Nothing ever seems to come easy for Podunk!

For those that don’t receive the Daily News or are parsimonious with their sixty cents, here is a podunkicized version of the blockbuster story from Wednesday's paper that has the entire town talking.

CONTAINER PORT PROJECT HITTING CHOPPY WATER

By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday January 18, 2006.
Article appeared on pages 1 and 3.

The Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla First Nations are taking the Federal government to court, alleging it is refusing to consult and accommodate with them over the development of phase one of the container port. And they say they will seek an injunction to stop the project if construction proceeds.

The port authority, meanwhile, says if construction doesn’t proceed within days, the whole deal will come crashing down and the best hope for all communities in the Northwest that has been seen in decades will fail.
The two nations, known as the Coast Tsmishian, have filed a notice of application in the federal court against Federal Minister of Transport Jean Lapierre and the Attorney General of Canada.

“It’s the federal government refusing to recognize aboriginal rights and title. I’m kind of disappointed with that,” said Gary Reece, chief councilor for the Lax Kw’alaams the community of 1,000 people located to the Northwest of Prince Rupert.

“It’s not the port themselves, it’s the federal government.”

“We will go to court if we must, to get an injunction to stop this project and we hope that we will not have to go that step.”

The two nations filed their application in federal court yesterday and, if the port is not permitted to proceed with construction, they hope to have it heard within one to two months. Should the port proceed with construction, they will file for an injunction to have the matter heard within two or three days.

Don Krusel, president and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, spoke for all the parties involved in the terminal development, including CN and Maher Terminals, when he said that there are all sorts of commercial arrangements that have critical due dates and if these aren’t met, nothing can be done to extend them.

He said the port needs approval from Environment Canada, to proceed with construction immediately because they have already been pushed back several months for First Nations consultation, consultation that he says has continued for 16 months. Construction was originally slated to begin in November.

And with the overheated construction occurring in the Lower Mainland, the delay is causing serious damage to the timelines and budget of the project, he said.

“Let me stress, there are no outstanding scientific issues in regards to the environment,” he said. The only issue is that of the First Nations.

“Speaking on behalf of all participants, we have to get this project off the ground in days, not weeks, not months.”

He said there is an offer on the table and a spokesperson from Western Economic Diversification confirmed they hope it will be signed off by the end of the week.

“This action is extremely concerning. This project cannot survive further delays,” he said, making it clear that a further delay will end it all and no one will benefit.

According to Greg McDade, the First Nations’ lawyer with Ratcliff and Company, the federal government’s most recent legal position is that nations only have the rights to consult over .72 hectares of new construction at the end of the dock.

The government is arguing that the First Nations gave up their rights to consultation when the existing bulk terminal was built in 1960 and that Metlakatla’s former reserve site up country from the terminal was subject to a surrender agreement in 1906, while Lax Kw’alaams claim was subject to a settlement in 2003.

However, McDade said the terminal site isn’t on the former reserve sites and the aboriginal title which surrounded the site is not limited to the container port.

“The (the federal government) are taking a very impoverished, narrow view of aboriginal title and we are being forced to go to court to say what the Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly said, that they need to take a wide view.”

As for the assertion that the two bands won’t be able to stop the project from proceeding, McDade noted that four court cases within the last six months have resulted in orders prohibiting the Crown from proceeding and in the suspension of projects.

Some past decisions which have resulted in such orders include the Musqueam action over the University of British Columbia golf course as well as Squamish First Nation action over the development of a ski resort. Reece said the band has been seeking accommodation in a number of areas and has put together a package that includes job opportunities, business opportunities and land. The two bands, like many others on the North Coast have been focused on rebuilding economic opportunities following a disastrous fishing season.

“We wanted to see this happen and we wanted to be part of it,” said Reece. “We still want to see it happen.”

It was announced last April that the federal government could contribute $30 million, the province $30 million, CN Rail $30 million, Maher Terminals, one of the East coast’s premier container terminal operators $60 million and the port $20 million to build phase one of the container terminal. Phase one will provide the terminal with capacity for 500,000 containers annually. The second phase would increase capacity for 500,000 containers annually. The second phase would increase the capacity to two million containers by 2009.

The terminal has been hailed as a way to open the Asia Pacific Gateway and ease transportation congestion in the Lower Mainland as imports flood in from the booming Asian economy. As well, it is expected to provide northern communities as far as Sault Ste. Marie with new economic opportunities for exports through cheap back haul rates.

The China Paper Group was also banking on cheap back haul rates to transport pulp from the Skeena pulp mill.