First Nations chiefs are testing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s commitment to his relationship with indigenous people by asking him to speak out against a Canadian company’s ties to the Dakota Access pipeline.

The International Treaty Alliance of 85 First Nations and Tribes said on Monday that it is time for Trudeau to make a statement “condemning the role that Canadian company Enbridge Inc. has played in the severe violations of the rights of the indigenous people and their allies at Standing Rock.”

In the last several days, more than 140 people have been arrested in increasingly violent confrontations at the site of the construction of the $4-billion pipeline. Activists, who say they are protectors of the land and not protesters, charge constructing a pipeline threatens the traditional sacred lands and water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. The pipeline would travel under the Missouri River.

In response, thousands of indigenous people have camped out in Standing Rock on the shore of the Cannonball River. Demonstrators have faced a heavy police and U.S. National Guard presence. They say they have been hit with rubber bullets, faced police dogs and experienced rough treatment while being arrested.

The Dakota Access pipeline would carry crude oil from the Bakken field to a refinery in Illinois.

The chiefs are taking issue with Enbridge’s announcement on Aug. 2 that Enbridge Energy Partners would be investing $1.5 billion in exchange for a 27.6-per-cent share of the pipeline project.

However, Ivan Giesbrecht, a spokesperson for Enbridge, said the company is not yet an owner in the Bakken pipeline system, which consists of the Dakota Access line and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company.

“Our planned investment for a minority equity ownership does not include construction or management of the project — that is the responsibility of Energy Transfer. We are working through closing conditions on our investment and monitoring the situation in North Dakota,” Giesbrecht said in a statement to the Star.

He added there is a rigorous regulatory process set out to review projects like this and two courts found that Dakota Access followed the law and “conducted well-documented consultation and environmental review. Additionally, a review is underway by the U.S. Department of Justice and others.”

The opposition to the pipeline continues to bleed north into Canada. Provincial chiefs from British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario have all called for Trudeau to respond. This, at a time when Trudeau has come under increasing scrutiny for telling indigenous Canadians, last year when he was elected Prime Minister, that the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians is of paramount importance to him. Some feel this is just lip service and point to the slow response in fixing child welfare funding gaps.

First Nations people from across Canada have travelled to Standing Rock to show their solidarity with their southern neighbours.

“It is time for the prime minister, who has stated that no relationship is more important to him than the one with indigenous peoples, to take a stand in support of the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allied nations as they resist the Dakota Access pipeline,” said Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

It is a historic moment at Standing Rock and it is a Canadian issue, added Nepinak.

In response to Enbridge’s stand, Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day said corporations will always put up firewalls to protect their name. “I very much support the flushing out of truth and the need for governments to draw clear lines that prevent side door influences in the fossil fuel industry,” Day said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs added in a statement that this is a battle about water versus oil, life versus death.

“It is time to choose Mr. Prime Minister — to be silent is to be complicit: Do you stand with Enbridge and the forces trying to ram through the Dakota Access pipeline or do you stand for human rights and the protection of the environment?” Phillip said.

Read more about: