I have been reviewing the hearing transcripts of the federally appointed Joint Review Panel (JRP) addressing the Enbridge Northern Gateway project. For the past few weeks the panel has been holding oral evidenciary hearings. These hearings provide an opportunity for people to provide evidence of a character best represented in the oral form. The panel often uses Aboriginal traditional knowledge as an example of the kind of information these sessions are designed for.

Thus, not surprisingly they have seen a great many Aboriginal presenters. Again not surprisingly, many of these presenters have used Aboriginal terms when describing their connections to their territories and traditions, and a few have even presented entirely in their own language.

At the terminus of Highway 27, far into the northern interior of British Columbia, Fort St. James seems to belong to a remote Canadian hinterland. But this town, mostly remembered for its history as an old fur-trading post, on February 2 found itself at the centre of political negotiations about the future of Canada.

Located on the southeastern shore of Stuart Lake, Fort St. James rests in the heart of the territory inhabited by Dakelh (or Carrier) people. The Dakelh have never signed treaty nor ceded their claim to their traditional territories. Nonetheless, the company Enbridge is proposing to build a pipeline through the heart of Dakelh territory to carry bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to port.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That word "respect" has come up at all of the community hearings that we've had. In her opening remarks on the fifth day of review hearings for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline on Jan. 17 in Burns Lake, B.C., Sheila Leggett, the Joint Review Panel (JRP) Chair, noted how the word respect had been repeated in each community they visited.