Assess Progress on Reconciliation with First Nations

 The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) produced a report card in 2020 on the progress in achieving the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action.

https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020_TRC-Report-Card_ENG.pdf  

The efforts for reconciliation go back at least 30 years to the Apology to the First Nations of Canada from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

 

https://www.cccb.ca/indigenous-peoples/indian-residential-schools-and-trc/

This apology can be viewed on the web page Indian Residential Schools and TRC - Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops1.

 

 In its final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) instructed governments, educational and religious institutions, civil society groups and all Canadians to take on the 94 Calls to Action (CTA).

 As per Resolution 01/2015, Support for the Full Implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, Chiefs-in-Assembly call on Federal, Provincial, Territorial and Municipal Governments to take immediate steps to fully implement all the Calls to Action.2

CBC News posted on Oct 09, 2015, images from the 2015 party platforms. The portion of the Liberal party platform on relationships with Indigenous people is worth examining.3

 

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-party-platforms-1.3264887

"The BC Teachers’ Federation calls for decisive action from the federal government with the declaration that there is  “no reconciliation without truth”. Specifically, the BCTF is calling for the Government of Canada to: 

• declare a national period of mourning following last week’s discovery at Kamloops Indian Residential School.

• commit to working with all Indigenous communities throughout Canada wishing to conduct ground radar surveys of former Indian Residential Schools within their territories.

• provide adequate funding and resources to make possible the work of identifying additional unmarked grave sites and conducting the cultural protocols appropriate within each respective community.

• provide a detailed report to Canadians on the status of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action numbers 71–76 (“Missing Children and Burial Information”).

They have linked to a summary of Church Apologies.

In the 1960s many Canadian churches began to rethink their relationship with Aboriginal people. The Catholic, Anglican and United Churches formed Project North (the Aboriginal Rights Coalition) in 1975 to co-ordinate their efforts in support of Aboriginal campaigns for justice. They were later joined by the Presbyterian Church and other denominations. Starting in 1986, Canadian churches began to issue apologies for attempting to impose European culture and values on Aboriginal people. In 1991, the Roman Catholic Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate apologized “for the part we played in the cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious imperialism that was part of the mentality with which the peoples of Europe first met the Aboriginal peoples.” The 1993 Anglican Church of Canada apologized to Aboriginal people for trying “to remake you in our image, taking from you your language and the signs of your identity.” In its 1994 apology, the Presbyterian Church in Canada acknowledged “that the roots of the harm we have done are found in the attitudes and values of western European colonialism, and the assumption that what was not yet molded in our image was to be discovered and Exploited.” In 1998, the United Church of Canada issued an apology “for the pain and suffering that our church’s involvement in the Indian Residential School system has caused. We are aware of some of the damage that this cruel and ill-conceived system of assimilation has perpetrated on Canada’s First Nations peoples.”4

 

We review the progress on reconciliation to create a strategy for change based on promises fulfilled and forgotten by responsible bodies in Canada.

 

References

 

1	(n.d.). Indian Residential Schools and TRC - Canadian Conference of .... Retrieved June 7, 2021, from https://www.cccb.ca/indigenous-peoples/indian-residential-schools-and-trc/
2	(n.d.). Progress on Realizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's .... Retrieved June 7, 2021, from https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020_TRC-Report-Card_ENG.pdf
3	(2015, October 9). Read the political parties' 2015 platforms | CBC News - CBC.ca. Retrieved June 7, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-party-platforms-1.3264887
4	(n.d.). Apology. Retrieved June 7, 2021, from https://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/POH/posters/Apology.pdf

Emissions Shareholders and Scientists

 

The efforts by concerned citizens to encourage action by industry and government to address the warming of the planet caused by emissions of greenhouse gases may recently have affected the plans of Big Oil.

Investor's seek more emission reduction

 

The Economist reports that ExxonMobil loses a proxy fight with green investors and Shell has been ordered by a Netherlands court to reduce emissions between 2019 and 2030 by 45%.

ExxonMobil’s proxy defeat is the latest sign that outside pressure for the oil business to embrace the transition to a low-carbon future is mounting. On May 18th the International Energy Agency (iea), an international forecaster not known for alarmism, warned that investments in all new fossil-fuel projects must stop now if the global energy sector is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. President Joe Biden wants America’s power sector to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere 15 years earlier than that. So far it has been Europe’s oil giants that were pushed harder to go greener—by activists, consumers, regulators, investors and courts. Last year bp vowed to slash the carbon intensity of the products it sells by 50% in the next 30 years. This month Shell won shareholder approval for its plan to create a carbon-neutral business by mid-century, including emissions from the fuel burned by end-users. Though ambitious by industry standards, this was not enough for a judge in the Netherlands, who on May 26th ordered the Anglo-Dutch giant to cut emissions between 2019 and 2030 by 45%, in keeping with global climate accords; Shell is expected to appeal.1

Fred Pearce in an article published at the Yale School of the Environment, asks if Net Zero emission plans are a winning strategy or are they destined for failure? Some scientists are arguing that Net-zero emissions plans — balancing emissions by absorbing equivalent amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, the defining approach of international climate efforts, simply allows the perpetuation of the status quo and is certain to fail.

Robert Watson, a former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1997 until 2002, has worked as an academic, currently at the University of East Anglia. He and his co-authors wrote last month that while net zero might be “a great idea, in principle,” in practice it “helps perpetuate a belief in technological salvation and diminishes the sense of urgency surrounding the need to curb emissions now.” Scientists who support the current push for net-zero, they contend, have “licensed a recklessly cavalier ‘burn now, pay later’ approach, which has seen carbon emissions continue to soar.”... “We admit that it deceived us,” he and fellow climate scientists James Dyke of Exeter University and Wolfgang Knorr of Lund University in Sweden wrote. But “the time has come to voice our fears and be honest with wider society… Current net zero policies will not keep warming to within 1.5 degrees, because they were never intended to. They were and still are driven by a need to protect business as usual.”2

Chris Hatch writes in the National Observer about the “Crushing defeats” for Big Oil in the last days of May 2021.

The Wall Street Journal described Wednesday’s events as “crushing defeats,” under the headline “Oil Giants are Dealt Major Defeats on Climate Change as Pressures Intensify.” Ironically, it was exactly two years ago this week that Alberta Premier Jason Kenney dismissed investor concerns about climate change as a “flavour of the month.” It was a very bad day following a tough run for Big Oil. Those shareholder fights at Exxon and Chevron were just the ones on Wednesday. Earlier this month, majorities of both ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 shareholders voted against management and supported carbon-cutting resolutions. Last week, the International Energy Agency said investment had to end in new oil, gas or coal if the world is going to tackle climate breakdown. Last year Exxon was booted off the Dow Jones Industrial Average after nearly a century. The ruling against Shell and the shareholder insurrections highlight two nerdy ideas that we’ll all have to get our heads around in an era where clashes over climate change are echoing even down Wall Street.3

The strategy of the Oil Majors has been business as usual as some efforts are made to capture carbon and attempt to achieve Net-Zero with “green offsets”. We need to pay attention to scientists and engineers to assure the numbers for holding earth warming to  1.5 C are achieved.

 

References

 

1	(2021, May 23). ExxonMobil loses a proxy fight with green investors | The Economist. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.economist.com/business/2021/05/23/what-a-proxy-fight-at-exxonmobil-says-about-big-oil-and-climate-change
2	(2021, May 25). Net-Zero Emissions: Winning Strategy or Destined for Failure .... Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://e360.yale.edu/features/net-zero-emissions-winning-strategy-or-destined-for-failure
3	(2021, May 28). “Crushing defeats” for Big Oil | Canada's National Observer: News .... Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.nationalobserver.com/newsletters/zero-carbon/2021/05/28/crushing-defeats-big-oil

 

Stakeholders change Oil and Gas Investment

 

The Oil and Gas industry is dealing with stakeholder reluctance to invest in future oil and gas developments in Canada.

Looking at gas and oil investment

 

Emma Grane and Jeffrey Jones reporting in the Globe and Mail, write that  Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. were recently handed significant defeats over their approaches to fighting climate change. Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc. announced a long-awaited target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 that put the oil sands producer’s ambition in line with the federal government’s commitment under the Paris Agreement.

Shareholders – including the world’s largest fund managers – are also forcing companies to account for, and deal with, the risks they face in the global transition to cleaner energy sources. Suncor Energy aims to cut emissions by more than one-third while boosting oil production “Obviously, there’s an enormous amount of attention focused on how we move forward,” Mark Little, Suncor’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. “I think it actually says people are wanting energy companies and oil producers to be part of the solution, and, quite frankly, I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that. “The oil industry globally deploys enormous amounts of capital, it has massive technical project execution and operational capabilities, so it’s hard for me to envision how the world actually achieves its ambition without industries like the oil industry participating in the energy transition.” Suncor’s net-zero plan comprises strategies to meet an interim target of cutting emissions by 10 megatonnes a year by 2030. They include adoption of carbon capture, use and storage; production of low-carbon fuels and hydrogen; fuel switching in its oil sands operations; and renewable power generation, including wind energy. Importantly, Suncor is setting company-wide CO2 targets rather than intensity goals. That’s a departure from most of its Canadian peers, which measure their emissions per barrel produced.1

Nick Wells of the Canadian Press reports in the Globe and Mail that a First Nations group criticizes Woodside Petroleum’s move to sell its Kitimat LNG stake. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., an Australian company, says it plans to sell its 50 per cent stake in the 480-kilometre Pacific Trail Pipeline and the proposed LNG facility at Bish Cove.

The First Nations Limited Partnership, which represents 16 First Nations in northern B.C., says the decision to sell is both disappointing and poses a threat to its members’ commercial interests. Woodside’s announcement comes after Chevron Canada Ltd, the operator of the project, said earlier this year that it would stop funding further feasibility work on the project. The company put its interest up for sale in December 2019, but has failed to find a buyer.2

The risk associated with investment in oil and gas in Canada is connected to the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with IPCC recommendations and IEA plans to achieve global temperature targets.

 

References

1	(2021, May 26). Big Oil loses carbon emissions showdown in landmark case - The .... Retrieved May 27, 2021, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadas-oil-industry-on-watch-after-dutch-court-orders-shell-to-cut/
2	(2021, May 21). First Nations group criticizes Woodside Petroleum's move to sell .... Retrieved May 27, 2021, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/article-first-nations-group-criticizes-woodside-petroleums-move-to-sell/

 

Making housing a human right in Nova Scotia

 Stephen Wentzell is writing in the Nova Scotia Advocate about a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS)

A plan for affordable housing

 

that is making nearly 100 recommendations to address affordable housing and homelessness crises across the province.

Using an intersectional lens, the report aims to significantly reduce income inequality in the province, where nearly one in four children live below the poverty line. The report sends a stark reminder of the cost of government inaction on poverty, “costing Nova Scotia $2 billion per year in economic loss, $279 million in excess public service costs, and $231 million in foregone revenue.”  The kicker: The report’s 95 recommendations are cumulatively cheaper than the cost of government inaction. Among the directives is a push to build or acquire 33,490 additional units of permanently affordable, non-market housing for Nova Scotians over a 10-year-plan.1

The discussion on affordable housing needs to consider dealing with housing as a human right.

Municipal action for affordable housing

 

We must weigh the cost of this initiative by comparing it to the cost of inaction on this key economic determinant of health.

1(n.d.). Nova Scotia Advocate. Retrieved May 26, 2021, from https://nsadvocate.org/

Goldboro Risk or Reality?

 Articles in the energy press point to some uncertainty in the plans of the German utility company Uniper to develop an LNG terminal to receive natural gas from the LNG facility planned by Pieridae Energy Limited for Goldboro Nova Scotia.

https://youtu.be/x63nhPkLo_I

Reuters has reported that Canadian energy company Pieridae Energy Ltd continues to work toward making a final investment decision (FID) by June 30 to build its proposed Goldboro liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Nova Scotia.

Pieridae has a 20-year agreement to sell all the LNG from Goldboro’s first liquefaction train - about 5 millions tonnes per annum (MTPA) or 0.66 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas - to German utility Uniper SE.1

Evaluate Energy reports that Uniper plans to make Wilhelmshaven a hub for climate friendly hydrogen. Originally, Uniper explored the idea of constructing a floating import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Wilhelmshaven site.

 

In October 2020, a market test to show binding interest proved that there is currently not enough interest in the LNG sector in terms of booking large, long-term capacities for LNG regasification in Germany.2

The risk of government money from Nova Scotia or Canada in this development requires serious consideration of a dream of short term construction jobs being shattered by decline in the use of natural gas as the world works to mitigate the climate emergency.

References

1	(2021, April 15). Pieridae still plans FID on Nova Scotia LNG export plant by late June. Retrieved May 18, 2021, from https://www.reuters.com/article/pieridae-energy-goldboro-lng/pieridae-still-plans-fid-on-nova-scotia-lng-export-plant-by-late-june-idUSL1N2M82CF
2	(n.d.). Search results for "Uniper SE" - Evaluate Energy. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://www.evaluateenergy.com/Universal/View.aspx?type=Search&query=Uniper%20SE

New culture and politics in climate emergency

 

The mitigation of the effects of the climate emergency will require a change in the attitude of people to our relationship with the planet.

Attitudes for trouble

 

Peter Sutoris, an anthropologist of development and the environment, and the author of Educating for the Anthropocene, writes in The Guardian that the climate crisis requires a new culture and politics, not just new tech

Peter Sutoris writes that our civilisation is underpinned by extractivism, a belief that the Earth is ours to exploit, and the nonsensical idea of infinite growth within a finite territory. Material possessions as markers of achievement, a drive to consume for the sake of consumption, and blindness to the long-term consequences of our actions, have all become part of the culture of global capitalism.1

belief that the Earth is ours to exploit

idea of infinite growth

material possessions as markers of achievement

consume for the sake of consumption

blindness to the long-term consequences

Vatican News announces Pope Francis book of reflections on the environment. Pope Francis develops the 'theology of ecology' in a profoundly spiritual discourse. Creation, the Pope says, is the fruit of God's love: His love for each of His creatures, and especially for man, to whom He has given the gift of creation, as a place in which "we are invited to discover a presence". He cautions that a technological revolution and individual commitment are not enough.

The Pope explains that the exploitation of resources, in an irresponsible way, in order to gain power and wealth, that is then concentrated in the hands of a few people, creates an imbalance destined to destroy the world, and humanity itself. The Holy Father, however, cautions that a technological revolution and individual commitment are not enough. Awareness, he says, is gained primarily through an "authentic spirit of communion".... We must start again from forgiveness: asking forgiveness of the poor and the exclusive, first of all, in order to be capable of asking forgiveness also of "the earth, the sea, the air, the animals…" For Pope Francis, seeking forgiveness means totally revising one's own way of thinking; it means profound personal renewal. Forgiveness, he says, is only possible in and through the Holy Spirit. It is a grace to be implored humbly from the Lord. Forgiveness, then, is to become active, undertaking a journey together, and never in solitude....2

A technological revolution and individual commitment are not enough to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency on the environment, water resources, and biodiversity.

 

Focus of Pope Francis Encyclical Laudato Si

Our communal spiritual relationship with nature needs to mature.

 

References

 

1	(2021, May 24). The climate crisis requires a new culture and politics, not just new tech. Retrieved May 24, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/24/climate-change-crisis-culture-politics-technology
2	(2019, October 24). New book from Pope Francis on 'Christian foundations for .... Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/38158