UN instructs Canada to suspend Site C over Indigenous Rights

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https://thenarwhal.ca/united-nations-in ... iolations/

Cliffs: Our previous Provincial gov't here in BC teamed up with the feds to build a $10B+ hydroelectric dam in the Peace River Valley in order to generate HUGE amounts of electricity required to power $10B+ LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) plants (yet to be built on the coast! Some have been cancelled by global investors already, others not approved) that would liquify gas from fracking operations, put it on tankers, and ship it to Asia.

Albertans & the feds want all of this. Pipelines, fossil fuels, money. Most British Columbians & Indigenous People do not want it. (Nor any more oil pipelines from the tar sands) We don't want the increased fossil fuel use, the destruction of Native lands/cemeteries, nor the risk of pipelines leaking (especially bitumen), or tankers leaking (our coast is VERY treacherous & bitumen is IMPOSSIBLE to clean up since it sinks), nor the earthquakes caused by more fracking.. etc etc. BC is the birthplace of Greenpeace & home to Dr. David Suzuki, after all. Further, the areas of the coast that would be put at risk are some of the most beautiful and serene, pristine, coastlines in the entire world.. the Haida Gwaii is listed as among the most pristine nature perseveres on the planet and tourism is limited to something like 5,000 people per year. (bucket list!)

Anyways, politicians and corporations with money and power think they can do whatever they want to make ever more money.. but thankfully there are laws and due process that say they cannot do these things unilaterally. Colonizers successfully murdered more than 100 Million Native people in less than 500 years, but the few that remain have rights and they are exercising them for the good of their own lands and the planet. I am SO happy to see this & support their efforts 100%.

Glad to see the UN is helping on this one. This is exactly the sort of thing the UN should be doing, in my opinion. Let's hope someone listens.

So who rules the people of Canada? Is it the Canadian courts comprised of Canadians or the United Nations?

The United Nations is helping the Canadian people, specifically the Indigenous Canadians of British Columbia, to protect their land.

$, corporations (big oil, mining, gas etc), and China via Billions in investment as well as hundreds of Billions in money laundering etc

The UN doesn't "rule" any country; its resolutions are only advisory, with the exception of the Security Council. This DOES however (rightly) put a lot of pressure on the federal and state authorities to remedy a disgustingly corrupt and immoral setup which threatens to harm masses of Canadian land and the indigenous people on it, who have already suffered enough from the rich white man.

Plus the UN has a little more influence over Canada right now. Our previous PM, Stephen Harper, pulled Canada out of the Security Council. Our current PM, Justin Trudeau, is trying to get Canada a seat back on the Security Council. It won't be in Canada's best interest to tell the UN to f**k off about Indigenous Rights if we want them to even consider letting us back onto the Security Council.

Yeah, I can't say I agree with Trudeau on everything (I think he is too friendly with corporations, but it is the Liberal Party after all and that's what they're all about), but it sure is nice to have a sane leader again. I hope America can know a similar feeling soon, what it's like for the government to get back to sanity after having a looney-toon in office.

Fracking is an environmental s**t storm. Hydro is seductively clean but highly disruptive to its geographic surroundings.

Ironically, to produce enough electricity to make a serious dent in the huge quantity of CO2 belched forth in our present economy, we in North America need to start developing nuclear power on a massive scale, as China is doing (hopefully without also adopting their form of government!).

Carbon emissions in the US (not sure about Canada) have increased over the last year, largely due to a decline in the price of gasoline at the pump. One contributing factor is that China is developing its domestic electric automobile market, as well as building new nuclear reactors at a rapid pace to provide the electricity to power them. This is causing the bottom to fall out of the gasoline price in the US, with the expected effect on consumption.