Clyde River: WIN - Supreme Court quashes seismic testing in

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Nunavut mayors unanimously support Clyde River seismic fight

[ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... mic_fight/ ]

NEWS: Nunavut November 17, 2014 - 12:35 pm

Other NAM resolutions include hotel tax and waste management planning

PHOTO: Jeannie Ehaloak, mayor of Cambridge Bay, second from right, chairs the Nunavut Association of Municipalities’ annual general meeting in Iqaluit, Nov. 12, as treasurer and mayor of Igloolik, Peter Ivalu, right, asks a question about Nunavut infrastructure. Nunavut mayors passed 13 resolutions during their meeting this year including a unanimous motion to back Clyde River’s fight against seismic testing for oil and gas. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

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Mayors of Nunavut’s 25 communities are backing Clyde River in its fight against seismic testing for oil and gas in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, and have called on the governments of Canada and Nunavut to “respect this community and its concerns over marine development.”

The mayors expressed their support unanimously by way of a resolution passed at the Nunavut Association of Municipalities’ annual general meeting in Iqaluit, Nov. 12 to Nov.13.

The resolution tops a list of 13 resolutions passed at the conclusion of the two-day conference which mostly centred on chronic challenges Nunavut communities face managing solid waste and waste water, and dealing with infrastructure deficits.

The resolution was exceptional, Madeleine d’Argencourt, executive director of the association (NAM), told Nunatsiaq News.

NAM delegates don’t normally pass resolutions “specific to one community,” she said, “because bylaws in NAM policy state any resolution passed has to be Nunavut-wide, and Nunavut-inclusive.”

“We have to speak as one voice, for all,” she said.

The Clyde River resolution, in fact, does conform to bylaws “because we recognized what they were going through could happen to any other community at some point,” d’Argencourt said.

The resolution acknowledges the Hamlet of Clyde River and the community’s hunters and trappers organization “have initiated legal action in June 2014 to protect the marine life of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.” [ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... ves_south/ ]

It adds that “all communities in Nunavut have a continuing concern for the protection of their wildlife resources, including marine mammals, and concern that marine development, if necessary, be consultative and beneficial to the people of our communities.”

The mayors of Nunavut, constituted as the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, express “our whole-hearted support for the actions taken by Clyde River, and encourage Nunavut and Canada to respect this community and its concerns over marine development,” the resolution reads.

The NAM “asks Canada and Nunavut to negotiate the terms of any development in the region with the affected communities, who have the greatest interest in the lands and waters near our communities,” the motion concludes.

The association also promised to contribute a portion of funds raised from the annual meeting’s silent auction, amounting to about $1,200, to Clyde River’s efforts to appeal the National Energy Board’s approval of the project.

Described as “symbolic,” the donation is not part of the resolution. It could, at best, contribute to potential airfare costs for the mayor of Clyde River, Jerry Natanine, when he travels to represent his community’s interests in the seismic issue, d’Argencourt said.

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Help Protect Canada's Arctic From Oil Spills

[ https://www.savethearctic.org/en-CA/clyde-river/ ]

The people of the tiny Hamlet of Clyde River, Nunavut — one of the most remote communities in the world — have launched a courageous legal challenge against oil exploration in their waters. They are taking action to protect Canada’s Arctic from oil spills.

A Canadian government regulator has recently approved a five-year oil exploration project off Clyde River’s coast, which allows seismic testing — a process of firing loud sonic explosions through the ocean to find oil — as a first step towards dangerous Arctic oil drilling.

But it’s not just the oil drilling that’s dangerous — these explosions can disrupt migration paths of marine animals like narwhals, sometimes causing permanent hearing loss, and in the worst case, even death.

Please join this brave community in their fight to protect their home, the narwhals and the Arctic, by telling the Canadian government and their energy regulator to stop dangerous oil exploration in Canada’s Arctic now.

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International Greenpeace petition launched in support of Clyde River

[ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... mic_fight/ ]

6 November 2014 (Toronto, Ontario / Clyde River, Nunavut) –

Greenpeace launched an international petition today to support the Hamlet of Clyde River in its legal challenge against a National Energy Board decision to permit seismic testing in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.

The petition invites people to send an email to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chair and CEO of the National Energy Board Peter Watson expressing solidarity with the claimants and supporting Clyde River’s legitimate right to protect their traditional lands and waters, and the Arctic wildlife they intrinsically depend on.

Constitutional lawyer Nader R. Hasan of Ruby Shiller Chan Hasan, Barristers, who represents the Clyde River groups, added: “This truly is a David vs. Goliath case. Fortunately, however, the Constitution of this country does not give preference to the rich and powerful. It protects what is just and right. And make no mistake: the decision to permit seismic testing clearly violates the constitutional rights of the people of Clyde River and Nunavut.”

Baffin Bay and Davis Strait are rich in sea mammals that are staples of Inuit diet and culture. Deafeningly loud air cannons used in seismic testing send sound waves that can permanently damage or even kill them.

Because of these significant risks, numerous Nunavut-based associations had asked the NEB to withhold approval for the project until further research could be done on the safety of the proposed seismic testing. However, despite these widespread concerns, the NEB approved the project on June 28, 2014. A month later, community groups from Clyde River filed an application at the Federal Court of Appeal challenging the decision.

Concerned about the impacts of seismic testing on marine life, Greenpeace Arctic campaigner Farrah Khan said: “The area proposed for seismic testing is home to the majority of the world’s narwhals. If the Canadian government and the NEB allow oil exploration projects to go ahead as planned, they could displace this unique species and severely impact their future survival.”

Unless the Clyde River applicants prevail in court, seismic testing in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait will begin in 2015. -30-

For more information:

Diego Creimer, Communications officer,
514-999-6743 / dcreimer@greenpeace.org


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Clyde River supports Greenpeace petition against seismic testing

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cly ... -1.2829154 ]

Community launched federal court challenge opposing projects off Baffin Island

CBC News Posted: Nov 09, 2014 6:52 AM CT| Last Updated: Nov 09, 2014 6:52 AM CT

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QUOTE: ""To date, the concerns of Clyde River have been ignored by the federal government, the National Energy Board, and the oil industry. If Minister Aglukkaq acted as a steward for the Arctic environment — as an environment minister and chair of the Arctic Council should — then she would be listening to the concerns of Northerners and acting on them."

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The lawyer representing Clyde River, Nunavut in its fight against seismic testing off Baffin Island is welcoming a petition of support from Greenpeace.

Nader Hasan says the community has taken on Goliath by challenging oil companies and he hopes more people will be inspired to speak out.

People in Clyde River are attempting to block plans to do seismic testing in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.

The group that launched the federal court challenge will have to prove the National Energy Board didn't do its job, failing to properly consult the people of Clyde River before approving the seismic testing projects.

Hasan says the National Energy Board essentially rubber-stamped the application for seismic testing.

"I think that if Canadians knew about it, they'd be outraged and this Greenpeace petition is certainly helping garner attention," Hasan said. "So from that point of view, I think this will have a very positive effect on our efforts here."

In a news release issued in July, Greenpeace said it stood by Clyde River's fight against seismic testing, adding that the projects would have "severe impacts on marine life and traditional lifestyles of coastal Indigenous Peoples."

The press release was also released in response to Minister of Environment Leona Aglukkaq, who criticized Greenpeace at the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in Inuvik, N.W.T.

"We are being called on to support communities where government is failing to protect the rights and interests of its own people," wrote Farrah Khan, a campaigner for Greenpeace, in the release.

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[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cly ... -1.2725060 ]

■Clyde River groups launch legal challenge to seismic testing
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■Clyde River opposes offshore seismic surveys
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cly ... -1.2560532 ]


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MAY: Stop dangerous oil exploration in the Arctic

From: Elizabeth May, MP
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 5:10 PM
Subject: re: Stop dangerous oil exploration in the Arctic

Thank you for copying me on your letter to the National Energy Board (NEB) and the Prime Minister about the NEB’s decision to allow seismic testing in Nunavut. I agree that this exploration must not go forward.

The Green Party of Canada is very concerned about the biological damage from seismic testing. Particularly seismic testing is a threat to cetaceans who rely on sonic communication. The air guns used create vibrations and continuous noise that causes changes in behaviour and in some cases death for whales, dolphins and porpoises. Dr. Jeffrey Hutchings at Dalhousie University has also found that ground fish, such as cod, can have reproduction success compromised by seismic testing. This testing, coupled with potential oil and gas drilling, will result in devastating consequences for pristine northern ecosystems and inhabitants.

Of course the purpose of the testing is to advance oil and gas exploitation in one of the planet's most fragile ecosystems. Protecting the Arctic from the dangers of unmitigated climate change should be the government’s priority. Our Arctic has already been affected by climate change. Permafrost is melting at unprecedented rates. When permafrost melts, large amounts of methane are released, causing more permafrost and ice to melt and gas to be released into the atmosphere. The loss of Arctic ice reduces the cooling effect, known as the albedo effect. The white ice at the pole reflects the sun's radiation back to the upper atmosphere. Without the ice, the solar radiation is absorbed and further warms Arctic Ocean water, further melting the ice.

There are inadequate measures in place for oil spills in less unpredictable environments. An oil spill in the Arctic would present new challenges and situations that we have yet to face.

The people who will be affected most and who possess the best knowledge of the region have not been consulted. In deferring the decision to the NEB, the Harper Conservatives, including Minister of Environment and MP for Nunavut, Leona Aglukkaq, are evading their duty to consult the people of Nunavut. Many citizens of the Arctic, including five Nunavut Mayors, are opposed to the project.

In order to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on the planet, especially the Arctic, we must look into more progressive ways to source our energy. Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is the direction Canada and the world should be taking. Exploration into oil and gas drilling in the Arctic is not a viable solution.

Thank you again for writing. I will stand up for the Arctic in the House of Commons and oppose this project.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth May, O.C, M.P.
Saanich- Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada

Mailing Address
518 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A0A6 Canada

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Supreme Court quashes seismic testing in Nunavut, but gives green light to Enbridge pipeline

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme ... -1.4221698 ]

Top court delivers landmark rulings on consultation process with Indigenous Peoples over energy projects

By John Paul Tasker, CBC News Posted: Jul 26, 2017 10:04 AM ET| Last Updated: Jul 26, 2017 4:02 PM ET

( PHOTO: Jerry Natanine, community leader and former mayor of Clyde River, gestures after the Supreme Court quashed seismic testing for oil in Nunavut.)

The Supreme Court of Canada has quashed plans for seismic testing in Nunavut, delivering a major victory to Inuit who argued they were inadequately consulted before the National Energy Board gave oil companies the green light to conduct the disruptive activity.

In a unanimous decision handed down Wednesday, written by justices Karakatsanis and Brown, the top court ruled the NEB's consultation process in Clyde River was "significantly flawed" and gave little, if any, consideration to the treaty rights of Inuit and their reliance on marine mammals for subsistence.

The Inuit have said the sound wave technology a Norwegian consortium sought to use in search of oil would have profoundly affected marine life in the area.

"What a victory for us," said Jerry Natanine, a former mayor of Clyde River who pushed this case for years, after the ruling was released. "Justice was on our side because we're fighting for our way of life, our hunting and gathering culture — whaling and sealing — that's our lifestyle, that's what we want to protect."

'We're not totally against development'

Despite his opposition to this round of testing, Natanine said his community is not ruling out co-operation with energy companies in the future. "We're not totally against development, but it has to be done right. You know, whales don't have to die, seals don't have to die off, plankton. There's a better way to do these things, that's what we've got to find out."

"Justice has prevailed," Nader Hasan, Clyde River's lawyer, said. "The NEB process is broken, the NEB never met a pipeline project or an oil project it didn't like, and that's reflected in decades of jurisprudence. Clyde River was successful, but what about the next Clyde River? That community might not have the ability to take their case to the courts."

The court rescinded the NEB's 2014 decision to grant a five-year permit to the companies to conduct seismic testing or "blasting," which sends sound waves to see if there are reserves under the sea floor.

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