Fort Chipewyan Métis Local 125 Métis Nation of Alberta PO Box 306 ...

We notice that both Mikisew and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations have filed a 208 Page
submission on Shell’s Jackpine Project. We draw the Joint Panels consideration to their well funded
submissions We entreat the Joint Panels to note that we all live in the same isolated , beautiful
community. If they have well documented impacts, then logically those impacts apply to us.
We have been exercising our rights in our traditional territory since we first settled in Fort Chipewyan,
long before Canada was Canada and long before British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the NWT
existed (P. A. McCormick, Ft Chipewyan and the Shaping of Canadian History, 1788-1920).
E Role of the Regulatory Bodies
The case of Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. and BC Hydro and Power Authority v. Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, 2010
SCC 43, (2010) 2 S.C.R.650 provides that in some cases a regulatory authority may be tasked with the
role of consultation or may in fact be responsible for ruling on the adequacy of the consultation that has
transpired. Métis Local 125 has written to both the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and
the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) to ask them to rule pre-emptively on the
‘adequacy of Métis consultation’. We tried this approach because our organization receives no
government funding. We have no ability to bring legal actions to protect ourselves. On the advice of our
advisor, we wrote to you seeking to trigger the honour of the Crown and resulting duties that I was told
about in the Supreme Court case law. I was told about how we are supposed to be treated “with the
utmost good faith”. We received your response dated July 31, 2012, and not surprisingly you are forcing
us into litigation.
G Conclusion and Requests
We are corresponding with Governments about Fort Chipewyan’s new approach to protecting our
rights. We have indicated that if they are slow to address the issues we raise in this correspondence,
justice will not be done – delay will in fact constitute denial of justice. The amount of development
taking place in northern Canada is both significant and severely impacting our way of life (see enclosed
map). We corresponded with Alberta and Canada asking to be engaged and resourced on an urgent
basis to deal with all these regulatory matters (see included letter to Canada and Alberta). First Nations
have been in consultation processes for over 10 years. It is going to take awhile for Fort Chipewyan
Métis to document our baseline information and commission Traditional Land Use and Occupancy
Studies.
Please continue to notify us regarding the Joint Panels activities, but note ‘on the record’ that we
believe notification or participation does NOT fulfill either Canada’s or Alberta’s consultation
obligation for the reasons we set out in this letter.
SOC Shell Projects August2012 (CAB) 4