Indigenous Delegation meets with Canadian Consulate in Chicago to Shut Down the Line 5 Oil Pipeline  

On Wednesday, an international delegation of Indigenous activists spoke with a Canadian consular official, outlining the imminent threat of an oil spill from Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline and demanding that the Canadian government stop using the 1977 Pipeline Transit Treaty to impede efforts to shut down Line 5.

Consulate General of Canada with delegates sharing of, The Dish with One Spoon, Treaty Wampum Belt. Photo courtesy of delegate River Akemann

While the delegation- Jannan Cornstalk (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa), Cheryl Angel II (Sicangu Lakota Spiritual Activist), Dawn Goodwin (White Earth Tribal member), Joe Bates (Bad River Tribal Elder), Joseph Hill (Seneca Nation, Haudenosaunee)- were inside the consulate, a rally of 50 supporters gathered outside. They used chants, street theater, banners, signs, and songs to show support, calling for removal of the Line 5 pipeline because it violates Indigenous sovereignty, threatens clean drinking water, and contributes to climate collapse.

Photo courtesy of of Andy Pearson

“Our very lifeways and cultures hang in the balance as Line 5 continues to operate illegally in Indigenous territories and water. These are our lifeways– when that water is healthy enough that rice is growing– that not only benefits our communities, but that benefits everybody up and down stream. Allowing Line 5 to continue to operate is cultural genocide, and the Canadian government has the power to support the decommissioning and shutdown of this pipeline once and for all. That water is our relative, and we will do whatever it takes to protect our water, our sacred relative.” said Jannan J. Cornstalk, Citizen of Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Director of the Water is Life Festival, and member of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), when asked why she came to Chicago to meet with the consular official.

Jannan Cornstalk (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa). Photo courtesy of Lobster, Rising Tide Chicago

Line 5 is owned by Enbridge, a Canadian multinational oil corporation. The pipeline transports up to 22 million gallons of oil daily from the Alberta Tar Sands to Sarnia, Ontario, where it is refined and then exported for global markets. It runs through Northwest Wisconsin and the entire length of Michigan and under the water at the straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It also travels through 12 parcels of land owned partially or wholly by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The Bad River Band revoked Enbridge’s easement to operate on their land in 2013, and has been locked in an ongoing legal battle to get the Canadian corporation to remove the pipeline ever since. Most recently, a Wisconsin court ordered the section of the pipeline running through Bad River lands to be shut down by 2026. All 12 Federally recognized tribes in Michigan called upon the US president to shut down Line 5, and in 2021, Bay Mills Indian community banished Enbridge for violating Indigenous Treaty Responsibilities. In 2021, the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also ordered Enbridge to shut down Line 5, calling it “an unreasonable risk” to the water supply and to the economies of the Great Lakes.

In response to these disputes, the Canadian government has continually invoked the 1977 Pipeline Transit Treaty, which ensures the free flow of fossil fuels between the United States and Canada, allowing Line 5 to continue operating. In February of 2022, over 300 organizations and 5,000 individuals signed a letter calling on government ministers of Canada to stop interfering with tribal, state, and federal actions in the US against the Line 5 pipeline. In October of 2023, the petition to the Ministry stated “WE, THE UNDERSIGNED residents of Canada, CALL UPON THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA TO retract any and all use of the 1977 Agreement to keep Enbridge Line 5 in operation.”

”Indigenous Treaties Not Pipeline Treaties” banner. Photo courtesy of Andy Pearson

In their response to to the petition,the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed their support of the 1977 treaty and the Line 5 pipeline, while at the same time claiming that “Canada is committed to the process of reconciliation and protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada, including as recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes respecting the rights of the Bad River Band, such as in relation to governance of its Reservation.”  

Joe Bates, an elder of the Bad River Reservation and a member of the delegation, disagrees: “The treaty of 1854 guarantees us a forever homeland. Continued operation of Line 5 threatens that Treaty. It’s time to retire Line 5”.

Joe Bates (Bad River Tribal Elder). Photo courtesy of Susan Bietila

Canadians have also voiced their disagreement, calling out falsehoods made in the Canadian Minister’s response to the petition. Last year, the Montreal-based collective Le vivant se defend presented an Ultimatum to their Canadian Government stating “We commit to a campaign of civil resistance that grows exponentially” if Canada does not take steps to stop the export of Line 5 products, via Line 9b, by 2030. “As of this moment, Canada has not taken any step towards combating the climate crisis…we will step up our means of action,” said Olivier Huard, member of Le vivant se defend. Yesterday, Oct 22, they made good on their promise, when Canadian activists climbed a bridge and hung a banner stating "Oil is killing us." Two people were arrested.

The delegation that visited the Canadian consulate today describes Line 5 as a “looming threat.” The 71-year-old pipeline has already spilled one million gallons of oil in its lifetime, and is in danger of rupturing in the section that runs through Bad River lands, as well as the section that crosses the Straits of Mackinac, threatening the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. Lake Michigan is not only where Chicagoans go to swim and recreate, it is the source of drinking water for more than 5 million people.

According to a member of the delegation, Gaagigeyaashiik - Dawn Goodwin, Gaawaabaabiganigaag, White Earth-Ojibwe, Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition, Representative of Indigenous Environmental Network, and member of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), “As a member of the Wolf Clan, I have an inherent responsibility to protect the environment and the people. I have seen first hand what happens when the government fails to protect the water as they so unfortunately did with Line 3. The Canadian Consulate has an opportunity here and now to protect the Great Lakes before irreparable damage occurs. It is time to honor and respect the treaties as the supreme law of the land, and to listen to Tribes and Indigenous leaders calling for the immediate decommissioning and shut down of the Line 5 pipeline.”

Dawn Goodwin (White Earth Tribal member). Photo courtesy of Susan Bietila

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The Cross Border Organizing Working Group, Rising Tide Chicago, and other supporting organizations are part of a grassroots network working to shut down Line 5 and protect the Great Lakes watershed. More information can be found at Communities United by Water’s website: https://communitiesunitedbywater.org/