B.C. First Nations Councillors more determined than ever to stop Northern Gateway Pipeline project after northern Alberta visit

B.C. First Nations Councillors more determined than ever to stop Northern Gateway Pipeline project after northern Alberta visit by Gemma Karstens-Smith, July 22, 2012, Edmonton Journal in Global TV Edmonton
A visit to northern Alberta last week left councillors from three B.C. First Nations feeling physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. “My eyes are burning and my head’s spinning and I’m nauseated,” said Timothy Innes, councillor of the Gitxaala Nation on Porcher Island south of Prince Rupert, after three days of touring oilsands developments north of Fort McMurray. … Innes has been opposed to the project from the beginning, but wanted to see where the oil carried in the pipeline would come from so he joined Marilyn Slett, chief of the Heiltsuk First Nation in Bella Bella, and John Ridsdale, Chief Na’Moks of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation near Burns Lake, to explore the oilsands developments. The visitors were surprised by the immensity and omnipresence of the operations. “You can read as much as you want, listen to as much as you want, but until you see it, you won’t believe it,” said Ridsdale, whose title means head chief of the First Nation. “You can smell it, you can taste it when you’re out there,” Slett added. “I was actually quite shocked by it.” … “There’s lots of money coming out of there, but the people there, they’re common people. They’ve got nothing. They’ve been left out,” Innes said. “And money is not going to bring back what’s going to be lost.” … “They don’t have their cultural way of life anymore,” she said. “To hear from an elder in Fort McKay that they can’t eat the fish there, they can’t hunt, berries don’t grow … it really hit home for me.” … “What you’re doing is allowing them to commit cultural genocide,” Ridsdale said. “Without your culture, you have nothing.” … “Coming here made us stronger in our resolve,” Ridsdale said. “We’ve always spoken the truth and now we have a little bit of sugar to put on too.” “We’re going to fight harder, going to keep saying no, until they understand what no means,” Innes said.