OTTAWA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Assembly of First Nations (AFN) chiefs on Tuesday passed a unanimous emergency resolution demanding the withdrawal of a new oil pipeline deal between the Canadian federal government and the Canadian province of Alberta, local media reported.
The resolution, passed on the first day of the AFN's annual December three-day meeting in Ottawa, also affirmed support for the continuation of a federal ban on oil tanker traffic in northern British Columbia waters.
The new pipeline agreement, announced last week, contemplates lifting the ban to ship bitumen to Asian markets.
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said that the agreement was made "as if First Nations rights can be wiped away with one federal-provincial MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)."
"Canada can create all the MOUs, project offices, advisory groups that they want: the chiefs are united," she was quoted as saying. "When it comes to approving large national projects on First Nations lands, there will not be getting around rights holders."
The federal government and Alberta announced last week to advance the development of the pipeline capable of transporting at least 1 million barrels per day of low-emission bitumen for Asian markets from a strategic deep-water port.
