McLeod Lake Indian Band Signs on the Dotted Line
Prince George, B.C. – The McLeod Lake Indian Band has signed two agreements with the provincial government in relation to the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in B.C.
The first agreement relates to TransCanada’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline, a 670 km LNG pipeline from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.
Under the terms of the deal, the band will receive an initial payment of $338,000. If the pipeline proceeds to construction they will receive an additional $1.69 million and a further $1.69 million once the pipeline goes into service.
The band, located 140 km north of Prince George and home to 520 members, will also receive a yet-to-be determined share of $10 million annually when service of the pipeline begins.
The second agreement relates to the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project, a proposed 900 km LNG gas pipeline to deliver natural gas from the Hudson’s Hope area to the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG facility near Prince Rupert.
The terms of this deal include an initial payment of $295,000 and if it proceeds to construction, $1.475 million and a further $1.475 once the pipeline goes into service. The band will also receive a share of $10 million once service begins.
The deal didn’t come easily notes McLeod Lake Indian Band Chief Derek Orr.
“Pipelines remain a very difficult issue among McLeod Lake’s people and we proceed with this agreement only after conducting a referendum to allow our people to decide whether to proceed.”
The Province has now achieved 62 agreements for natural gas pipeline benefits with 29 First Nations.
For the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, the Province now has pipeline benefits agreements with 17 of 20 First Nations along the proposed route.
For the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project, there are benefits agreements with 16 of 19 First Nations along the proposed route.
Comments
That;s a sell out.. Do they not realize their share in the end will be so small that it;ll barely even make a dent??
hopefully their is an esculating clause, the $10,000,000 may look pretty puny, in 30 years
Looks pretty puny now, especially when it has to be shared with the rest of the Bands in BC and based on population. 10 million is not much when it has to be shared with hundred of Bands based on population. In this day and age, a million does not even go far. But i guess those with no knowledge of this think when a million is dangled in their face, it looks like a lot
All the money won’t be given to Band members, most of it will go to Band Council to supplement what funding they already get.
The majority of people are working nut those on welfare should have their rates increased. Seventy five dollars a month when living with relative is not sustainability. Trying living on this. A person living in town get about seven times this amount and even that is not enough
There are two separate deals for two separate pipelines with the same band.
If the pipeline is built and goes into service, then the total deal is for $6.963 million which works out to $13,926/band member of a one-time payment.
In addition, there are two ongoing annual payments of $10 million to be shared with other bands. There are not hundreds of them. There are 19 in one case and 20 in the other case. We do not know the population of the other bands which we would have to if the sharing is based on the member count. So, if we say it is a per band sharing, no matter what the band population, the McLeod Band would get $1.026 million each year which would be $1,973.68/member or $6,000 to $8,000 for the average family of 3 to 4.
Small communities typically pay anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000 / house / year for taxes to service municipal infrastructure. At 3 people per household on average, that means that each household would have just under $6,000/year to pay for infrastructure, both hard and soft, such as swimming pools, parks, community centres, underground and above ground services, roads, and so on.
I am not sure why people see this as a bum deal. If that deal were able to be offered to the City of Prince George, we would all be laughing on the way to the bank.
Well, if it all gets constructed AND put into production…
-Will they get taxed on that income?
-Will that income also disqualify those band members from being eligible for welfare?
-Who will manage their payments, and will they be held accountable?
In my opinion, entering into such an agreement should let the Canadian taxpayers “off the hook” for any further support to the bands who sign the agreement… like I said.. IMO
Laughable, I know.
If they are on reserve they are not entitled to welfare.
Taking care of Mother Earth? The almighty dollar speaks again.
Good questions watchdog.
Maybe they realized that the programs they rely on require an economy. I think that is lost on most people in Canada.
I have been watching this news of paying each and every first nations band along the Enbridge and now the LNG proposed pipelines over the past 5 years. I am baffled ——-WHY DO WE HAVE TO PAY THEM? —–and FOR WHAT?——-going through their reserves?
So if we were to count up the number of First Nation Bands along this right of way that the Gov has to pay $______ “millions” of dollars to, what will be the total cost or burden to our BC Gov?
As a land owner being under the threat of a pipeline company putting their pipeline across my land . I suppose by you people’s logic I am not entitled for compensation for my lost land .
In Canada no one actually “owns” land. All you own is “title” (ie fee simple or declaired aboriginal tile) to it and the specified land uses associated with this title. It was set up this way so that land can be expropriated for public benefit. The challenging part is getting fair market value for your title if it’s expropriated.
This is weird, but, for once I agree with Ataloss.
If a person owned land, they should be compensated for the use of their land.
I know if I owned acreage and a pipeline wanted to cross it I would want immediate compensation during construction and afterward for loss of any use of any part of my property because of it AND a yearly risk surcharge.
If some billion dollar company proposed to build a pipeline through my property and knew the government was pushing it through regardless what anybody had to say about it…. I would want compensation too, especially if the project was going to save/make billions for that company. Not to mention proposed pipeline may indeed trash and pollute my property…
Just more money for the band council and chief to mismanage all in the name of progress
So what is your solution?
Not saying they do or don’t – how is this different than any other governing body anywhere in the world…
You mean like Mike Duffy, for instance? … LOL
We have to remember that we are are the role models….. :-)
3.7 million. Generous, I think. Hope it gets built. Wish I could get a piece of this easy money.
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