Cheam Chief Ernie Crey of Chilliwack has been actively touting the benefits of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, not only for his own people of the Pilalt tribe, but for other Indigenous communities struggling to rise out of poverty.

91裸聊视频淚f the project doesn91裸聊视频檛 go through, it91裸聊视频檒l hurt our people,91裸聊视频� Crey said.

The Cheam leader was in Ottawa Monday preparing to appear this week before on a parliamentary committee considering changes to the National Energy Board and other regulatory bodies under bill C-69.

Crey has been active on social media and in the mainstream media trying to disabuse everyone of the notion that First Nations are united in lockstep opposition to the pipeline expansion.

It91裸聊视频檚 not so black and white, he has argued, and there is no homogeneity on the pipeline issue, despite how it is being portrayed by some.

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A provincial leader came out publicly against the pipeline but that opposition didn91裸聊视频檛 take into account those communities who favour exploring the benefits of the expansion project, the local chief said.

Former Soowahlie chief and pipeline opponent Larry Commodore took issue with Chief Crey91裸聊视频檚 media blitz showing support for the project.

91裸聊视频淓rnie should spend some time talking with the overwhelming majority of Indigenous elders and hereditary and elected leaders across Turtle Island who have voiced their opposition to tarsands expansion, which the KM pipeline expansion would be a key part of.

91裸聊视频淗e would learn they are more than just a bunch of uninformed dupes, as he seems to think.91裸聊视频�

Crey used the term 91裸聊视频渞ed-washing91裸聊视频� to describe the view that green groups are co-opting First Nations to further their agendas 91裸聊视频渦nder an Indigenous flag.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淭rust me, their goals and aspirations are far different from ours,91裸聊视频� Crey tweeted last week. 91裸聊视频淐heck out where they91裸聊视频檝e trashed Indigenous economies to meet their ends.91裸聊视频�

As co-chair of the Indigenous Advisory & Monitoring Committee, a committee to undertake the monitoring of the pipeline during and after construction, as well as chief of Cheam First Nation, which has signed mutual benefit agreements with Kinder Morgan, Crey has a decidedly different view than pipeline opponents.

91裸聊视频淭he perpetrators of urban myths and wishful thinking around the Kinder Morgan (TMX) expansion are getting called out big time today,91裸聊视频� he wrote. 91裸聊视频淭he media in both B.C. and Alberta have discovered that there isn91裸聊视频檛 wall to wall opposition to KM91裸聊视频檚 expansion among B.C. and Alberta First Nations.91裸聊视频�

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There are 43 Indigenous communities who have signed mutual benefit agreements, or MBAs, with Kinder Morgan, and who may want to 91裸聊视频渂uy into91裸聊视频� the project, Crey underlined.

For example it took years for Cheam officials to negotiate security jobs for Cheam members to work the pipeline route.

The chief sees the economic relationships being built as a way for some communities to step up 91裸聊视频渙ut of poverty91裸聊视频� if they get the 91裸聊视频渞ight91裸聊视频� backing. They would consider putting some money toward the pipeline twinning construction, as in equity for the project, if they were to have a lengthy discussion about it.

91裸聊视频淭his pipeline, which is very important to me, fits into the realm of economic reconciliation,91裸聊视频� Crey said. 91裸聊视频淚t might become the bootstrap from which First Nations pull themselves out of crushing poverty.91裸聊视频�

Chief Crey wondered in a tweet if 91裸聊视频渙il by rail91裸聊视频� isn91裸聊视频檛 more dangerous.

91裸聊视频淎 derailment of tanker cars in the Fraser Canyon would mean the oil would end-up in the salt chuck. Best choice, pipe or rail?91裸聊视频� he asked rhetorically.

When he commented in 2016 for a TMX panel however, he was more worried about the impact of a pipeline spill on the Coquihalla.

91裸聊视频淚 sit up nights wondering what a spill into the Coquihalla River might look like.

91裸聊视频淓ven a small spill into the Coquihalla would devastate salmon in the Fraser River and plunge First Nations into utter destitution. Global trade, investment, jobs: I know those are important, but consider what could be lost.91裸聊视频�

jfeinberg@theprogress.com
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