U.S. and Canadian aboriginal groups sign treaty to oppose oilsands development
MONTREAL — Canadian First Nations and U.S. tribal communities are stepping up their fight against Alberta’s oilsands industry, vowing to stop the development and distribution of the province’s crude across the continent.
Indigenous leaders from nearly 100 aboriginal communities in Eastern and Western Canada and a few in the United States, including Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South Dakota, signed a treaty Thursday in Montreal and Vancouver.
They plan to join together to prohibit and challenge the use of their lands for the expanded production of Alberta’s oilsands, including distribution of crude via pipelines, trains or tankers.
“We are going to stick together and we’re going to protect each other right across the country,” Grand Chief Serge Simon of the Kanesatake Mohawks in Quebec said Thursday.