Leuprecht, a Royal Military College professor who has written about the RCMP's structure, said that while police must be independent when it comes to criminal investigations, government intervention in this case would not amount to political interference in an investigation.

"The federal government does have options, contrary to what it is claiming," he said. "But it has chosen not to exercise those, likely for political reasons. Because this is, of course, the government that has staked much of its political fate on reconciliation ...

"I think the uniforms, whether it's federal or provincial, feel it shouldn't be their responsibility to resolve what is ultimately a political issue."
Memories of Ipperwash

Governments may be reluctant to get involved in such protests, given that memories of 1995's deadly confrontation in Ontario's Ipperwash Provincial Park are still fresh. After members of the Stoney Point Ojibway band occupied the park to assert their claim to nearby land, then-premier Mike Harris told the Ontario Provincial Police he wanted the protesters evicted. During the subsequent confrontation, protester Dudley George was killed by a police officer.

Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said Friday it's up to the federal government to show leadership and reach out to the protesters to bring about a swift resolution. But she agreed with Trudeau that the government should not interfere with police operations.

"It would be inappropriate for a government to direct a police force," she said, pointing out that the court has issued an injunction against the Mohawk protesters behind an illegal blockade near Belleville, Ont. that is snarling rail traffi
Police discretion

OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said police use their discretion as "a valid, appropriate approach to de-escalating situations such as this" — and that should not be confused with a lack of enforcement.

"The OPP calls on those involved to abide by the court injunction and to not put public peace or anyone's safety in jeopardy. The OPP respects the right of everyone to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, but we also recognize the rights of the general public, local residents and businesses to a safe environment," he said.

Dickson said the OPP will continue to follow its Framework for Police Preparedness for Indigenous Critical Incidents, which he said provides guidance on a "measured and sensitive response."
 

People stand near a rail blockade in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ont. on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)

That document outlines the approach to be taken by various levels of government to resolve critical incidents that may erupt over land claims, self-determination or treaty rights.

"A range of possibilities exists as to how the critical incident may evolve — from a passive demonstration to one where the public is significantly affected, (such as) blockage of transportation route," the document reads.

"It is imperative for police to ensure all parties to the critical incident have the opportunity to contribute to strategies for resolution. Employees will rely on established relationships for effective communication between themselves and persons involved in the critical incident as well as the other members of the community."

Mohawk activists who have set up camps on key rail lines in eastern Ontario have said they won't end their demonstration until the RCMP leaves the traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en in northern B.C.


Wet'suwet'en hereditary leaders had been blocking road access to a construction site for the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a key part of a $40-billion LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export project.

While much of the police action near that road ended Tuesday with multiple arrests, the RCMP still has officers stationed near the pipeline construction site.

Scheer said the blockades are being staged by anti-energy activists who are "ideologically motivated" and that they must not be allowed to "run roughshod over the rule of law."

"Radical activists, many of whom have no connection to the Wet'suwet'en people, are holding our country's economy hostage. Meanwhile, the prime minister has been out of the country on a vanity project to win a vote at the UN, neglecting his duties here at home," he said.

Scheer said it's time that Trudeau "pick up the phone" and tell Blair to "put an end to the situation."

While every person has the right to freedom of speech and protest, Scheer said, they don't have the right to block people from getting to work or to prevent businesses and farmers from getting their goods to market.

"These blockades are illegal. So far, the prime minister has refused to come out and call them that himself," he said.

Asked if police intervention could escalate an already tense situation, Scheer insisted the risk of escalation is greater if nothing is done.

Kenney (SELF APPOINTED SPOKESMAN FOR BIG OIL) calls Wet’suwet’en rail shutdown ‘national economic crisis’ — blames ‘some angry fringe groups’

EDMONTON—Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says the widespread shutdown of Canadian rail operations this week is a full-blown economic crisis.

“Why?” he said to reporters in Edmonton on Friday. “Because some angry fringe groups are ignoring the democratically expressed wishes of every First Nation in northern British Columbia.”

“I think Canadians are losing patience with this,” he said. “I know Indigenous people are.

This week has seen nationwide civil unrest in support of hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en, who are attempting to block the route of a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia. Protesters have gathered in solidarity and shut down rail operations across the country.

Kenney said he’s heard from Alberta’s business community over the matter. The premier said if shipping crude oil by rail is affected, it could take 400,000 barrels of oil out of commission — costing the economy billions. But the “very serious threat” extends past Alberta’s borders, said Kenney, and affects farmers in Saskatchewan and manufacturing businesses in Ontario.

Asked at a news conference whether Justin Trudeau should get involved, Kenney would only say, “That’s for the prime minister to decide.”

But he added the situation is “not just a regional issue” and urged leaders from all levels of government to get involved if the situation gets worse.

“This has become a national economic crisis,” Kenney said.

While in Germany on Friday, Trudeau said the road ahead would be “fraught with challenges.”

“You need to know we have failed our Indigenous peoples over generations, over centuries. And there is no quick fix to it,” Trudeau said, adding that all parties must move toward reconciliation.

“We also are, obviously, a country of laws. And making sure that those laws are enforced, even as there is, of course, freedom to demonstrate and to protest,” he said. “Getting that balance right and wrapping it up in the path forward … is really important.”

With files from Brendan Kennedy, The Canadian Press, and Star staff.

Kieran Leavitt is an Edmonton-based reporter covering provincial affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @kieranleavitt

Wet’suwet’en Crisis: Whose Rule of Law?
Explained: The complex clash of legal authority, and histories, behind today’s standoffs.

Katie Hyslop Yesterday | TheTyee.ca
Katie Hyslop is a reporter for The Tyee.

 

Christy Brown (Gitxsan-Tsimshian) at the Unist’ot’en camp on Wet’suwet’en territory in January 2019. B.C. Premier John Horgan has invoked the ‘rule of law’ in clearing anti-pipeline encampments. Photos: Chad Hipolito, Canadian Press (left) and BC NDP.

Unlike the majority of Canada, most of the territory we now know as British Columbia was never ceded by First Nations who have lived on these lands for at least the last 14,000 years.


In contrast, the Colony of British Columbia, as settlers first called the province, has existed for just over 160 years — less than one per cent of the time First Nations people have lived here.

Except for the Douglas Treaties on Vancouver Island, a portion of northeastern B.C. covered by Treaty 8, and a handful of modern treaties signed since the 1990s, the majority of British Columbia is First Nations’ land that was never covered by a treaty or taken as spoils of war.

Today, there are 200 distinct First Nations occupying their territories in B.C.


Like their lives and cultures, First Nations and Inuit legal systems across Canada were never extinguished, even where treaties were signed. The Supreme Court of Canada has declared these legal systems, unique to each nation, never stopped being valid just because Europeans settled here.
The Tyee is supported by readers like you Join us and grow independent media in Canada

This reality has meant continual clashes between Canadian governments who wish to mine natural resources for profit and jobs, and Indigenous people asserting their right to a seat at the table where decisions are made over how lands and resources are used.

The latest such conflict occurred last week when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police entered the unceded territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, 22,000 square kilometres located southwest of Smithers, arresting almost 30 Wet’suwet’en people and their allies.

The police were enforcing a Dec. 31, 2019 B.C. Court of Appeal injunction granted on behalf of Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TC Energy, a.k.a. TransCanada Energy.

Last month, following the injunction ruling, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced the Coastal GasLink project would go ahead, telling the media “the rule of law applies” now that the courts had sided with TC Energy.

But on unceded territory, the title of which is claimed by a First Nation living there for thousands of years without signed treaties or surrendering their land, whose rule of law applies? That question drives intensifying debate and protests.

Let’s break down and clarify six elements at play in this legal drama.

1. THE INJUNCTION

The B.C. Supreme Court’s Dec. 31 injunction sided with Coastal GasLink, giving it the right to continue construction on a 400-person “man camp” in anticipation of a provincial permit to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline running from Dawson’s Creek to Kitimat, B.C.

Both the man camp and the pipeline will cut right through untouched Wet’suwet’en territory.

This series of raids is the second time in 13 months the RCMP had raided Wet’suwet’en checkpoints along the logging road leading to the proposed man camp site. The previous raids were in the wake of a temporary injunction granted Coastal GasLink. In both cases arrests were made in the name of Coastal GasLink workers’ safe access to the territory.

Injunctions have proven an effective legal tool in Canada for corporations. The Yellowhead Institute, a First Nations-led research centre focusing on land and governance based in Ryerson University’s faculty of arts, released a report last fall showing of the roughly 100 injunctions they reviewed, 76 per cent filed by corporations against First Nations were granted, but just 19 per cent of injunctions filed by First Nations against corporations were approved.

“Land alienation is linked to the broader political economy of Canada that relies to a significant extent on its natural resource sector to secure jobs and investment. Thus, land alienation is a major economic driver of the Canadian economy,” the report concludes.


2. HEREDITARY CHIEFS AND BAND COUNCILS

Under the Indian Act, those who are recognized by the federal government as having First Nations “status” are grouped into bands, led by a chief and council elected by the band members.

Bands have control over reserve lands, where First Nations were forcibly relocated — sometimes on their own territories, sometimes not — under the Indian Act. Under Canadian law, reserve lands actually belong to the Crown, but bands have jurisdiction over the people and services on those reserves.

Coastal GasLink has signed Impact and Benefit Agreements with 20 Indian Act band councils along the 670-kilometre proposed pipeline route.

Prior to the passing of the Indian Act in 1876, First Nations, including the Wet’suwet’en had their own leadership and legal systems that were ignored by colonial governments, but never extinguished.

While the elected Wet’suwet’en chief and council have jurisdiction over the reserve communities on their territory, the rest of the 22,000 square kilometre territory — roughly the size of New Jersey — is the jurisdiction of the 13 hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s five clans: Gilseyhu, Likhts’amisyu, Laksilyu, Tsayu and Gidimt’en.

Between the five clans there are 13 houses, each with their own territory overseen by a hereditary chief. The proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline and man camp are slated for a section of Wet’suwet’en Nation controlled by the Dark House.

Due to the recent passing of two hereditary chiefs — and two hereditary chief vacancies — only nine of the 13 Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief positions are currently filled.

Unlike the hereditary royalty of the British monarchy, Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief is not a lifetime position bestowed on a bloodline. Rather, it’s a title that can be bequeathed a Wet’suwet’en Nation member based on their character and conduct — though this remains a matter of some dispute within the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.

While the elected Wet’suwet’en band council signed an agreement in favour of the pipeline with Coastal GasLink, the nine Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs maintain it is they, not the band council, who have jurisdiction over their territory.

“This pipeline does not go through one band” community, said John Ridsdale, a.k.a. Hereditary Chief Na’Moks, one of two hereditary chiefs of the Tsayu or Beaver Clan.

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that in order for resource projects to go ahead on Indigenous lands, the government must engage in consultation with Indigenous communities in order to receive their “free, prior and informed consent” for the project.

But Chief Na’Moks says the B.C. government abdicated its responsibility for consultation to a corporation, in this case Coastal GasLink. And when the hereditary chiefs pushed back, the government sent in the RCMP.

“You look at ‘free, prior and informed consent,’ and at this point now, looking down the barrel of a gun, I don’t know how that can be considered ‘free,’” he said.

There has been a Wet’suwet’en checkpoint on the Morice West Forest Service Road, erected at Unist’ot’en Village on Dark House territory, since 2009. In 2018, Coastal GasLink filed an injunction against the checkpoint, alleging its workers were unable to enter the territory to begin construction on the man camp.

In December 2018, the B.C. Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction, but the Wet’suwet’en refused to allow Coastal GasLink to cross. The following month the RCMP raided the checkpoint, arresting 14 people.

Eventually the chiefs met with Coastal GasLink and agreed to let workers enter Wet’suwet’en territory to conduct “soft work” like water and soil sample collection and testing. But Chief Na’Moks told The Tyee in a recent phone interview that Coastal GasLink did not stick to the rules.

“They started clearing trees, building roads, put in a man camp. They absolutely abused the access, which we had allowed,” he said.

“We had filed a judicial review of the certification and permitting of Coastal GasLink — it’s before the Oil and Gas Commission right now — and in a 10-month period we have in excess of 50 infractions.”

All nine existing hereditary chiefs oppose the project, and issued an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink workers on Jan. 4, 2020. By this point three protest camps had been established along the service road to stop Coastal GasLink workers from entering.

But the granting of the temporary injunction was enough to grant the RCMP powers to raid the camps. After weeks of tense standoff, the RCMP began moving in, and over the course of a week beginning Feb. 6 they raided and dismantled three Wet’suwet’en camps along the Morice West Forest Service Road, arresting almost 30 people. No charges have been laid.

3. PREVIOUS COURT RULINGS

While the continued existence and relevance of Indigenous land-based legal systems may come as news to many Canadians, it is not news to our governments or law courts.

In fact, it is recognized in our Constitution: Sec. 35 recognizes and affirms the “existing Aboriginal and treaty rights.”

And our Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the rights and freedoms of others do not override or take away those of Indigenous people.

Over the past 30 years there have been several provincial and national court rulings affirming the existence and continued relevance of Indigenous legal systems in what is now known as Canada. In the interest of time and space, here are just a few:

R. v. Van der Peet (SCC 1996): Dorothy Marie Van der Peet, a member of the Stó:lō Nation, was charged with selling fish without a license. Van der Peet maintained this infringed on her Indigenous hunting and fishing rights as outlined under Sec. 35 of the constitution.

While Van der Peet lost the case, Supreme Court of Canada judge Beverley McLachlin wrote:

“The history of the interface of Europeans and the common law with aboriginal peoples is a long one. As might be expected of such a long history, the principles by which the interface has been governed have not always been consistently applied. Yet running through this history, from its earliest beginnings to the present time is a golden thread — the recognition by the common law of the ancestral laws and customs of the aboriginal peoples who occupied the land prior to European settlement.”

Delgamuukw vs. The Queen/British Columbia (SCC 1997): A combined legal effort by the 13 Wet’suwet’en and 35 Gitxsan hereditary chiefs to stop the province of B.C. from clearcutting on their unceded territories. Originally filed in 1984, it took 13 years to reach the Supreme Court of Canada, who ruled they could not establish Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan rights and title due to a technicality. Instead they suggested a retrial, or negotiations with the province and federal governments.

With their resources exhausted, neither Nation brought the case to trial again, and negotiations with Canadian and provincial governments did not happen.

However, Delgamuukw, named after just one of the hereditary chiefs involved, did rule that Indigenous oral history, previously dismissed by lower courts as irrelevant, was just as valid as European settlers’ written histories. And it maintained Indigenous rights and title could not be dismissed or dissolved by Canadian or provincial governments.

The Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia (SCC, 2014): This was the first Supreme Court of Canada case to rule definitively on Indigenous rights and title. The courts granted the Tsilhqot’in Nation’s claim to the 1,750 square kilometres they were in court to protect from clear-cut logging.

While the courts did not say the decision over resource extraction in the region belonged to the Tsilhqot’in Nation alone, it did rule colonial governments must engage in consultations with First Nations, government-to-government, for free, prior and informed consent on resource projects happening on their land before greenlighting a project.

As Judith Sayers, a.k.a. Kekinusuqs from Hupacasath First Nation in Port Alberni, B.C., president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, wrote in The Tyee a month after the ruling was released, “My prediction was that this country would be rocked by the Tsilhqot’in decision and it certainly was. We are still feeling the reverberations from the Tsilhqot’in decision and will for many years to come.”

(You can read about other relevant court cases here and here.)

4. PAST STANDOFFS AND THE SHIFTING LEGAL CONTEXT

The Wet’suwet’en blockades are not the first time First Nations people have literally stood their ground on land and title disputes in Canada.

This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the Oka Crisis, a 78-day standoff between the Mohawk and the province of Quebec over the expansion of a nine-hole golf course by the Oka municipality onto sacred Kanesatake Mohawk territory. While no golf course was built, the Mohawk continue to fight off development on the territory.

And 25 years ago, 400 police officers and the army came down on 20 Ts’peten Defenders of the Secwepemc Nation at Gustafsen Lake, B.C., after a 31-day standoff over ranchers’ grazing rights on Secwepemc land.

But this is the first land standoff since the Supreme Court of Canada made clear that Indigenous law was never extinguished, said Kate Gunn, a lawyer with First Peoples Law.

Gunn’s firm is representing the Dark House in an upcoming judicial review of Coastal GasLink’s archeological mitigation plan for their territory. Gunn spoke to The Tyee on her own behalf, not that of the Dark House.

The courts have ruled governments, not corporations, must engage in nation-to-nation consultations, Gunn said, that is consistent with the Indigenous nation’s laws and cultural practices in seeking free, prior and informed consent.

“I don’t think that the federal or provincial governments, at this point, have really grappled with what that means in terms of having the Wet’suwet’en or other Indigenous groups really actively asserting their laws and jurisdiction out on the land,” she said.

“There isn’t a template that says which law is paramount when that happens.”

5. UNDRIP

Then there is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, more commonly referred to as UNDRIP, a non-binding resolution outlining the rights of Indigenous people worldwide. Passed by the United Nations in 2007, Canada did not endorse the declaration until 2010, although it still referred to the document as “aspirational.”

It would be late 2015 before the federal government promised to adopt and implement the declaration, a move we are still waiting on over four years later. Rather, it was British Columbia who took the first step last October by becoming the only province to pass legislation aimed at implementing the declaration in all provincial ministries, Crown corporations and laws.

The celebrations didn’t last long. RCMP raids on Wet’suwet’en territory, according to some who occupied the steps of the B.C. legislature last week, appear to directly violate at least one of UNDRIP’s 46 articles. They point to Article 8 which declares, “States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress” for any action “which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources” and any “form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights.”

Sayers, who is also an assistant professor of business and law at the University of Victoria, highlighted in The Tyee a few other UNDRIP articles these raids may violate:

“For instance, Article 18 gives the Wet’suwet’en the right to participate in any decision-making through their own procedures and law. This has not happened. Article 26 gives them the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources they possess through ownership, and says the state must give legal recognition and protect their lands and resources. None of this has occurred to date, and it doesn’t look like B.C. is even considering it. The government is saying this is Crown land, the company has Crown permits, so therefore the development must happen.”

6. WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE COURTS

In her New Year’s Eve decision granting the injunction that triggered last week’s RCMP raids, Madam Justice Church of the B.C. Court of Appeal made several statements regarding whether Wet’suwet’en law should be factored when land claims remain unsettled.

“As a general rule, Indigenous customary laws do not become an effectual part of Canadian common law or Canadian domestic law until there is some means or process by which the Indigenous customary law is recognized as being part of Canadian domestic law, either through incorporation into treaties, court declarations, such as Aboriginal title or rights jurisprudence or statutory provisions,” she wrote.

“There has been no process by which Wet’suwet’en customary laws have been recognized in this manner. The Aboriginal title claims of the Wet’suwet’en people have yet to be resolved either by negotiation or litigation. While Wet’suwet’en customary laws clearly exist on their own independent footing, they are not recognized as being an effectual part of Canadian law.”

Ultimately Church concluded the issue of whether Wet’suwet’en law and land title were legitimate are beyond the scope of an injunction hearing. “This is not the venue for that analysis and those are issues that must be determined at trial.”

Gavin Smith, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law and Smithers resident, wrote a blog post tackling Madam Justice Church’s conclusions.



Riveting Video Captures RCMP Raid of Gidimt’en Camp READ MORE

He notes: “The recognition of Indigenous governance within the Canadian legal system is emphatically not an issue specific to Dark House or the Wet’suwet’en. We all have an interest in the recognition of Indigenous governance, both to address colonial injustices and to uphold the law in its fullest sense (including the Canadian constitution).”

In the wake of the injunctions, members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have launched several court actions including a judicial review of Coastal GasLink’s permit as it relates to man camps and their documented impact on violence against women and girls; and a constitutional challenge over the potential environmental impacts of a liquid natural gas pipeline and the resulting carbon emissions.

This fight is far from over, but the existing Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs express confidence their law will prevail.

“At one point they said, ‘You’ve got to prove your strength of claim,’” Na’Moks said of the B.C. government. “I’d like to see their strength of claim. We know ours. We’ve been here for thousands of years.”


Read more: Indigenous Affairs, Rights + Justice

Wet'suwet'en operators gain valuable experience


David CARRIGG / Postmedia FEBRUARY 14, 2020 

A Wet’suwet’en member operates machinery loading logs from a right-of-way clearing on behalf of Coastal GasLink in the fall of 2019. The machine is being operated 15 km west of work camp 9A on the Shea Creek Forest Service Road.
- PHOTO COURTESY OF TROY YOUNG

For Troy Young, the greatest benefit of training dozens of Wet’suwet’en workers as heavy equipment operators for the Coastal GasLink pipeline will be felt in a decade as those workers are spread out across the province.

Young, a Wet’suwet’en member and general manager of Kyah Resources Inc., is one of several primary contractors completing clearing and road-building work for the 670 km underground gas pipeline being built to service the LNG Canada plant under construction in Kitimat

Kyah Resources is a joint venture between Young’s private company and the Witset First Nation - one of the five Wet’suwet’en bands that have signed access and benefits agreements with Coastal GasLink.

The only Wet’suwet’en band not to sign is the Hagwilget, in the northernmost part of the nation’s 22,000 square kilometre territory.

“This is a great opportunity for people who have skills, but don’t have a huge amount of time on the machines, to gain that time and become employable pretty much anywhere in B.C.,” said Young, 49, speaking from Houston B.C.

“If you don’t have the resumé that says you have three years running Cats and you go for a job as a Cat operator people look and say they don’t want to train you. Here we have an opportunity to train up to 100 people who are going to be able to work anywhere. If you want to be an equipment operator getting time in the seat is the most important thing that can happen.”

Young also sees the advantage First Nations machine operators will have on work sites where they are skilled and not general workers.

“It’s a big equalizer to show that you have skills to operate stuff.”

Young is among Wet’suwet’en members starting to speak out as anti-pipeline protests spread across Canada in support of a group of Wet’suwet’en hereditary house chiefs who are opposed to the routing of the pipeline across Wet’suwet’en traditional territory.

They say they, and not the elected band councils, are in charge of the traditional lands, which are not in reserves.

The project is supported by the provincial and federal governments. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would meet with those hereditary chiefs in opposition, as protesters in Metro Vancouver occupied Attorney General David Eby’s office, forced the eastbound WestCoast Express to a standstill and threatened to shutdown government buildings in Victoria on Friday.

Tiffany Murray, Coastal GasLink’s director of Indigenous relations, said that last December the company’s contractors employed 1,100 workers, of which 400 were Indigenous - mostly from the 20 B.C. bands that have signed agreements. Murray said that number would balloon by the summer, as more work camps were built.

The company has promised to spend $1 billion of its $6.6 billion budget providing direct funding, employment and training opportunities for affiliated First Nations.

“As we continue our clearing works we will have more of our workforce accommodations in by spring and summer. Then things will ramp up,” she said.

There are currently six work camps along the route, including Camp 9A, where Young’s workers are staying and which is at the centre of the current controversy.

In late December, workers staying at the camp were asked to leave by a group of Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders and they complied. Coastal GasLink then got a Supreme Court of B.C. injunction demanding the workers have access to the campsite and that any blockades be removed.

A deep and unusual cold set in and both sides were at a stalemate. Workers were allowed back to the camp for a day to make sure the cold would not damage property.

Last week, after weeks of standoff the RCMP moved in, demolishing the blockades and arresting protesting Wet’suwet’en members.

Young said Camp 9A can house 120 workers. He expects his workers to take around three years to complete the project, essentially cutting a between 30- to 50-metre wide swath through the forest, at which point they will meet up with Haisla Nation work crews cutting east from Kitimat.

“Once the pipeline is in the ground, there is still maintenance work that needs to take place. We will have trained people here so it makes sense we will do the work,” he said.

He also expected there to be more pipeline work in the future, including the Pacific Trail Pipeline Project.

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