As long as the rivers flow

Coming back to the treaty relationship in our time

August 13, 2014 | Viewpoints
By Jim Shantz | Special to Canadian Mennonite
One repeated theme at the conference was an abysmal lack in the regulatory system. Would a slowdown or moratorium be in order while nature is given a chance to ‘catch its breath’?

When Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Alberta asked Adrienne Wiebe and me to attend the May 31-June 1 conference on the Alberta oil sands and treaty rights in Fort McMurray, it was with mixed feelings.

The timing coincided with a debate in Canadian Mennonite regarding its editorial stance on divestment and a reactionary disquiet, at least among some constituents, that the issue is becoming too politicized.

Add to that my own personal feelings. I am a proud Albertan, a moderate supporter of the oil-sands industry—I have one small investment in an Alberta oil company—and have felt it unfair that Fort McMurray and Alberta have received a disproportionate amount of attention given its relatively small contribution to fossil-fuel emissions.

Additionally, I don’t think it comes as any surprise how supportive the majority of Albertans are of the oil industry, including the oil-sands projects. We all have friends and family members who have worked at “Fort Mac” supporting their families while paying off their mortgages, with an additionally larger number of our work force employed in oil-related services.

As interim pastor of one of our southern Alberta rural congregations—Bergthal Mennonite in Didsbury—I am also aware how “loaded” an issue this can be.

The conference, “As long as the rivers flow: Coming back to the treaty relationship in our time,” jointly sponsored by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Olthius Kleer Townshend (OKT) law firm, was both a great opportunity to hear well-known pundits like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as an eye opener to the complexities of the moral and social issues raised by the oil-sands industry.

The title of the conference best describes the issues. When the agreement for Treaty 8 was signed, it was with the expectation there would be equal and fair sharing of resources for all across this vast northern boreal forest. Many feel that those agreements were not conducted in good faith. Yet others have been beneficiaries of the oil-sands industry.

Treaty agreements and environmental concerns were a major focus of the conference. Tutu, humble enough to say that he did not come as a “know it all,” was clear in his assessment, based on his travels, of how serious a threat climate change poses, asserting it is the “moral issue of this century.”

Allan Adam, chief of the Chipewyan First Nation, said, “Without our land, we are nothing. . . . We said we would share, not surrender.”

Bob Rae, a senior partner at OKT who works with first nations and who was a former premier of Ontario, noted that he is not anti-development, and emphasized the need for much more stringent regulation of the industry.

A lot could be covered in describing the conference. It was a packed two days of addresses, seminars and panel discussions. Perhaps what is more important is personal impact. MCC learning tours can be life-changing events. That was certainly the case with tours to Palestine/Israel and Colombia! One to the oil sands may be a “harder sell”!

But I will make the following observations:

• Unfettered development in the name of progress: This needs a new look. One repeated theme at the conference was an abysmal lack in the regulatory system. Would a slowdown or moratorium be in order while nature is given a chance to “catch its breath”?

• Lifestyles: To use Tutu’s phrase, “the insatiable hunger” for oil both domestically and globally will continue to ensure that bitumen will find a way to reach its destination whether by pipeline, rail or freighter. Until alternate renewable energy sources are taken seriously, the oil will continue to flow.

• Stewardship: Our indigenous brothers and sisters remind us that the Creator has given us this planet as a precious gift for our use, not its exploitation as a dollar-value commodity.

I am sure, given our God-given creativity and resourcefulness, there are small—and maybe even large—things that we can do to show we care. As people of Christian faith, what may be even more important is the question of the gospel. As those who believe in the centrality of the risen Christ, how can good news be both proclaimed and lived in the context of the issues of the day? l

Along with his church ministry, Jim Shantz works part-time for MCC Alberta in constituency relations and indigenous communities.

--Posted August 13, 2014

One repeated theme at the conference was an abysmal lack in the regulatory system. Would a slowdown or moratorium be in order while nature is given a chance to ‘catch its breath’?

A map of the Alberta oil sands.

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