Image Credit: Western Indigenous Pipeline Group

By James Peters

Trans Mountain Pipeline

Support grows for Indigenous group looking to buy Trans Mountain pipeline

Sep 16, 2020 | 2:23 PM

CALGARY — One of the Indigenous-led groups vying to buy a controlling stake in the Trans Mountain pipeline says an agreement with an Alberta First Nation represents an important step forward.

In a news release, the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group (WIPG) says it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with the Chief Greg Desjarlais of the Frog Lake Cree Nation in northeastern Alberta.

While WIPG previously focused on bringing together nations positioned along the Edmonton-to-Burnaby pipeline right-of-way, Frog Lake is far east of Edmonton, not far from the Saskatchewan border.

The release says the support from Frog Lake sends a signal that WIPG should be the choice as steward of the pipeline.

“The signing of this LOI with Frog Lake will help bridge the gaps between Alberta and British Columbia First Nations, while signalling to the federal government that the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group is the natural choice for selling this world-class energy infrastructure,” said Whispering Pines-Clinton Chief Mike LeBourdais, who chairs WIPG.

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Desjarlais says the support agreement will provide his community with opportunities for the future, as well as “much needed own-source revenues to assist with pressing community needs during these trying times.”

One of the groups also vying for a majority interest in the pipeline and expansion is Project Reconciliation, which would see the pipeline owned and operated by a collective of 340 Indigenous communities in Canada’s three westernmost provinces. Project Reconciliation’s B.C. regional director is former Tk’emlups chief Shane Gottfriedson.

The pipeline and expansion project were purchased by the Canadian government from Kinder Morgan in 2018.