Re: Enbridge Outlines Case For Northern Gateway at Chamber July 6.
I find it interesting that your article did not cover why Ms. Holder told me that my numbers were wrong in regard to Aboriginal support. What your article left out is that once she had said that, I held up the table of contents from Enbridge's Aboriginal Engagement Report dated June 2011 which listed all the Aboriginal communities that Enbridge had engaged with.
The number is 80.
I also explained why six communities were no longer involved due to being outside of the 180 km corridor (80 km on either side of the right of way) making the total to 74 communities not the 45 as Ms Holder had stated earlier. I then explained that 60 per cent of 75 is 45 and 60 per cent of said 45 communities is 27, but when you put the 27 communities against the 75 communities the percentage would be 36. The reason why I used 75 instead of the actual 74 is that 60 per cent of 74 is 44.4 per cent, an awkward number therefore I rounded it off.
What many fail to realize is that each of these 74 communities were offered an Aboriginal Economics Benefits package. 30 of these communities did not accept the package even to look at. 45 did and 27 signed.
I also stated that Enbridge had brushed aside those 30 communities as if they did not exist. If Enbridge would be forthright with the actual numbers of aboriginal communities they were involved with, that number would not be 45 but their own report shows 74.
Katrin MacLean
Quesnel
