On December 2, 2011, Enbridge Inc. entered into an equity participation agreement with the Gitxsan First Nation, pursuant to which Enbridge will assist the Gitxsan First Nation in purchasing a stake in the proposed $5.5 billion Northern Gateway pipeline which has the potential to result in $7 million in profits for the Gitxsan over the project's lifetime. Northern Gateway's proposed route does not cross the Gitxsan First Nation's territory, although the route passes several tributaries which feed into a lake used by the Gitxsan.
This announcement arrived shortly after 61 British Columbia First Nation groups signed the "Save the Fraser Gathering of Nations" declaration, a document which states that the federal process to approve Northern Gateway violates the signatories' "laws, traditions, values and inherent rights as Indigenous People under international law."
The federal Joint Review Panel, established by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, will begin community hearings on Northern Gateway in Kitimat, B.C. on January 12, 2012.
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