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Minister Phillips caught spinning tall tales about Bighorn consultations again
Licia Corbella
Updated: February 22, 2019
When it comes to the Bighorn park proposal, Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips continues to struggle with the facts.She clearly hasn’t learned her lesson from last month’s fiasco, when opposition MLAs and members of the public called on Phillips to resign from cabinet after she was caught in her own web of untruths regarding why she cancelled public meetings about the NDP government’s plans to create four parks, four recreation areas and two public land-use zones in the vast wilderness region.Now, Indigenous leaders in the area say the minister’s claim that she met with the Sunchild First Nation last week is not true.First, a refresher. The Bighorn controversy started Jan. 5, when Phillips released a three-page statement saying she was cancelling scheduled public hearings in the area following “allegations of bullying, abuse and concerns over personal safety.”The next day she told reporters: “In conversation with both my senior officials and the RCMP, it was determined that at this point we can’t necessarily guarantee the safety of the public.”
The next day, however, I phoned the RCMP who said they had not heard of any threats or concerns with regard to the public hearings.On Jan. 9, RCMP spokesman Fraser Logan issued a written statement, saying: “Alberta RCMP did not provide any official advice to Alberta Environment and Parks regarding the Bighorn public consultations.”At about the same time that Logan sent out that statement, Phillips was talking to the media claiming that the RCMP had two open files on the alleged bullying and harassment.Later that day, she put out a tweet saying she “misspoke.”Now, in a written statement, Phillips states: “Last week, I held nation-to-nation meetings with Sunchild, Stoney, Alexis Sioux leaders and have nation-to-nation meetings scheduled in the coming days and weeks with O’Chiese and Ermineskin leadership as well as Treaty 6 Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild.”Joey Pete, a council member with the Sunchild First Nation, denies that the minister has met with any senior member of the reserve, located 40 kilometres northwest of Rocky Mountain House.“We never met yet,” said Pete, who says the Alberta government’s walk doesn’t match its talk on how it treats First Nations in this province.Seeking clarity on this contradiction, Phillips’ spokesperson wrote on Thursday: “Minister Phillips and Minister Feehan had a meeting with two Sunchild Councillors and the Band Manager last week on the issue of treaty rights and access to sacred sites in the Bighorn Country proposal.”Pete says Edwin Frencheater and a couple of other band councillors say they had a 10-minute phone call with Phillips on Feb. 13, but there was no meeting.“A phone call is not a meeting. It appears like she’s stretching the truth,” Pete said Thursday. “We are working out the details for a meeting on Monday. That will be our first meeting with Phillips.”Later on the day of the minister’s phone call, more than 250 Indigenous people along with about 50 other members of the greater community braved frigid temperatures in Rocky Mountain House to show the Alberta government they have no love for its plans to develop parks and wilderness areas in their backyard.“All of this government’s talk of reconciliation, respect and consultation is just that — talk. Their actions say something different. Their actions say the opposite,” Pete said Wednesday.Pete says members of the O’Chiese First Nation, Wesley First Nation, Big Horn, the Foothills Ojibway and others delivered speeches in -25 C temperatures to send a message to the NDP government.“We were never informed or consulted about what’s going on,” Pete said of the government’s plans for the public lands from the boundary of Banff National Park eastward toward Drayton Valley, which includes Clearwater County, most of Brazeau County and the current Bighorn Backcountry management area.
“First Nations didn’t know about these plans. Only about three or four weeks ago bureaucrats from the province came to our nation. They said they wanted to consult with us. We didn’t even give them a chance to do their slide show. Why were we being informed last?” he asked.Pete points out that you can’t call something a consultation if you’ve already drawn up your plans. “That’s an information session not a consultation, and that means this government has already broken its promises to consult with us as partners.”
When it comes to the Bighorn park proposal, Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips continues to struggle with the facts.She clearly hasn’t learned her lesson from last month’s fiasco, when opposition MLAs and members of the public called on Phillips to resign from cabinet after she was caught in her own web of untruths regarding why she cancelled public meetings about the NDP government’s plans to create four parks, four recreation areas and two public land-use zones in the vast wilderness region.Now, Indigenous leaders in the area say the minister’s claim that she met with the Sunchild First Nation last week is not true.First, a refresher. The Bighorn controversy started Jan. 5, when Phillips released a three-page statement saying she was cancelling scheduled public hearings in the area following “allegations of bullying, abuse and concerns over personal safety.”The next day she told reporters: “In conversation with both my senior officials and the RCMP, it was determined that at this point we can’t necessarily guarantee the safety of the public.”
The next day, however, I phoned the RCMP who said they had not heard of any threats or concerns with regard to the public hearings.On Jan. 9, RCMP spokesman Fraser Logan issued a written statement, saying: “Alberta RCMP did not provide any official advice to Alberta Environment and Parks regarding the Bighorn public consultations.”At about the same time that Logan sent out that statement, Phillips was talking to the media claiming that the RCMP had two open files on the alleged bullying and harassment.Later that day, she put out a tweet saying she “misspoke.”Now, in a written statement, Phillips states: “Last week, I held nation-to-nation meetings with Sunchild, Stoney, Alexis Sioux leaders and have nation-to-nation meetings scheduled in the coming days and weeks with O’Chiese and Ermineskin leadership as well as Treaty 6 Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild.”Joey Pete, a council member with the Sunchild First Nation, denies that the minister has met with any senior member of the reserve, located 40 kilometres northwest of Rocky Mountain House.“We never met yet,” said Pete, who says the Alberta government’s walk doesn’t match its talk on how it treats First Nations in this province.Seeking clarity on this contradiction, Phillips’ spokesperson wrote on Thursday: “Minister Phillips and Minister Feehan had a meeting with two Sunchild Councillors and the Band Manager last week on the issue of treaty rights and access to sacred sites in the Bighorn Country proposal.”Pete says Edwin Frencheater and a couple of other band councillors say they had a 10-minute phone call with Phillips on Feb. 13, but there was no meeting.“A phone call is not a meeting. It appears like she’s stretching the truth,” Pete said Thursday. “We are working out the details for a meeting on Monday. That will be our first meeting with Phillips.”Later on the day of the minister’s phone call, more than 250 Indigenous people along with about 50 other members of the greater community braved frigid temperatures in Rocky Mountain House to show the Alberta government they have no love for its plans to develop parks and wilderness areas in their backyard.“All of this government’s talk of reconciliation, respect and consultation is just that — talk. Their actions say something different. Their actions say the opposite,” Pete said Wednesday.Pete says members of the O’Chiese First Nation, Wesley First Nation, Big Horn, the Foothills Ojibway and others delivered speeches in -25 C temperatures to send a message to the NDP government.“We were never informed or consulted about what’s going on,” Pete said of the government’s plans for the public lands from the boundary of Banff National Park eastward toward Drayton Valley, which includes Clearwater County, most of Brazeau County and the current Bighorn Backcountry management area.
“First Nations didn’t know about these plans. Only about three or four weeks ago bureaucrats from the province came to our nation. They said they wanted to consult with us. We didn’t even give them a chance to do their slide show. Why were we being informed last?” he asked.Pete points out that you can’t call something a consultation if you’ve already drawn up your plans. “That’s an information session not a consultation, and that means this government has already broken its promises to consult with us as partners.”
Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Richard FeehanJASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESSPete says that Indigenous Relations Minister Richard Feehan sat down with him and others in the community about one month ago and said: “I thought you guys would like it.”Feehan did not return several Postmedia calls over two days.“You don’t move forward on something that’s going to have that huge of an impact on us and everybody else in the area,” said Pete, “because you think we’re going to like it. If they put in these parks, picture a wall around Sunchild and O’Chiese First Nations.”That wall, he says, would cut Indigenous peoples off from their traditional way of life — where they currently hunt, fish, lay trap lines and perform cultural ceremonies and collect medicines.“It’s a way of life and you can’t take that away from us.”Pete says his nation has a treaty with the Crown, not the province.Phillips was not available for an interview but in a written statement released Wednesday said: “We are committed to forging a new partnership with First Nations when it comes to land use and conservation. While the online survey closed on February 15, meetings with First Nations leaders on the Bighorn Country proposal are ongoing.”At the Feb. 13 rally last week, Jason Nixon, the United Conservative MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, said if the NDP force through any of these parks before calling an election that must be held before the end of May, a UCP government would “not accept the sham process that happened and will immediately reverse it.”“It is clear tonight,” Nixon said at last week’s frigid meeting, “that our friends in the O’Chiese Nation, the Big Horn Nation, the Sunchild Nation, the Metis Nation, have not been consulted, minister, and you must consult with communities when you make these kinds of changes. You cannot sit up in your ivory tower in Edmonton and come and tell the people who live here how things are going to be. It will not be accepted,” he said to enthusiastic cheers.Clearly, the Bighorn file is very much a thorn in Phillips’ side — entirely of her own making.Licia Corbella is a Postmedia opinion columnist. lcorbella@postmedia.com
