VANCOUVER

Reversal of Gateway pipeline pact won't end blockade

The Canadian Press Published Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:21AM PST

Charles Heit, a Gitxsan First Nation member opposed to the $5.5-billion Enbridge oil pipeline from Alberta to the British Columbia port of Kitimat warms himself beside a fire at a camp outside the Gitxsan Treaty Office in Hazelton, B.C., on Thursday January 12, 2012.

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HAZELTON, B.C. - A group of Gitxsan hereditary chiefs has withdrawn support for the Enbridge (TSX:ENB) Northern Gateway pipeline project, but the reversal is not enough to end a blockade in northwestern B.C.

Members of the Gitxsan First Nation have blockaded the Gitxsan Treaty Office in Hazelton, about 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver, since Dec. 5, to protest several decisions by the Gitxsan Treaty Society.

Gilbert Johnson, who helped nail shut the doors of the treaty office six weeks ago, says the decision taken Tuesday night by the group of hereditary chiefs can't undo the anger against treaty society negotiators.

One spokesman had speculated the blockade might be lifted soon but Johnson says the protest won't end "today, tomorrow or next week."

He says there are four outstanding issues that must be addressed by negotiators, including Elmer Derrick, who signed an agreement last month that would have given the Gitxsan a $7 million equity stake in the project to pipe oil from Alberta to port in Kitimat.

Enbridge hoped the pact, which was endorsed by several hereditary chiefs, would have turned the tide of opposition against the pipeline and a spokesman for the company says it is disappointed in the shift, but Enbridge hasn't given up on reaching a deal with the Gitxsan.