The oil boom in Alberta, Canada has brought Big Oil in confrontation with First Nations for decades. This year, a breakthrough struggle occurred as the Woodland Cree First Nation established a blockade to stop construction of new oil wells by Obsidian Energy. Demanding respect for their treaty rights and a more equitable deal, the struggle of the Woodland Cree united Treaty 8 First Nations and local non-Indigenous industry owners against Obsidian. Brandi Morin reports from Treaty 8 territory in this exclusive documentary from The Real News and Ricochet Media.
Pre-Production: Brandi Morin, Geordie Day, Maximillian Alvarez, Ethan Cox
Videographer: Geordie Day
Video Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
Irina Ceric: WoodLand Cree First Nation Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom is seen taking the injunction and putting it in a nearby fire pit
Brandi Morin: Throughout the month of May. In a remote region of Northern Alberta, Canada, a standoff took place between a First Nation and an energy company. Sounds typical, right? No, this was more complicated. For starters, an oil and gas company had requested an emergency court hearing to seek the arrest of a Cree chief opposing a drilling project on Indigenous land.
Irina Ceric: It’s over?
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: It’s over. There was no intent on their part to negotiate.
Brandi Morin: I’ve covered many confrontations between resource companies and First Nations, but I could tell this one was different as soon as I set foot in Woodland Cree territory,
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: We believe in sharing prosperity. First Nations people are very generous. I think we’re born that way. If we see somebody hungry, we feed them. If we see somebody cold, we help them. That’s just the way we’re brought up.
Brandi Morin: This pro-industry First Nation and their blockade were supported by many local, non-Indigenous industry owners and workers. They joined the Woodland Cree in asking Obsidian Energy to hire local, mitigate environmental impacts, and share profits with the First Nation. But Obsidian’s confrontational American CEO seemed to think he could bulldoze through local opposition.
Stephen, do you have any time for a brief [crosstalk] interview.
Stephen Loukas: [Crosstalk] Rangers in six.
Brandi Morin: After failed attempts to negotiate with the company, the Woodland Cree First Nation erected a blockade in the form of a traditional camp in early May to halt Obsidian Energy’s access to their traditional territory near Peace River. Soon after, Obsidian was granted a civil injunction against them.
It was a conflict that threatened to have far-reaching implications for how resource companies interact with First Nations across Canada. In June, Obsidian reached an agreement with the First Nation to end their blockade.
Although the terms aren’t public, it’s clear Obsidian were forced to walk back from their earlier, more confrontational statements. Could this be the start of a new kind of resource fight, one that pits Indigenous and non-Indigenous locals against corporate investors? This is the story of how one small First Nation partnered with local industry and forced a multinational to listen to them.
Tensions escalated on May 13 when Woodland Cree leadership, including Isaac Laboucan-Avirom, stormed out of a meeting with Obsidian CEO, Stephen Loukas, who jetted in from Calgary. Loukas is American, but the company is based in Calgary. Woodland Cree members suspect he isn’t well-informed on Indigenous rights and the legal duty to consult.
Stephen Loukas: We’re in the early innings of executing on that plan. I’m very happy with the start that we have to date. We’ve outlined production that was approximately 36,000 BOEs a day.
Brandi Morin: Some Woodland Cree told me Loukas comes off as arrogant and disinterested in good-faith negotiations. He sure wasn’t interested when I asked for comment
Stephen Loukas: Rangers in six.
Brandi Morin: What the heck does that mean?
Speaker 1: Sports reference.
Brandi Morin: And my repeated requests for interviews with Obsidian reps have been ignored.
Speaker 2: I need to transfer your call, but that is the number that I have for the media department… One second. And did you already left a voicemail [crosstalk] —
Brandi Morin: Yes.
Speaker 2: — Requesting a call back?
Brandi Morin: Yes, I have.
This conflict’s been brewing for a while, as far back as two years ago when the Woodland Cree learned the company was planning to drill 200 more wells here. They don’t seem to care that this is unceded territory. First Nations signed treaties with the Canadian government when Canada was established. The treaties stipulated First Nations’ access to traditional territories and rights to maintain their livelihoods. Industries like Obsidian are supposed to consult with First Nation treaty holders about any developments affecting their territories, but that’s not what Obsidian is doing.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Well, this, I believe, is definitely years in the making. This didn’t happen overnight. We acted overnight — Reacted overnight, but this has been definitely an accumulation of many different circumstances.
The campus here is due to an awkward relationship, manipulation, lack of integrity. This company is basically saying, Hey, we don’t gotta work with the locals. But I’m saying, hey, you should work with the locals. Obviously you don’t have to, but you should. It’s the right thing to do. In this Peace area, it hasn’t been as economically hot as other regions in this province.
Brandi Morin: Obsidian has filed an application that has yet to be heard by the court, an emergency application to specifically have Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom arrested and jailed until the blockade is taken down, and that’s a pretty bold move.
Irina Ceric: The injunction was not surprising. Research that I participated in the Yellowhead Institute published a couple of years ago makes it very clear that resource extraction companies such as Obsidian have a very strong record of success in obtaining injunctions against First Nations and Indigenous groups, even on traditional territories, even on treaty territories, and this is Treaty 8 territory.
Brandi Morin: I reached out to Irina Ceric, an expert on injunctions granted against activists and Indigenous groups.
Irina Ceric: The way that the courts issue injunctions mean that issues such as Indigenous legal orders or the existence of Aboriginal or treaty rights under a treaty or under the Constitution are just not taken into consideration. When these sorts of court orders are obtained by corporations, the corporations can just say, we have this licensed project, regardless of how well that licensing process was carried out, this group of people is impeding our ability to carry out this project and we’re going to be irreparably harmed, meaning that we’re going to lose so much money and time that that cannot be addressed later on. And then the courts tend to take those arguments very seriously, and injunctions of this sort of situation are not unusual at all.
What is really unusual, and you mentioned this yourself, is this attempt by Obsidian to go back to court and attempt to have a second procedure issue, this arrest warrant. And that’s unnecessary on a legal level. Once a court order is issued, there will be an enforcement order within that injunction that says, in this case it’s the RCMP, you can enforce this order; that includes taking people into custody if necessary. So the police have that power. It’s not like the police can’t arrest the chief if they choose to. So what I’m seeing here is an attempt to sidestep the discretion of the police and attempt to have a court issue an unnecessary, and, I think, highly unusual, arrest warrant.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Obviously, that’s outrageous. I think the courts also understand the repercussions that that would have and the precedents that would have, and I don’t think that is a responsible way forward, a respectful way forward. And that’s been the issue all along. I think to move forward, whether it’s with industry, government, even family, you have to have integrity, understanding, respect in response. You know what I mean? There’s principles, and even corporate principles, that have to be met. We’re not just all about the money, but we are, in a way, saying, hey, if you do want to make money, we want to make money for our people as well.
Brandi Morin: At the heart of this conflict, industry and government circumventing treaty rights, and First Nations have had enough.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: I definitely don’t think there’s a good understanding of traditional rights, treaty rights, land acknowledgement, et cetera. It’s been very intrusive what Obsidian is doing to us, but it’s also showcasing to the world there has to be better ways to get work done, so to speak. I do understand that there is a need for resources to be in the global market. I think it actually might make the world a better place. I think Canada needs to do a better job at getting investors into this country — But working with the First Nations in partnership to get that done. We take responsibility for our destiny. We have our own rights to our own self-determination, and that is definitely different than what others might assume for us.
Janice Makokis: When our ancestors and the people in Treaty 8 entered into treaty more than a hundred years ago, there was an understanding that the parties were both sovereign entities with unextinguished title to the lands. When they entered into that international treaty agreement, it was two sovereigns. And the Indigenous side of that party understood that they were not giving up anything, including the land and resources of the lands that they would’ve referred to as their territory.
Brandi Morin: I reached out to Janice Makokis, an Indigenous scholar and member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, to understand more about how treaty rights play into this.
Janice Makokis: And so what happened after that was almost immediately after treaty making happened, the Indian Act was set in play by the federal government, which corral our people onto these small parcels of land referred to now as reserves, but we would be able to have full access to land outside of the reserves for hunting, fishing, trapping, and other things to maintain our livelihood and way of life. And so that territory is inclusive of everything within the treaty territory, so everything within Treaty 8, as the Woodland Cree are under.
So there’s a significant misunderstanding between our people’s understanding of the treaty and the crown, government’s, and industry’s understanding of what that is. And I think that’s where we see these conflicts happening on the land, because we are still exercising our inherent and treaty rights as we understood them when our ancestors made that treaty. And the crown and industry have a completely different understanding, and so that’s why we have these conflicts that exist on the land.
Brandi Morin: Don’t you think that those different understandings that the government and industry have is pretty convenient for them?
Janice Makokis: Oh yeah, absolutely. Because it benefits them to continue to oppress and use colonial laws and legal instruments such as injunctions or through the courts to advance their interests in the name of the public good or the good of the company and for economic development reasons, whatever that is, or whatever arguments that they’re making to advance the interest of their company.
Brandi Morin: But they don’t look at the public interest in regards to the interests of First Nations, whose sovereign territory that is and whose livelihoods are connected to that.
Janice Makokis: That’s right, exactly. They don’t consider First Nations as a part of the interest when they’re considering the interests, whose rights, lives, and land that they’re impacting when they’re out there doing what they’re doing on the land to make profit from resource extraction taking place.
Brandi Morin: The Peace oil sands is referred to as the mini Fort McMurray of Alberta. Fort McMurray is the extractive economic engine of Canada, pumping out billions of dollars in annual revenue. The Peace oil sands are also rich in untapped oil reserves. There’s a ton of money to be gleaned out of here, but development goes hand in hand with the destruction of the land.
Frank Whitehead: And I said, hey, this is the most environmental person you’ll ever see. Because I was born in [inaudible]. I knew where everything is, where the moose licks are, things like that. A lot of times they bury all that when they’re working on oil. They don’t look at what we look at. We look at the whole territory. We look at where you need to put your lease. We have to be doing that, not you guys. A lot of times they don’t let us do that, and they go ahead and do it without consulting us. Consulting us is the very thing that they should be doing. They should not do that, but a lot of times they’ll just do it. Go ahead and do everything.
But my heart cries for Mother Nature a lot of times too, because Mother Nature is the one that gives us this land, that gives us everything that we should respect. We should have no garbage. We should have everything to be cleaned up after. And sometimes if you go, they’re not cleaned up. When they plug a hole and the water comes out with cement. Cement just shoots out, now you have cement all over. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. You have to clean this place. Because to me, sometimes Mother Nature cries so much. They drain so much.
But that’s what I was taught. A lot of times you have to listen to that. You have to listen to the birds, you listen to the animals. You listen to the little creatures. You listen to the little bugs. Because the bugs, if it wasn’t for the bugs, the birds wouldn’t be here.
Brandi Morin: So Frank, have you been coming and has you and your family been utilizing these specific areas ever since you were [crosstalk].
Frank Whitehead: Yes. Yes.
Brandi Morin: And so have you seen big changes?
Frank Whitehead: Oh, man. Like I said, I’ve been here, and we flew this 10 years ago when my brother Joe was the chief there. We flew it and then we see the changes from the helicopter, how it changed. We used to hunt all the routes to walk, instead of now you can just drive anywhere. But what keeps us from that is they’re putting the gates now. This is our hunting grounds, and you put a gate and you put all this. This is where we live.
But I even see animals going away too, because [they’re] scared of everything that’s happening, and you got your trucks all over the place, and we have to watch it.
Brandi Morin: Industrial activity is transforming the landscape, but there’s another big problem: earthquakes. The Alberta energy regulator found Obsidian Energy responsible for causing a series of quakes here in 2022 after it injected industrial wastewater deep into the ground.
Reporter 1: Late November, an earthquake shook houses and had people stop in their tracks.
Speaker 3: [Clip of man playing piano when earthquake starts] Oh my.
Reporter 1: It happened in the Peace River region and could be felt more than 600 kilometers away.
Ryan Shultz: But what makes this different or noteworthy is how big this earthquake was.
Reporter 1: The 5.6 magnitude earthquake is the largest the province has seen. At first, it was thought to be natural, but a study done by Stanford University is suggesting wastewater disposal from oil production triggered it.
Ryan Shultz: We are confident that this event was a manmade or induced earthquake is what they’re called.
Reporter 1: This research shows the first link between such a large earthquake and human activities this far away from a mountain range. Researchers say they’ve seen other quakes caused by fracking, but they believe this one is different: it happened after wastewater was injected into a well to extract oil.
Ryan Shultz: The injection of CO2 also has the potential to cause earthquakes. So this is something to, essentially, start thinking about, and maybe even start monitoring.
Brandi Morin: One of the quakes was the largest ever recorded in Alberta’s history: it scored a local magnitude of 5.6 — Yet, Obsidian denies it had anything to do with them and is appealing the AER ruling.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: We did make a request for incremental data that really anchored the AER’s decision as well as the characterization that the seismic activity in the Peace River area was solely attributable to Obsidian’s operations. We didn’t agree with that assertion then, we don’t agree with it now. We are in the process of evaluating that data. We will have more to say in that regard in the future.
Brandi Morin: The memory of this earthquake is seared into the minds of all here, including Chief Isaac.
Can you talk about the earthquakes?
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Oh my goodness. I remember that day I had elders calling me. I just dropped my kids off for school. My daughters were calling me from Peace River. I was taking off to a meeting. I believe I was close to the area, ready to turn around. But definitely unexpected and felt by everybody, not just me and my family, but the farmers nearby, industry. I believe it might’ve been one of the biggest in Alberta to date.
Brandi Morin: So do you feel it, or…?
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: We felt it. It was shaking houses, absolutely. I think there were four or five tremors or something that happened. Like I said, I was on the road and I was definitely scared for my children. Obviously, when you hear about earthquakes, because they’re not normal in our area, we wonder what the repercussions would be. Will it rupture pipes? Will it rupture foundational stuff? Will it hurt old homes? We don’t know. Will it contaminate groundwaters?
Brandi Morin: Will there be more?
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Will there be more? That’s one of the biggest questions as well. Will there be more? Are they man-made? Are they industry made?
Brandi Morin: Chief Isaac, like most Woodland Cree, grew up hunting, fishing, and trapping. He still gets out on the land as often as he can.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: So then my brother comes looking in for me three or four nights after, tries pulling me out, he gets stuck. Then he had to walk out with my little brother to the end of the road. And that must have been… Yeah, it was definitely a few miles.
Brandi Morin: So then how’d you guys get out then?
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Three or four four-by-fours.
Brandi Morin: [Laughs] Chains?
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: And everything. Yeah.
Brandi Morin: Just moments after sharing stories of being on the land with me, the chief discovered access to his beloved hunting territory was blocked. Obsidian erected a gate to another industry road not far from the Woodland Cree blockade.
Oh, they have a gate up.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Holy fuck.
Brandi Morin: Notice… Oh, was that there before?
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: No.
Brandi Morin: This road is closed… Blah, blah, blah. Oh, here’s the security lady. I wonder what she’s going to say to you.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: When was the gate put up?
Security Guard: Yesterday.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Oh, so they did put it up, hey? I’m the chief. Just wondering what’s going on with this gate. Don’t worry. I’m not going to make a big deal. I just wanted to see if the gate was put up.
Security Guard: [Inaudible].
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Oh wow.
Security Guard: I just don’t like being on video.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Yeah, neither do I [laughs]. Man. Well, this is very, very unfortunate. How many people are up this way?
Security Guard: I have no idea.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Son of a gun. All right. Yep.
Security Guard: Well, I’m not letting no one unless they work for… [Inaudible].
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Which company? Obsidian?
Security Guard: [Nods][inaudible].
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Yeah. All right. Is there any other construction going on over there? Just tankers.
Security Guard: [Shakes head][inaudible].
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Alright, well, I’ll go let them know that they did put up the gate. I thought they were going to wait for us.
Like, holy fuck. The direct attack on treaty from stopping the people who live off of this land from entering their own lands. How it stops us from hunting, gathering, trapping. We were just talking about stories of how we used to just camp forever. And then now we’re being locked out of our traditional territories and places where we found medicine. We were finding medicine over there. They harvested moose over there. We have that and they’ve put a lock on it. Something has to change.
Brandi Morin: Back at the blockade, Woodland Cree members are set up along the Walrus industry access road, about 40 minutes east of Peace River. It’s a key access road utilized by Obsidian, which is now shut down. The company is losing around $450,000 Canadian dollars a day here.
And the Woodland Cree are not alone. See, I’ve covered a lot of Indigenous defense frontlines. Other than a few non-Native allies that show up sometimes, I’ve never witnessed non-Indigenous industry owners supporting First Nations like they are here. Some have parked their semi-trucks and heavy equipment at the blockade, despite risking being blacklisted by Obsidian.
Dustin Lambert: My name’s Dustin Lambert. I’m from Peace River, Alberta, area.
Brandi Morin: And what do you do?
Dustin Lambert: I work in construction.
Brandi Morin: Awesome. What do you think about what’s going on here with the camp?
Dustin Lambert: I think it’s a good thing for the community to stand against the oil companies when they try to take from the communities and not work with the community. People like Obsidian has work, but they want to bring in a large outside contractor. And, as I understand, in Canada, we’re free to work in all areas. However, when you have local contractors, they should have the first opportunity. And when Obsidian goes and tries to bring the larger contractors in that have the potential to take all the work from the companies in the region.
And then with Obsidian trying to go through and not work with the community being like the Woodland Band, or Lubicon, or any of the bands, because we work through them and directly with them. And I’ve worked with these guys on and off pretty much my whole life. Went to school with them and then worked with them.
Brandi Morin: Meanwhile, Woodland Cree members are well equipped for the long haul if need be.
Frank Whitehead: Right here.
Brandi Morin: Blended right in.
Frank Whitehead: Right here. The snare’s right here.
Brandi Morin: Wow.
Frank Whitehead: And that’s how you put it.
And this is where they’re working. And look at what’s happening. They’re taking all our rabbits, everything, animals.
Brandi Morin: The Woodland Cree have utilized these lands for millennia, but they were forced out of their traditional territories decades ago when oil was discovered here. The band was made to settle on allotted reserve sites about an hour away from here. But they’ve never abandoned their original homelands.
Frank Whitehead: Well, it’s very important because of our livelihood, our hunting grounds, what’s happening with the fires too, and that’s not helping us. But with the oil companies too now coming in, that’s not helping us no more. It’s just destroying our livelihood right now.
Brandi Morin: Frank’s been an elected Woodland Cree Nation counselor for over 16 years. He’s seen industry come and go, governments make promises and break them. Foreign companies are even more of a problem, he says.
Frank Whitehead: I don’t think they know what we do here as First Nations people, especially when somebody else is not from this country. That’s not right because they don’t know. And we try talking to ’em, we tried teaching them, we tried everything. But still, a lot of people won’t understand how we live here. And they need to understand this. We’re from here. We were here, one of the first people that lived in this territory a long time ago. We went up and down these rivers. Every year we canoed down Peace River. So they don’t know what’s going on and they need to know, they need to listen to us too.
But people, you gotta understand that this is our livelihood. This is how we were born. This is how we were raised. This is what we eat. Everything we eat and the herbs and everything that the trees provide for us, the animals. If the animals are going, sometimes when we trap, we don’t… It’s my kids, their livelihood, and it’s gotta continue like this for generations and generations. We cannot stop this. This is how we were born. We have young guys that’s doing that now. This is the young guy that’s trapping, hunting, and he learned.
Brandi Morin: Woodland Cree Counselor Joe Whitehead Jr. has been helping oversee the camp. Grand chief of the Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council and chief of the Woodland Cree, he’s pissed that Obsidian is sidestepping its duty to consult and work with the nation.
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: The trust factor for our First Nation is really low with industry because of Obsidian. Obsidian is to blame for everything that’s happening today, where the cops are staging over there to come in here and trying to remove people that are from the land and believe in the land. And we are teaching kids here today, and we’ll still keep doing that.
And we will be here forever. Obsidian might not be here for a long time, until they take the resources away from our land. We’re just asking for that fair, equal share of the resources that go out of here. No more of this construction and all that. We want to be part of the solution and part of the development. That’s all we’re saying. And I encourage First Nations people to stand up because this is our fight together. It’s just not Woodland Crees, it’s us all across this Turtle Island, all of Canada.
We always say we support each other, but let’s have action, any means necessary in terms of trying to educate Canada in terms of who First Nations people are and who we really are, and that’s from the land. And we have to protect it. Any means necessary.
There was a gate put up over here. In our treaty, it states that all gates shall be open in case of hunger. But what they did was they put up a gate and blocked our chief. And that’s wrong. And I’m mad today because of that. This is going to escalate if the government doesn’t step in.
And if Obsidian doesn’t come to the table, what does that say to other industries? They can start putting up gates where we hunt, trap, fish, and gather? That’s our treaty right. That’s nobody else’s right but our First Nations people.
Grand Chief Arthur Noskey: We’re still in that role as the liaison team.
Speaker 4: We’re speaking with you, we speak with the other side, for sure. We’re not picking a side. That’s why we need to be able to keep those lines of communication open. If you’re saying —
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: The people be here, they’re not welcome in our company. We can stay over there, take your photos and whatnot. So speak with the chief when he gets here.
Speaker 4: Oh no, that’s OK. And like I said, we’re not here to pick sides. We’ve always been upfront with you in regards to that.
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: Well, all First Nations that have a stake in this, it’s just not Woodland Cree, it’s everybody. We live off this land. And I think industry and government need to be educated more in terms of when they come in and try to develop the resources around us. We will idle no more. We will do what we have to do as a nation to protect the rights, the treaty rights of our people that were signed in 1899.
And I believe that industry needs to wake up in terms of what they’re doing. You need to come to the table and not give us lies and lies after lies. You need to be honest.
Police Officer 1: …Energy regulator’s going to want to inspect because it’s not been operational. So they might be here tomorrow too.
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: We’ll see, we’ll see about that.
Police Officer 1: The energy regulator?
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: That’s unprecedented because [inaudible].
Brandi Morin: You guys know if that helicopter that’s been circling, if that’s the industry guys?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Brandi Morin: It is, eh? So they’re just trying to scope things out?
Speaker 4: They gotta do their checks. Extra police that are going to be in the area just to ensure the safety and security of all involved.
Speaker 1: So they’re not there to enforce the injunction?
Brandi Morin: It’s a step up, obvious.
Speaker 4: Well, we don’t have any information in regards to what’s going to happen in regards to the injunction. We’re [crosstalk] not privy to that information.
Brandi Morin: — Resources for nothing.
Speaker 4: We do have extra resources there.
Speaker 5: But to ensure the safety of all people involved, that’s pretty much the one group. So the only other group was the police officers.
Speaker 4: Well, we have to be prepared for anything that might happen. So if we didn’t have those police here and something were to happen, then it would be [crosstalk] how are you able to respond?
Speaker 5: I’m not sure what would happen between them?
Speaker 4: That’s what we don’t know either, right?
Speaker 5: Exactly.
Speaker 4: We never know. We’ve been to lots of these type of events. There’s people who decide that they want to hijack these type of events that people don’t necessarily think the way that everybody here or that you may think. As a result…
Brandi Morin: Hello!
Police Officer 2: Hi, how’s it going?
Brandi Morin: Good, how are you?
Police Officer 2: Living the dream. [Crosstalk] One day at a time.
Brandi Morin: You guys are hiding out back here?
Police Officer 2: You guys are not allowed in here, I’m sorry.
Brandi Morin: You’re hiding out back here?
Police Officer 2: No, we’re just here for fun.
Brandi Morin: Is this C-IRG?
Police Officer 2: Sorry?
Brandi Morin: Is this C-IRG? Are you guys C-IRG?
Police Officer 2: What’s that? Sorry, I don’t know —
Brandi Morin: Community-Industry Response Group.
Police Officer 2: No, no, no, no, no.
Brandi Morin: OK. So obviously —
Police Officer 2: I’m sorry, I don’t know all the acronyms [laughs].
Brandi Morin: OK, so you’re staging, obviously, [crosstalk] because you’re hiding.
Police Officer 2: Well, we tend to stay on the road, right. We need a place to park our vehicles. But you guys are technically not allowed in here because it’s closed.
Brandi Morin: It’s closed.
Police Officer 2: This place is closed
Brandi Morin: By the police, or…?
Police Officer 2: No, no, no, it’s just closed.
Brandi Morin: Can you say what you’re doing?
Police Officer 2: We’re just here working. That’s all we’re doing. There’s nothing to be worried about. If you have any questions, you guys were in touch with the DLTs?
Brandi Morin: Yeah. OK.
Police Officer 2: OK? You guys just can’t stay here.
Brandi Morin: OK.
Police Officer 2: OK? Alright. Thanks a lot, guys.
Irina Ceric: There’s another way to address this, which is to look more at the politics and history of these sorts of struggles. This is not the only example of courts refusing to recognize Indigenous jurisdiction. This is not the only example of Canadian law facilitating the extraction of resources at the cost of the environment, the cost of workers, at the cost of, in this case, First Nations. So to me, this is not an unusual outcome of the foundation of Canadian law in both settler-colonialism and in the Canadian foundation in resource extraction as a national preoccupation.
Brandi Morin: Well, you think that because it’s 2024, because we’ve had the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, because we’re in so-called building nation-to-nation relationships, you think that things would be different by now.
Irina Ceric: You would. You absolutely would.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Well, we want to see, obviously, respectful, responsible industry. Obviously we’re not getting respect here, and they’re not being responsible. Just what you asked me about them not hiring local, other people around us. We want to see stuff be sustainable. We do care about our environment. We do care about the lands, the waters. We do feel the encroachment of industry and the accumulative effects of not just industry, but also the environment. The wildfires. The droughts. We’re thankful for this rain. But it’s about finding that balance. We are educating our children now to become the operators, tradespeople, nurses, teachers, et cetera. We want to educate our peoples to adapt to modern society — But as well keep their traditional way of life.
Grand Chief Arthur Noskey: It’s kind of absurd for Obsidian to start making those recommendations to the province and even to the courts, and even to try and enforce the RCMP to do something, as those that don’t know the treaty. The RCMP officers were presented at the treaty, a day of making treaty, and these were here for our protection against foreigners that would intrude in our way of life. Obsidian, you’re intruding without talking to the people, without doing a proper process because the government, you’re listening to the government more so than the leadership that is sitting at this table.
And I will say when it comes to jailing our people, our chiefs, I think you’ll see a lot of chiefs either in jail, and hopefully that the court systems or that the institutions can hold all of the Canadian First Nations people in jail. Because I think there is an uprising in the making, and I think at some point we need to start making those calls for that support.
Brandi Morin: Just days after the failed May 13 meeting with Obsidian representatives, the chiefs of Treaty 8 traveled to gather in the same meeting room to support the Woodland Cree.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: I just want to say that Obsidian is changing the dynamics of industry within our backyard and others. For Woodland Cree, we are hoping that they remove the injunctions on myself and my people, that they remove the injunctions of our local joint ventures and their livelihoods.
Grand Chief Arthur Noskey: And Supreme Court of Canada ruled that there must be consultation with landowners.
Brandi Morin: Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey called on the province to step in.
Grand Chief Arthur Noskey: Remove ACO Aboriginal Consultation Office, AER, Alberta Energy Regulator, and the Red Tape Ministry, because these agencies and ministries do not honor the Supreme Court ruling, the duty to consult. Premier Danielle Smith and cabinet, we call upon you to meet with Woodland Cree First Nation leadership and Treaty 8 chiefs to establish a table for revenue sharing talks with the province. It is important that the public and industry know that Alberta government’s First Nations consultation policy is their own policy. We are sovereign nations with our own consultation processes and laws.
Brandi Morin: For decades, First Nations in Alberta have insisted the province pay up. Alberta makes billions in royalties earned from industry projects in First Nations territories. The province has largely ignored requests to share some of those benefits with Indigenous communities. The current situation could pressure Alberta’s government to change course.
Chief Sheldon Sunshine: When we talk about the issue that my colleague here, Chief Ivan, and their community has dealt with Obsidian, we feel those impacts all across our territory. We deal with the same issues in our backyard. We’re here to support Chief Isaac and the rest of the Treaty 8 chiefs in solidarity in opposing this issue. It affects all of our First Nation people. And when you take a look at the resource development in our backyard, the government of Alberta has received over $30 billion, and the government of Canada is prospering as well — Yet, while our communities are suffering. This attack on Woodland community is an attack on all of our treaty rights.
Chief Dwayne Lovell Laboucan: It’s pretty simple from our end: if you’re going to come and make a livelihood in our lands, we must too. That’s our message to oil and gas. You’re not going to come in here and start bullying us. We’re here to stay and we’re ready to fight. Hay-hay.
Brandi Morin: Ultimately, this isn’t just about what’s happening in Woodland Cree territory. This is about a status quo that’s fundamentally untenable for Indigenous peoples. The status quo must change, says Chief Isaac.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Well just look at the GDP that comes out of our land from the forest sector, the oil and gas sector, even, for the longest time, billions, hundreds of millions come out of this land. Why are, as First Nations, we still administrate poverty? Obviously those comments that are made on greed, it’s people that don’t even understand the current situation and the reality of this country. We shouldn’t have to fight this hard for prosperity when we signed a treaty. A treaty is a nation-to-nation relationship.
And that people ask about our greed? Well, I think it’s actually the other way around. People don’t want to see us lift ourselves up. I’m not looking for a handout. I’m looking to just provide and to protect my people with our own ways and our own rights. We want to be part of the workforce. We want to develop megaprojects. We want to be owners of the resources.
And you’re darn right it is about money. My people shouldn’t be living in poverty. We deserve equalization payments. The chiefs that are around this table are the economic engine of this country, the economic engine of this country. Our resources supply the world with some of our trees, our oil and gas. And we could set a good example, a world-class example of doing things right. And we need that opportunity to do things right and that collaboration with industry, government, and communities — And in solidarity with our chiefs, our brothers and our sisters.
And I really want to commend them, the councilmen, the leadership, the elders, the youth. Our kids need a brighter future. Seven out of 10 of us are going to die sooner than the [rest of] Canada’s population. Seven out of 10 of our kids are in CFS issues. That’s because of poverty. So how is this greed? It’s actually the other way around, where a greedy American company wants to come dictate in our land? I don’t think so.
Grand Chief Arthur Noskey: You’re talking about landowners that entered into a treaty with the imperial crown. How can there be anything higher than that in our lands? Where is that certificate of ownership, Canada? Where’s the certificate of ownership, province? So these are questions that still remain there. Right now they’re just brokering deals with industry at the expense of our lands, our resources, and just leaving their contaminants behind. They’re greedy for money, and it is obvious. Thank you very much.
Grand Chief Joe Whitehead Jr.: I just want to make a quick comment in terms of why we’re here today in terms of what we’re doing. And it’s for our people. And I’d like to show you, this is what my daughter does every time I go home. I see her every four hours, and she takes this shirt and covers herself up. And the people need to know that we are fighting for our kids and their kids, for the future, so they don’t keep fighting. That’s one thing that people don’t understand. That we are passionate people. We are humble people, and we like to laugh, but at the same time, we have to protect this land, our treaty rights, for our future generation.
Brandi Morin: Now you also said that if they were to come to arrest you, that you wouldn’t surrender.
Chief Isaac Laboucan-Avirom: Surrender. Of course not. I don’t think there’s a Cree word for surrender [laughs] or cede. No. I’m here to maintain the best interest of my community. And if I was, I know there’s a lot of support that I have out there. I think Evander Kane said it best: Sometimes you got to fuck around to find out [laughs].
Brandi Morin: I’m Brandi Morin, reporting in the traditional territories of the Woodland Cree Nation for The Real News Network, IndigiNews, and Ricochet Media.
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