A $12-million provincial offer to Gitxsan chiefs to clear the way for gas pipeline development is inadequate and ill-timed, community leaders say.
The offer is part of the B.C. government’s efforts to reach agreements with at least 30 First Nations in northern B.C. to allow billions of dollars of liquefied natural gas plants to go ahead. Premier Christy Clark has made developing LNG to export to Asia as the underpinning of her economic plan, promising five plants to create thousands of jobs and fuel a $30-billion prosperity fund.
In the Gitxsan territory, the outcome is complicated by a rift among the 65 hereditary chiefs. One group is opposed outright to gas pipelines.