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TREATY ONE FIRST NATIONS
Suite 201 – 1311 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3G 0V3
Contacts, for press only:
Noemi Perez, (703) 270-9254, noemi@desertrunner-llc.com
Chief Glenn Hudson, (204) 223-4209
December 31, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Canadian Indigenous Community to Deliver Message of Oil and Human
Rights to President-Elect Obama
Delegation follows in centuries-long tradition of delegations of American Indians
traveling to Washington, DC to meet the “Great White Father.”
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – In the tradition of delegations of American Indians
traveling in the late 1800s to Washington, DC to meet the "Great White Father," Chiefs
from Canada’s First Nations will be traveling to the U.S. capitol to seek the support of
President Elect Obama in their fight for Human Rights. On January 8, a First Nations
delegation of Chiefs from across Canada will conduct a procession on horseback at the
National Mall in Washington D.C. to deliver their message, followed by a Press
Conference.
“We are hopeful that President-Elect Obama will embrace the attitude of respect,
compassion and support by engaging in the accountability of equitable and fair trade
between the United States, the Indian Nations and the Canadian Government,” stated
Chief Glenn Hudson of Peguis First Nation, a spokesman for Treaty One. “Canada is the
largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States,” added Chief Hudson. “America needs
to purchase 14 million barrels of foreign oil every day, and maintaining a steady supply
of oil is a national security issue for the U.S. So far, Canada pays little or no royalties to
indigenous people for resources.”
Chiefs from the seven First Nations of Treaty One announced a decision to assemble the
delegation of Chiefs to deliver a message of oil and human rights to President-Elect
Obama. During the election campaign President-Elect Barack Obama talked of his
concerns with “dirty oil” from Canada and made many of positive statements on a new
relationship with Native America.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, over eighty percent of all
Canadian exports flow to the U.S. Canada remained the largest exporter to the U.S. of
total petroleum in September, exporting 2.364 million barrels per day. The second largest
petroleum exporter to the U.S. was Saudi Arabia with 1.431 million barrels per day.
Two major pipelines, the Enbridge Alberta Clipper and the TransCanada Keystone
Project, being constructed through three provinces will carry an additional 1.9 million
barrels of oil per day to the U.S. by 2012. The two pipelines are of grave importance to
American energy needs given the increasing instability of other foreign sources of oil.
Canada supplies the United States with 65% more oil per day than Saudi Arabia, yet the
stability of oil supply from Canada has never been of concern to Americans. The oil that
the U.S. is purchasing from Canada is stolen from indigenous lands, constituting a
security breach for the United States, Canada, and the First Nations.
In September, two blockades by First Nations in the Province of Saskatchewan sent
shockwaves through the industry as construction was halted for four and six days at two
sites. Chief Barry Kennedy of Carry the Kettle First Nation (Treaty Four) and Chief
Sheldon Wuttunee of Red Pheasant First Nation (Treaty Six) in Saskatchewan organized
the blockades. The First Nations are currently in negotiations with the pipelines.
Treaty One will send invitations to Chiefs from all three prairie provinces, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Invitations will also go to British Columbia where First
Nations are fighting the proposed Gateway Pipeline. Gateway will pipe oil to the Pacific
to be sent on Ocean Tankers to China and western United States. On the American side,
invitations to speak in Washington will go to four tribes from North and South Dakota.
The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Rosebud Sioux, Santee Sioux and Yankton Sioux
Tribes recently launched a U.S. lawsuit to stop the TransCanada pipeline.
The First Nations delegation of Chiefs seeks President-Elect Obama to apply
international pressure on Canada – the largest supplier of crude oil to the U.S. – to share
resource wealth with the indigenous people of Canada, the original and rightful owners of
the resources. An emergency resolution at the national Assembly of First Nations in the
December 2008 Summit in Ottawa will debate the proposed Declaration on Oil. The AFN
is the national political representative of 633 First Nations in Canada.
While the United States recognizes property in its Bill of Rights and recognizes Treaties
as the "law of the land" in its constitution, Canada omits the Right to Property in its
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The United States and Canada both voted
against the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights, an issue that will surely
confront the newly elected President of the United States.
About Treaty One First Nations in Manitoba.
Treaty One territory is 16,700 square miles, (10 million acres) directly in the path of both Enbridge and
TransCanada pipelines. The pipelines are currently being constructed through Treaty One territory without
any prior approval by the indigenous people.
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