WASHINGTON, D.C. — A
delegation of indigenous leaders from Canada and the U.S. will hold a media
briefing in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, September 22. The leaders are in the U.S.
capital this week to discuss their concerns over the impacts of tar sands
development with high-ranking officials in light of deliberations over the
Keystone XL pipeline project.
The indigenous leaders
will meet with the State Department, the White House Council on Environmental
Quality, the Department of the Interior, the Canadian Embassy and key
Congressional offices. A new briefing note prepared by the Pembina Institute outlining key aboriginal
concerns, resolutions and legal actions related to tar sands development will
be available at the media briefing.
Media briefing information:
-
Where: NRDC
Office, 1200 New York Ave. NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. (use entrance at
corner of 12th and H St. — this is the AAAS building). - When: 11 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Sept. 22
-
Who: First Nations leaders and
representatives of the Pembina Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council -
R.S.V.P.: Please contact one of the
facilitators listed below to reserve a place at the briefing, as it will be
held in a secure-access building.
The delegation includes:
-
George Poitras, whose community in Fort Chipewyan lies downstream of tar sands
operations and has reported high rates of cancer and other illness. Poitras is a
former chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Alberta, Canada. -
François Paulette, a negotiator and consultant for First Nations groups on the impacts
of tar sands operations on land and water quality. Paulette is a member of the
Smith's Landing Treaty 8 First Nation in the Northwest Territories, Canada,
former chief of the Dene Nation, and a Commissioner with the Assembly of First
Nations. -
Marty Cobenais, an active member of the non-profit Indigenous Environmental Network,
through which he has met with Tribal Councils to encourage resolutions opposing
the Keystone XL pipeline. Cobenais is a member of the Red Lake Band of the Chippewa
(Ojibwe) First Nation in northern Minnesota.
Canada is among the top 10
emitters of greenhouse gases globally, and the tar sands represent the
fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Northern
communities, far away from actual mining operations, are already experiencing dramatic
changes to their traditional territory and ways of life because of climate
change in the Arctic and the Boreal region.
The meetings, sponsored by
the Pembina Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council, come as the
Obama administration is weighing the consequences of the proposed Keystone XL
pipeline, which would allow for the import of as much as 900,000 barrels per
day of tar sands oil to the U.S. and worsen the impacts of tar sands
development on First Nations communities.
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Contact:
Julia Kilpatrick
The Pembina Institute
juliak@pembina.org
613-265-5579
Elizabeth Heyd
Natural Resources Defense Council
eheyd@nrdc.org
202-289-2424
