“By the mixing of our waters, it becomes
your responsibility to protect our water, and our responsibility to protect
your water.” Hereditary Chief Pete
Erickson of the northern British Columbia Carrier Sekani First Nation completed
the final water ceremony before a crowd of over four hundred 
supporters in downtown
Toronto on Wednesday, 9 May 2012. As representative of one of the five-member First Nations of
the Yinka Dene Alliance, Chief Erickson, along with a
delegation of over fifty First Nation representatives, had just completed the
ten day Freedom Train journey across Canada’s west to highlight the nations’
opposition to Enbridge corporation’s proposed Northern Gateway tar sands
pipeline through their territory.
The Yinka Dene territories are located in
the headwaters of the Fraser, Skeena and Mackenzie/Arctic watersheds. Their
people have relied on salmon since time immemorial. Their territory is 25% of
the 1,177 km through which the proposed pipeline will carry raw tar sands crude
from Bruderheim in the Alberta Tar Sands to the inland coastal community of
Kitimat, British Columbia. Citing the infamous Exxon Valdez tanker spill, the Yinka
Dene and supporters fear contamination from pipeline ruptures and tanker spills
of catastrophic proportions.
After successful runs in eastern Pennsylvania and the Midwest, 
For KI, one of the largest First Nations communities in the
region, it was perhaps a déjà vu moment.
Following the 2008 sentencing of six months in prison of six community leaders
for protecting their land from mining exploration by Platinex Corp., the
province bought out Platinex for $5 million. The “KI 6” served sixty-eight days before a judge 
organized
by Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) in Southeastern Ontario. 
numerous areas of concern in the forest's
management. The audit is part of a regular monitoring process that tracks how
logging companies are abiding by regulations and produces action plans to
rectify bad practices and poor results. The Ministry of Natural Resources is
engaged in land-use negotiations with Grassy Narrows First Nation (GNFN), whose
traditional territory largely coincides with the Whiskey Jack Forest.