Scott Goosenberg: “How to Avoid Snake Oil: A Case Study of Indigenous Tribes vs. International Greed”

Project Outline

• Introduction

• The Beaver Lake Cree Nation of 900 is located at the southern tip of the Athabasca tar sands and face the disintegration of their cherished way of life through the steam assisted gravity drainage process to extract bitumen, as well as strip mining, and oil prospection as well as its drilling. This messy process, aside from impeding the BLCN’s capacity to hunt caribou and other animals, contaminates soil and ground water. Despite their size, this small group is seen by some environmentalists to be “one of the last and best hopes” to stop new tar sands projects. Moreover, the issue of tar sands reverberates worldwide, given that the process emits three times more carbon than non-SAGD extraction processes, on top of the humanitarian issue of maintaining the sustainability of the BLCN’s means of sustenance. 

• Thesis Question:

• How can the fairly analogous predicaments faced by other indigenous groups, both within Canada and worldwide, and the means through which they defended their rights, help to buttress the Beaver Lake Cree Nations’ efforts to achieve an optimal outcome in their own legal battle? 

• Literature Review

• The Lubicon, a nation of 500 people who live in northern Alberta, has seen their quality of life deteriorate significantly in the past 30 years as a result of oil and gas extraction that has occurred against their will.

• Civil Society Aid: Amnesty International, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Lubicon Legal Defence Fund, Friends of the Lubicon.

• The World Council of Churches condemned the Canadian government in a 1993 report when they accused Canada of committing a gradual genocide of the Lubicon Cree.

• Outcome: Two UNHRC rulings, in March 1990 and October 2005 respectively, criticized the Canadian government for failing to resume negotiations and consult with the Lubicon elders prior to issuing decrees allowing for the further economic exploitation of their land. Issue still hotly disputed, as the UNHRC ruling has not been followed.

• The Ogonis are an indigenous Nigerian group that lives in the Niger Delta, where approximately 60% of the nation’s oil reserves can be found. Shell’s—one of the many oil companies involved as well in the Alberta tar sands projects.

• Outcome:

• Activities in the Delta have wreaked havoc upon the local environment, rendering farming impossible. Any efforts to protest by the Ogonis have led to harassment, conflict, arrests and in certain cases, extrajudicial killings.

• Civil Society Aid: Amnesty International, Greenpeace

• Other International Acts: Withdrawal of Ambassadors from Nigeria, call for oil embargo, E.U. calls for economic and military sanctions

• (There are a litany of issues relating to th)

• Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia case

• Outcome: 

• After 339 days of hearings in the span of five years at a cost of almost $30 million, the nation was given 2,000 kilometers of land, but never received a binding opinion or a formal declaration of an aboriginal title.

• Substantive Analysis

• Establish foundation of domestic legal legislation, including how the outcomes of the Lubicon and Tsilhqot’in peoples as well as other tribes affected by tar sands drilling, and discern the pros and cons of the approaches they took to publicize their plight.

• Research international cases with specific emphasis on, but not limited to, the Oganis of the Niger Delta. Additionally, relevant statutes and international precedents will be sought that correlate with the BLCN’s circumstance. 

• In doing so, lay the foundation for an international course case, and seek to build upon the works of many NGOs and advocates have already done to help further publicize the BLCN’s plight, towards the ultimate end of lodging a formal complaint with the Canadian government and the U.N.

• The ultimate endgame will work towards the ultimate strategic end of bringing attention to the dangers of the tar-sand extraction in general, and its impact on the BLCN in particular. 

• Conclusion (in abbreviated form below)

• Climate change and human rights advocates have helped bring attention and economic support vis-à-vis the BLCN’s plight; the Alberta tar sands were of import in the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit. Their legal battle shows serious promise—thanks to endogenous resolve and exogenous material support from a global base. However, aside from the monetary issues attached to the legal issue itself, the BCLN face a series of political, economic and trade issues with an international dimension. Most prominently, Canadian government officials, international oil companies, and more recently the E.U. as well as U.S. Republicans seeking North American fuel over alternatives has created a veritable fount of opposition that only compounds the troubles of a small nation fighting ever-growing waves of resistance.

Reference List

(An annotated bibliography will be utilized in conjunction with footnotes throughout)

Cahal Milmo. “The Biggest Environmental crime in history.” The Independent (U.K.), December 10, 2007. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-biggest-environmental-crime-in-history-764102.html

“Ogoni and Nigeria Conflict over Oil,” ICE Case Studies, Case Number 64. http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/ogonioil.htm

“Nigeria Petroleum Pollution in Ogoni Region,” ICE Case Studies, Case Number 149. http://www1.american.edu/ted/OGONI.HTM 

“The Curse of Oil in Ogoniland.” University of Michigan Case Study Publication. http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/cases_03-04/Ogoni/Ogoni_case_study.htm

“Shell in Nigeria: What are the issues?” Boycott Shell, Essential Action. http://www.essentialaction.org/shell/issues.html

“The Lubicon Story,” Official Homepage of the Lubicon Lake Nation. http://www.lubiconlakenation.com/about

Cosanna Preston. “Canada’s Third World; The Plight of the Lubicon Cree.” ZNET/Tar Sands Watch. June 21, 2007. http://www.tarsandswatch.org/canada-s-third-world-plight-lubicon-cree

“Outaouais Lubicon Solidary Homepage,” Outaouais Lubicon Solidarity, March 6, 2006. http://www.lubiconsolidarity.ca/

Drew Mildon, “The Beaver Lake Cree Nation vs the Tar Sands,” Oil Sands Truth, July 15, 2009. http://oilsandstruth.org/beaver-lake-cree-nation-vs-tar-sands

“The Beaver Lake Cree Nation’s legal challenge,” Co-operative Investment Bank/Toxic Fuels: Stop Expansion Now. http://www.cooperativecampaigns.co.uk/toxicfuels/stopTarSandsExpansion-legalCase.php

• Link to PDF containing tranche of legal documents, including 17,000 claims taken against various oil companies. http://www.co-operativecampaigns.co.uk/toxicfuels/downloads/beaverLakeCree-statementOfClaim.pdf

Derek Armstrong. “Beaver Lake Cree Nation A ‘Threat To The Oil Industry’” Says Former Harper Aide. EDI Weekly. December 10, 2009. http://www.tarsandswatch.org/beaver-lake-cree-nation-threat-oil-industry-says-former-harper-aide 

Press Association, “Co-operative gives £53,000 to Canadian Cree for tar sands lawsuit,” The Guardian (U.K.). July 20, 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/20/canada-cree-tar-sands  

Bob Weber and Sylvia Strojek, “Oil sands should be left in the ground: NASA scientist,” The Globe and Mail. October 5, 2010. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/oil-sands-should-be-left-in-the-ground-nasa-scientist/article1743844/?cmpid=rss1

Keith Gerein. “Pro-Alberta oilsands bill introduced by U.S. senators.” The Vancouver Sun, October 1, 2010. http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Alberta+oilsands+bill+introduced+senators/3612170/story.html#ixzz11qR7qjNo

Pete Harrison. “EU delays green barrier to Canada oil sands: draft.” Reuters (U.K.). October 4, 2010. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE69323Y20101004?pageNumber=1

Andrea Hilland. “Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia Backgrounder.” West Coast Environmental Law. December 2007. http://wcel.org/sites/default/files/publications/Tsilhqot%E2%80%99in%20Nation%20v%20British%20Columbia%20Backgrounder.pdf

Aboriginal Law Group. “The Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia Case: What It Means and What It Doesn't Mean.” Lawson Lundell LLP/World Services Group. December 2007. http://www.worldservicesgroup.com/publications.asp?action=article&artid=2189

John B.H. Edmond. “A road to resolution? Tsilqot’in Nation v. British Columbia.” Feature Report on Advances in Aboriginal Law, LawNow. September 1, 2008. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+road+to+resolution%3F+Tsilhqot%27in+Nation+v.+British+Columbia.-a0188642888

Comments

[Michael Byers]

This is great, but you need to focus even more. I would suggest something along the following lines: What mechanisms at the UN and other international organizations have indigenous groups used in similar circumstances, how did things work out for them, what lessons can be drawn, and what can you recommend to the Beaver Lake Cree as a result of your analysis?

Please consider the Inuit attempt to use the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against the US government on climate change.

And avoid unnecessary rhetoric (e.g. "international greed"), since it will distract from the perceived objectivity and weight of your analysis.

Still, very well done!

[Scott Goosenberg]

New outline's in the making. Stay tuned!