![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mar-14-Cov-Chief-George.jpg\")
<\/a>These teachings, he explained, include the protection of \u201cthe things that are sacred to us, and that\u2019s our children, our families and also our land and our waters. You look at any religious or spiritual belief and you can see that water is used in most ceremonies and, in a sense, fire, too, because you have candles or incense, and we use sage or sweetgrass. We use the elements of … fire, earth, water and sky. We learn through the ceremonies that there is a sacredness to it, just like there is a sacredness to our children, so it was a natural transition for me to go from director of community development for Tsleil-Waututh Nation, overseeing all the social programs, employment and training, and education programs\u201d to being, among other responsibilities, program manager of TWN\u2019s Sacred Trust. The trust \u201cis mandated to oppose and stop the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project,\u201d explains its website.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started,\u201d said George of the fight against the pipeline expansion, \u201cthere was Rex Wheeler and Ben West and a [handful] of others. Rex Wheeler is one of the fathers of Greenpeace, and Ben West is one of the managers at ForestEthics. They couldn\u2019t believe it when they saw a tanker going through our [TWN] territory, the Burrard Inlet, almost four years ago … and so they found us…. But we\u2019ve been fighting the battle against things like this for years, and being traditional stewards of our lands. We did elk re-introduction programs, we\u2019re doing salmon enhancement programs and, when we do things like that, those things benefit everybody. So, we\u2019ve been doing this work and, with our treaty lands and resource payments, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation [has been doing it] for years as well, and my grandfather Chief Dan George did similar work.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the pipeline, said George, \u201cWe\u2019re also keeping a close eye on the whole that\u2019s being distributed from Vancouver. There\u2019s uranium going out of Vancouver, there\u2019s a whole bunch of toxic and very dangerous things that are going through our waters and we\u2019re watching those very carefully, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the struggle against Kinder Morgan\u2019s proposed expansion began, said George, the concern was mainly about Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge\u2019s at-least $6.5 billion Northern Gateway project to build a new twin pipeline system running from near Edmonton to Kitimat was approved by the NEB last December, with 200-plus conditions.) Public awareness of Kinder Morgan was limited when TWN became involved, said George, but that has since changed.<\/p>\n
Last fall, TWN received the gift of a totem pole from Lummi Nation in Washington state. \u201cThey wanted to work together with my nation because they see what we are doing against Kinder Morgan, and [it\u2019s similar to] what they\u2019re doing against the coal in Cherry Point,\u201d explained George. \u201cBut they did a journey from Montana to Vancouver with that totem pole and in every nation they stopped at, there were prayers and there was a gathering, and through that process, they had 7.5 million people witness part of that journey … through internet or TV or newspapers. And then, when we went to Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Earth Summit, there were a couple of pictures that were taken … [with] indigenous people around the Amazon, and there is 1.2 million views on that. So, from nobody having awareness to this, to bringing it to the international stage and showing the world that not only are the tankers not a good idea, the pipelines are not a good idea, [and] the Alberta Tar Sands are an atrocious idea, just like the rest of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For economic prosperity, said George, \u201cwe don\u2019t need this destruction that\u2019s happening to our earth and our atmosphere and our waters. We need the world to know that we have green-energy alternatives. Tsleil-Waututh Nation, we own and we manufacture and we sell wind turbines.\u201d He called it \u201cridiculous\u201d that the Canadian government has given some $1.4 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel companies who are \u201cnot working for change.\u201d<\/p>\n
He held up TWN as one of the First Nations from which people could learn \u201cwhat a government should be like.\u201d He said that, when its wind turbines and other investments have success, \u201cit\u2019s not going to be an individual that\u2019s taking off and becoming a billionaire\u201d looking out for their own best interests.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cInstead of taking millions of dollars and negotiating with Kinder Morgan, we said no…. Like the 160 nations that signed the Fraser declaration [to \u2018not allow the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines, or similar Tar Sands projects, to cross our lands, territories and watersheds, or the ocean migration routes of Fraser River salmon\u2019], they said no, too….\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWe have a collective of a nation that did a referendum,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of taking millions of dollars and negotiating with Kinder Morgan, we said no…. Like the 160 nations that signed the Fraser declaration [to \u2018not allow the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines, or similar Tar Sands projects, to cross our lands, territories and watersheds, or the ocean migration routes of Fraser River salmon\u2019], they said no, too…. When we do have success with our economic development \u2013 we\u2019re not a perfect system but we\u2019re working towards it \u2013 but when we do have success, that money supplement[s] … every program of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave the examples of environmental programs, such as those dealing with elk and salmon, as well as \u201csocial development, we help people to get off social assistance; and we help with the healing of our communities from the genocide that has happened [as a result of] the residential school experience; we have education; we have employment and training. All these programs are supplemented by our drive towards self-sufficiency. So, that, to me, is a government.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, when we make decisions for the better of our future generations, we sacrifice,\u201d he admitted. \u201cIt would be easy for a lot of people to negotiate and say, yeah, I\u2019ll take 10, 20 million dollars and let this pipeline go through, and maybe we\u2019ll take some of the things that they\u2019re offering and help our people out of poverty … but this is the sacrifice that we make. This is the sacrifice we have to do to create change. This is the sacrifice we have to do to have positive success that will go along the lines of what our culture and our spirituality teach us, and that\u2019s not to cause destruction to what we [consider] sacred.\u201d<\/p>\n
George stressed the need to work with business partners who have the same values. He said that \u201cthis Canadian government, this Harper government, they don\u2019t have the values that they\u2019ll put forth to protect the sacred, their own children. Because they can\u2019t make those decisions for themselves, we will \u2013 we will make those choices for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
George isn\u2019t afraid of the David-versus-Goliath element of the struggle. He explained that indigenous people, who once \u201cpopulated the Burrard Inlet with 15,000 people \u2013 we went down to 13 people, we were almost extinct. But those 13 people fought and they strived, and they maintained, and they stood up for the land, they stood up for the people, they stood up for those cultural indigenous rights. And I\u2019m talking about those teachings of humanity, of love and respect, and honor and dignity and pride. If we treat well those things that we care for, like the land and the water and individuals, we\u2019ll be making the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cMy grandfather once said, if you\u2019re going to be a pipe carrier or a longhouse West Coast ceremonial person, or you\u2019re going to be Catholic or Jewish or Muslim … it doesn\u2019t matter what you are, as long as you\u2019re good at it. When you\u2019re good at it \u2013 he meant, by following those teachings, what they represent and how you\u2019re to live your life \u2013 there\u2019s no boundaries between us and we can have a good relationship with one another.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
And his interfaith work has shown him that, when people recognize and live by \u201cthose fundamentals of humanity … there\u2019s no differences between us. When we\u2019re born, we\u2019re born with no prejudice, no anger, no hate, no judgment…. It\u2019s this society that we live in that warps us in the way we\u2019re thinking…. My grandfather once said, if you\u2019re going to be a pipe carrier or a longhouse West Coast ceremonial person, or you\u2019re going to be Catholic or Jewish or Muslim … it doesn\u2019t matter what you are, as long as you\u2019re good at it. When you\u2019re good at it \u2013 he meant, by following those teachings, what they represent and how you\u2019re to live your life \u2013 there\u2019s no boundaries between us and we can have a good relationship with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emphasizing that pipelines and other such projects are not a First Nations or environmentalist problem, but rather everybody\u2019s problem, George encouraged people to get involved. About his upcoming talk in the Jewish community, he said he hopes that \u201cour collective religions and spiritual beliefs when we come together like this, where I come to be with your beautiful people, that we can spread the messages out, the teachings of humanity, and we can connect to those ones who don\u2019t understand and bring some understanding of the true facts of what\u2019s happening, and we can join together and make a movement that can create a better future for all of our future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Annual Vancouver<\/i> Outlook Fundraising Supper ($40\/person) featuring Chief Rueben George will take place at the Peretz Centre on March 23, 6 p.m. An RSVP is requested to 604-324-5101.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Dec. 16, 2013, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners filed an application with Canada\u2019s National Energy Board for permission to proceed with its proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline system between Edmonton and Burnaby. \u201cIf approvals are received, the expansion is expected to be operational in late 2017,\u201d says the company\u2019s website. It also notes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[699,693,702,696,697,690,692,700,701,695,698,691,694],"class_list":["post-1850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local","tag-ben-west","tag-chief-rueben-george","tag-enbridge","tag-forestethics","tag-greenpeace","tag-kinder-morgan-energy-partners","tag-national-energy-board","tag-neb","tag-northern-gateway","tag-outlook-magazine","tag-rex-wheeler","tag-trans-mountain-pipeline","tag-tsleil-waututh-nation"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}