But Indigenous communities are not unanimous in supporting the ban . A group of B.C. coastal First Nations leaders came to Ottawa today to support passage of the Trudeau government’s tanker ban bill — pushing back against entrenched opposition from oil patch boosters who fear the ban will endanger an energy sector already on the ropes.Bill C-48 would prohibit tankers carrying crude oil from loading or unloading at ports in northern British Columbia, formalizing a similar, voluntary ban that has been in place in the region for the last 20 years.
Supporters of Alberta’s oilsands fear the ban, when combined with scarce pipeline capacity and cratering oil prices, could spell the end of one of the country’s largest export industries. During her swing through Ottawa last week, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the bill should be tossed “into the dustbin.” The legislation — which would ban tankers capable of carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of oil from an area that stretches from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border — has been both praised and pilloried by local Indigenous communities.
The failed Northern Gateway project that was supposed to run through northern B.C. had secured financial agreements with 21 First Nations along the project’s route; an entity called Aboriginal Equity Partners owned a 33 per cent stake in the line. Other Indigenous communities were worried about the potential for a spill in sensitive coastal waters.‘All the resources in our area would be all gone’“We are salmon people, we are ocean people. Our way of life depends on a healthy ecosystem,” Marilyn Slett, chief of the Heiltsuk Nation and president of the Coastal First Nations group, told reporters in Ottawa Tuesday. Source: cbc.ca
Sunday, April 26, 2026
