In New Brunswick, the standoff in Mikmaq territory continues at the encampment at highway 11, so far preventing the fracking of Mikmaq lands, despite harassment by the RCMP. The corporate 'Goliath' there is Irving Oil, which operates Canada's largest oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, and has made New Brunswick a "company town', where Irving controls much of the economy, including media, lumber and transportation services. The Mikmaq 'Davids' are already a legend.
Blowback from Ecuador
Harper's energy and native troubles are not confined to Canada. An Ontario court recently ruled that Ecuadoran farmers and fishermen can try to seize Chevron Canada's assets, based on a 2011 Ecuadoran court decision which found it liable for soil and water pollution near oil wells, which has ruined the health and livelihoods of people living in nearby areas of the Amazon rainforest. Since then, the victims have been trying to collect $18 billion in environmental damages without success. A Chevron spokesman vowed, "We're going to fight this until hell freezes over. And then we'll fight it out on the ice."
Ecuadorans are also resisting the attempt by a Canadian mining firm to buy up and flatten a mountain (I'm not kidding), wiping out the village where locals have been mining gold in a low-tech, relatively environmentally friendly way for five centuries. This latest scandal is the subject of a documentary "Marmato" by Mark Grieco to be released this year.
I wonder where Harper's sympathies lie in far-away Ecuador? Will he do what's right--tell Chevron to pay up, tell his mining buddies to leave Marmato's villagers in peace? Is there hope for justice for Ecuadorans from Canada's legal system? Even the US ambassador to Ecuador in 2011 said, "I think we should be cleaning up the oil, and the lawyers are telling us not to. And we've got to figure out a political compromise. We've got to figure out a way to just get this done." Imagine a Canadian ambassador willing to say that.
Harper's silver lining?
Seizing Chevron's tarsands assets would go a long way to undo the devastation that it (and its predecessor Texaco) did in Ecuador over the past half century. Hey! That would mean stopping the tarsands, which would let Canada cut its outsize CO2 emissions. As for fracking, putting a stop to that obscenity would be a blessing to everyone except a few Conservative cronies. This show of good will would be a great way to make peace with Canada's First Nations and recoup some of Canada's tattered reputation in the world. Win, win, win.
Neil Young's Honour the Treaties tour is a risky gamble in the messy oilslick of politics. He's staking his personal legend on solidarity with Canada's First Nations. But the creator of "Heart of Gold" clearly sees a 21st century legend in the making, and wants to be part of it. "You want to know who is leading this protection?" asked one shivering Mikmaq protester last November. "The people that walk this earth, my ancestors. It is in our hearts to protect this and our hearts are leading this."
a version of this appeared at PressTV
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