Aboriginals a block for the Pipeline
The Aboriginal groups in BC create a huge potential problem for Enbridge in building the Northern Gateway Pipeline. The pipeline built as planned would violate their land rights and other Aboriginal issues. This, along with environmental issues, are the biggest external threats to building the pipeline.
The Unist’ot’en clan, which is not under the laws of the Indian Act have openly stated that they will never allow a pipeline through their territory. Also, two members of the Haisla have proposed “violent actions” if the pipeline is built. Many other Aboriginal groups believe that it will have a detrimental effect on their hunting and fishing areas.
As a result of not building trust between the groups before the proposal, Enbridge is going to have a lot of difficulty in convincing the native groups to support, or at least not try to intervene with the pipeline. The only real ways to get around this issue is to improve their relationships with the Natives groups or work really hard in court once the Native groups take the proposal to every level of court they can. In order for either of these options to succeed will require a lot of work and a lot of money and neither option is guaranteed to succeed.
The Indian Act and other Native acts stand as a huge external threat to Enbridge’s nearly 8 billion dollar pipeline.