A group of five First Nations in north-central B.C. announced Thursday they reject Enbridge's offer of an ownership stake in the proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline.
The First Nations are the first to go public on their position on the ownership stake offer.
Calling themselves the Yinka Dene Alliance, the five First Nations, said they have instead served a declaration on Enbridge's headquarters in Calgary stating the pipeline is not allowed through their traditional territories.
"Our lands and waters are not for sale, not at any price," Nadleh Whut'en First Nation chief Larry Nooski said in a statement.
"We want no part of Enbridge's project and their offers are worthless to us when compared to the importance of keeping our lands, rivers and the coast free of crude oil spills," he said.
"What Enbridge is offering is the destruction of our lands to build their project, and the risk of oil spills for decades to come which could hurt everyone's kids and grandkids."
Other members of the alliance include the Nak'azdli, Takla Lake, Saik'uz and Wet'suwet'en First Nations, all west of Prince George.
Enbridge has said the 1,170-kilometre pipeline, which will pass just north of Prince George, can be built and operated safely. The company has also touted the economic benefits of the project, which is meant to open up new markets for Alberta oilsands crude in Asia.
Enbridge issued a statement responding to the equity rejection, saying it was premature for the Yinka Dene Alliance group to reject an offer that has not yet been presented to them.
The Calgary-based company said in a e-mail released Thursday afternoon that it is continuing to meet with First Nation on its ownership-stake offering.
The company said it had reached commercial agreements with a number of First Nations in the past month. Enbridge did not provide details, including with which First Nations it had reached deals. It's not clear whether the commercial deals are for an ownership stake in the pipeline.
Enbridge revealed two weeks ago it was in talks again with First Nations about a 10-per-cent ownership stake in the pipeline project.
The company first said it was working on an aboriginal ownership model for the pipeline nearly two years ago.
Since then, some First Nations in northern B.C. have signed an equity-stake agreement for a proposed $1.1-billion natural gas pipeline through northern B.C., but there is less-than-universal First Nations' support for Enbridge's project.
Some Northern Interior First Nations and most Coastal First Nations are opposed to the pipeline because of the environmental risks of a spill.
The project has also faced increasing opposition from environmental groups, some British Columbia municipalities, groups representing tourism and fisheries, as well as the federal Opposition parties.
A non-binding motion led by the NDP to ban oil tankers on B.C.'s northwest coast passed last week, and a B.C. Liberal MP tabled a bill this wake to make the oil tanker ban law.
Supporters have been fighting back.
Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert said the pipeline project is critical to the province's future, and former Prince George mayor Colin Kinsley argued in an opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun that the project can be operated safely. Kinsley is on Enbridge's payroll.
