Coast Salish Nations Sign International Treaty to Protect the Salish Sea
Reposted from http://twnsacredtrust.ca/ website:
“Treaty makes Kinder Morgan Expansion Project illegal in Coast Salish Law
COAST SALISH TERRITORY, NORTH VANCOUVER, BC; SEPTEMBER 21, 2014 – Today, First Nations from the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and Washington State have come together to sign an historic treaty to protect the Salish Sea from tar sands oil and related threats, making the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project illegal under Coast Salish Law.
The treaty prohibits the increased transport of tar sands products through the Salish Sea and specifically makes the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project illegal in Coast Salish Law. The treaty contains a provision in which the signatories agree to take collective action, if necessary, to enforce the protection of the Salish Sea under Coast Salish, Canadian or International Law.
“By signing this treaty, we have agreed to mutually and collectively use all lawful means to stop this project”, said Rueben George, of Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative. ”Kinder Morgan’s expansion project will never get built.”
The treaty signing follows a full day caucus of spiritual leaders from affected First Nations who discussed the sacred obligations to protect the Salish Sea.
“The Salish Sea has been our home, the feast bowl of our sustenance, and the place through which we connect with all our ancestral and living relations. Our ancestral laws placed upon us the sacred responsibility to protect the Salish Sea and the tributaries that feed it” said Leonard George, Spiritual Leader of Tsleil-Waututh Nation. ”The Kinder Morgan Expansion Project threatens our unceded Aboriginal Title and Rights to our respective territories.”
“The spiritual leaders (Siems), are our highest authority”, said Chief Maureen Thomas of Tsleil-Waututh Nation. ”Their wisdom has guided our people for millennia, and this treaty is an expression of our unextinguished and constitutional protected indigenous laws.”
The treaty signing follows worldwide rallies in the lead up to the UN Climate Change conference this week in New York. Treaty signatories acknowledged this larger threat to humanity.
“We are signing this treaty, not just for our own nations and children, but for the future generations of everyone who makes their homes on our traditional territories”, said George,. ”We call on our Coast Salish and Indigenous relatives to sign on to this treaty and on all levels of government to recognize and uphold this treaty.”
A serious oil spill would devastate an already-stressed marine environment and risks collapses in the remaining salmon stocks and further contamination of shellfish beds, wiping out Indigenous fishing and harvesting rights.”