The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs says Canadian PM Mark Carney's push to double LNG Canada as a "nation-building" project ignores the right of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent and asks taxpayers to underwrite a project with no clear business case.
Despite billions in subsidies already spent, the Union said, LNG Canada's foreign-owned partners have yet to commit to financing Phase 2, while low cost global competitors "continue to dominate the market".
The British Columbia chiefs say the project violates Canada's commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples because authorities "failed to consult or get the consent from impacted First Nations title holders before advancing LNG Canada's expansion".
UBCIC said the project locks in high emissions and is "draining public funds for little return".
Union president, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, said the UBCIC "is gravely concerned that the government of Canada continues to deliberately sidestep its duty to consult and cooperate with First Nations".
"Rather than being met with partnership, we are given an ultimatum: accept fossil fuel expansion or be pushed aside," he said.
"LNG Canada is not only a massive source of greenhouse gas emissions but also drives destructive fracking, further threatening our lands, waters, and communities - emissions do not recognise territorial boundaries.
"Through resolution, the UBCIC Chiefs Council has recognised the health and environmental hazards of the fracking/LNG industry. We reject any process that tramples our inherent and constitutionally protected title and rights, ignores free, prior and informed consent, and sacrifices the climate for foreign corporate profits. True nation-building requires working with us, not against us."
LNG Canada Phase 1 will cause $400 billion Canadian ($435 million AUD) in climate harm over the full course of the project lifecycle, according to analysis by Clean Energy Canada. Combined with Phase 2, the cost of its climate harm soars to almost $1 trillion CAD.
"As millions of hectares burn and as thousands of Canadians are forced to evacuate from their homes, we need not look far to see the climate harm all around us; of course, caused by burning fossil fuels," the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said in a joint statement.
Hagwilget Village Council Deputy Chief of the Gwii Lok'im Gibuu / Jesse Stoeppler said Canada is "asking its taxpayers to bankroll foreign corporations while turning its back on Indigenous rights".
"The government is propping up an industry that private investors won't even back themselves, and in doing so, it is ignoring its legal and moral obligations to Indigenous Peoples.
"Sovereignty, economic or not, will not have its parameters set by anyone but the rightful titleholders."
Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chief, Chief Na'Moks, said "Canada cannot claim reconciliation while forcing LNG projects through without our consent".
"Free, Prior and Informed Consent is not optional, it's a right. Calling this project 'nation-building' is an insult, because you cannot build a country by trampling the very Nations whose lands you exploit.
"By choosing foreign corporations over Indigenous rights, over our lands, and over our future, Mark Carney is showing that reconciliation is nothing more than a slogan."
Gidimt'en Checkpoint, Wet'suwet'en Nation spokesperson Sleydo' / Molly Wickham, said that by financially backing the second phase of a project that has "caused intense conflict for the Wet'suwet'en over the past six years", the Canadian government is "sending a clear message to its citizens and to the world: Indigenous people don't matter".
"Indigenous Peoples are fed up, and Carney is pouring fuel on the fire."
