Alberta aboriginal group protests proposed pipeline at TransCanada meeting

Lauren Krugel, April 25, 2008, Canadian Press -- The chief executive of TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) was confronted with some questions at the company's shareholder meeting Friday about how it intends to handle a dispute with a northern Alberta aboriginal group over a proposed pipeline.

Members of the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation and their supporters protested outside the meeting in Calgary, demanding the pipeline builder halt plans to construct the $1-billion North Central Corridor pipeline until it gets permission from the band.

The Lubicon have never ceded their land to the Canadian government and therefore do not think it is the Alberta Utility Commission's place to approve the pipeline, which will run directly through their territory.

"This is fairly easy for TransCanada to resolve. They just have to accept that the Lubicons do have rights there, and therefore they have to deal with them in a fair and straightforward manner," Kevin Thomas of Toronto-based Friends of the Lubicon said in an interview.

"And if they do that, I think they'll find that the Lubicons are willing to deal with them in a straightforward manner, too."

Inside the meeting, Thomas asked TransCanada CEO Hal Kvisle whether failure to reach an agreement with the Lubicon would pose a risk to the pipeline.

Thomas does not own any TransCanada shares, but said he posed his question on behalf of shareholders.

"There should be no question about TransCanada's commitment to working with aboriginal people, to have these projects turn out in the best possible way," Kvisle replied to Thomas.

He said the company has "excellent" relationships with other aboriginal groups, citing as an example TransCanada's collaboration with the Aboriginal Pipeline Group on the Mackenzie Gas Project.

Rev. Clint Mooney, a TransCanada shareholder who also belongs to a church group that supports the Lubicon, told Kvisle that he would like the company's board of directors to make human rights and the environment more of a priority.

"I would really like to ask the board to raise the profile of ethical concerns and state the company's support for good corporate citizenship," Mooney said.

Kvisle said he "took exception" to the suggestion that those matters aren't a priority for the company.

"Failure to attend to these things would be a risk to any corporation of our stature, so we do take them very seriously," he said.

The reason TransCanada is so reluctant to ask the First Nation's permission for the project is that authority over the land is under dispute, Kvisle added.

"It would be, I think, a mistake for TransCanada to become deeply involved in what is essentially an issue between the governments of Alberta and Canada and the people of the Lubicon."

David Swann, a member of the legislature for the Alberta Liberals, said he thinks the Alberta government should be brokering an agreement between TransCanada and the native group.

"I hold the Alberta government responsible for continuing to allow unfettered development on First Nations territories without proper consultation, without a proper land use framework ... and without respect to the long-term best interest to the public," said Swann, who was standing with the Lubicon outside the meeting.

"The government should be brokering the meaningful consultation between First Nations and corporations and make sure that ... First Nations interests and human rights are protected - and they're not doing that in Alberta."