We write as professors of law at several Canadian law schools to recognize and commemorate the May 26, 2015 release of Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s Assessment of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline and Tanker Expansion (“TMEX”) Proposal (the “Assessment”).
Tsleil-Waututh carried out its Assessment pursuant to its Stewardship Policy, which is an expression of the nation’s inherent jurisdiction and law. The Assessment involved a review of the potential impacts of the TMEX proposal – not only impacts on the biophysical environment, but also on Tsleil-Waututh’s interconnected cultural, spiritual, legal and governance rights and responsibilities. Legal principles that guided the assessment were drawn from Tsleil-Waututh traditional narratives and other Coast Salish traditional and contemporary sources.
The inherent jurisdiction and laws which Tsleil-Waututh relied on in completing its Assessmentexist independently of, and pre-date the assertion of sovereignty by Canada. Section 35(1) of the Canadian Constitution recognizes and affirms such existing Aboriginal rights, including Aboriginal title and governance rights.
MAY 26, 2015.
Signed:
Gordon Christie, Director, Indigenous Legal Studies Program, University of British Columbia
Sakej Youngblood Henderson, Research Director, Native Law Centre of Canada, University of Saskatchewan
Andrée Boisselle, Assistant Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Nicole Schabus, Janna Promislow and Charis Kamphuis, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University
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