Container Port issue takes flight eastward

As the controversy over the development of the Fairview Container Port resonates around the Prince Rupert area, a call for consultation with First Nations all the way to Prince George has been issued.

The Daily News reported that Hereditary Chiefs of the Northwest from Prince Rupert to Prince George are calling for a summit in Prince Rupert to discuss the state of the development. In the article, Lawrence Shanoss Hereditary Chief Gunghalagunttxw of Gitsegukla’s owl tribe has stated his plan to gather all the Hereditary Chiefs in Prince Rupert, to ensure that opportunity is spread around. The call for a summit and whatever resolutions may come from it, could add another layer of negotiations, to an already complicated bit of work ahead.

Shanoss has also added a new wrinkle to the whole development project, by suggesting that CN Rail may not have ever had the right to build a rail line through these communities. How that might impact on the current port development was left unsaid in the article, but it will most certainly attract a bit of attention beyond the current debate. The Daily had not been able to report on CN’s side of the story by their press time on Friday, but it no doubt will prove to be another interesting twist in the container port story.

Until the new Conservative government is able to get up to speed on the issue and offer some form of indication as to its wishes, these daily swings in the situation are destined to continue. Each one adding a new layer, and new players to a project that many people only a few weeks ago thought was a fait accompli. It will be interesting to watch how the entire process goes forward in the next three to four weeks.

To better understand the latest addition to the information flow; below in Podunkicized form is the news article from the Daily News.

HEREDITARY LEADERS WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN TALKS
By James Vassallo
Prince Rupert Daily News
Friday, February 3, 2006
Story appeared on page 1

First Nations hereditary leaders to the east of Prince Rupert are hoping to take part in any discussions concerning the container port development.

“I want to bring everybody to Prince Rupert, “said Lawrence Shanoss, Hereditary Chief Gunghalagunttxw of Gitsegukla’s owl tribe. “It’s time we all get together and discuss this whole port project.

“We re all going to gather all the hereditary chiefs from Prince Rupert to Prince George”

Shanoss said he is presently speaking to hereditary chiefs of the Gitxsan (who claim around Hazelton and a large area north of there as traditional territories), the Wet’suwet’un (who claim Smithers, Houston and Burns Lake among their traditional territories) and other Carrier First Nations (who claim Fraser Lake and Vanderhoof among other territories) and the Tsimshian communities near Terrace – Kitsumkalum and Kitselas – among others. He hopes to bring them together for a summit in Prince Rupert, and is aiming to do so in the next few weeks, to discuss the benefits of the project and how aboriginal communities in the region fit in.

“If there’s opportunity, I want everyone to benefit,” he said. “We’re going to bring everybody to Prince Rupert to have one of the biggest summits ever had in Canada, let alone B. C.

“This summit is a very good idea.”

Shanoss, a member of the Gitxsan, is also hoping that a summit with hereditary leaders would diffuse some of the problems emerging over the port development from local band councils.

“I am from the hereditary system… I am a hereditary chief and I know the benefit a house chief can offer their people.’ He said, adding that his community of Gitsegukla has been placed under third party management because of problems with their band council.

“When you want to have a feast you’ve got to put the right ingredients in the pot, stir it up and bring it to a boil… the hereditary chiefs are going to step up.”

While Shanons’ primary concern is with ensuring opportunity is spread around, he does take issue with the CN rail company and their role in the coming container port development. The Skeena Crossing bridge, built in 1911, was the site of his grandmother’s smokehouse and there is photographic evidence at the archives in Victoria that attests to this fact, he said.
“These people are going to have to realize that even before 1911 when they put the railroad in, they didn’t talk to anyone.” Said Shanoss. “This Skeena Crossing bridge was created in 1911 but it ran over my family.”

The Hereditary Chief adds that there is no document that states the company ever had the right to build a line rail through these communities.

“We want to sit down at the table and say “where are we going to go from here?” he said. “Never mind suing anybody, we want to sit down at the table.”

A spokesperson from CN did not return calls for comment before press time.