BIV MAGAZINE
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BIV MAGAZINE: THE BC INVESTING ISSUE 2020 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER
FIRST NATIONS BENEFIT FIRST FROM LNG Indigenous nations will be the first to benefit when natural gas pipelines go into the ground this year in northern B.C. – but they won’t be the last FRANK O’BRIEN
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erhaps as early as this autumn, approximately 8,200 members of 14 First Nations in northern B.C. will receive the first payment in what will be a 40-year, multimillion-dollar benefits package tied to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline that begins just north of Chetwynd and ends 676 kilometres later at the LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat. Under benefit agreements worked out over the past six years to ensure the largest industrial project in B.C.’s history would proceed, First Nations along the route were offered what appear to be life-changing deals that include cash, jobs and business opportunities. Each of the nations, some of which have fewer than 200 members, will share $10 million annually from the British Columbia government as long as the pipeline is pumping – an estimated 40 years. In addition, Indigenous bands will receive initial cash payments that total $31 million, or an average of approximately $2 million per community. Half of these incentives are paid 90 days after the first 25 kilometres of pipe – known as the first spread – is in the ground. The pipeline contractor, Coastal GasLink, estimates that this official commencement of construction could be as soon as this summer. The final half of the incentives is paid 90 days after the pipeline begins fuelling the $13 billion LNG Canada terminal at Kitimat. LNG Canada has signed separate impact benefits agreements with First Nations in Kitimat and along the shipping route, but the agreements “are considered commercially sensitive documents, not unlike a business contract, so we aren’t at liberty to discuss specifics,” says an emailed
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statement from Susannah Pierce, director of corporate affairs at LNG Canada. One of the largest B.C. government payments goes to the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, which represents the most populous Indigenous organization under the agreement, with 1,921 members. As BIV Magazine went to press, anti-pipeline protests in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs were shutting down rail service and roads across the country. The elected band council of the Wet’suwet’en people supports the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, while hereditary chiefs do not. As it stands, the Wet’suwet’en, located near Smithers, is in line for $4.8 million, plus a further payment of $988,000, according to government documents, as well as an annual payment of what could be $714,000 per community, if the $10 million in annual payments is evenly divided among the 14 nations. Tiny bands – even those less than 10% of the size of the Wet’suwet’en – will also benefit from the project. The 186-member Skin Tyee Nation will receive incentives of $2.3 million, plus an additional $466,000 and a share of the $10 million in annual payments. Members of the Ts’il Kaz Koh First Nation (the Burns
2020-02-26 12:04 PM
