Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Professor to offer religious view of pipeline

John Hiemstra will shed a Christian perspective on the Northern Gateway pipeline debate when he speaks in Prince George on Monday.

John Hiemstra will shed a Christian perspective on the Northern Gateway pipeline debate when he speaks in Prince George on Monday.

The political studies professor from Edmonton's The King's University College will talk about how people can construct their own opinions on whether it's a good idea or not to build an oil pipeline from northern Alberta to Kitimat.

"People from Christian backgrounds have come up with virtually every different type of position you can think of on the pipeline already," Hiemstra said. "The challenge is to sit down and together struggle with and communicate with one another and learn from each other about things that each of us has seen."

During the presentation, Hiemstra will talk about how the current National Energy Board Joint Review Panel process works and discuss existing scientific, economic and natural perspectives on the pipeline. He will then present the audience with a set of scenarios and encourage people to reflect on what he's said and apply it to their own background and develop their own conclusions.

"It will help people understand the biases in the current framework of decision making and to try to help them to think about an alternative framework and then to run through six scenarios about different aspects to consider in making the decision," Hiemstra said.

Hiemstra has made Alberta's oil industry one of his research interests and has taken a philosophical bent in looking at what the development has meant for humankind.

"I've been looking at the oilsands-tarsands - I don't really care which term you use - for the past seven years," he said. "I've been looking at what sort of development is it, what does it say about what it means to be human in relation to nature, the notion of dominating nature and how much energy do we really need and how does our society work."

Through his research, Hiemstra has come to his own opinion on the oilsands and Northern Gateway, which he said will be revealed over the course of his talk.

Although the focus of the lecture will be on a Christian view of the pipeline, Hiemstra said it will be accessible to people without a strong foundation in theology.

"It's not a theology talk, it's a talk on the pipeline," he said.

The Prince George presentation is the first in series, with stops later in the week in Houston, Smithers and Terrace. It's all part of an outreach program for King's to engage with supporters of the Christian post-secondary institutions.

The local event will be held at Cedars Christian School on Monday beginning at 7 p.m.