Lawyer Chris Tollefson says civil disobedience is a ‘symptom of democratic failure’ and in long-fought environmental battles ‘victory comes in a lot of different forms’
As part of their supporting evidence, Blueberry River mapped out resource projects in their territory in 1965 and 2015, documenting more than 19,974 oil and gas wells in their territory alone, alongside multiple pipelines, resource roads and other industrial disturbances. In her ruling, Burke found that 73 per cent of Blueberry River s traditional territory is within 250 metres of an industrial disturbance and 84 per cent is within 500 metres of an industrial disturbance.
The Blueberry River First Nations is alleging that most of its territory has been disrupted by development. These 2015 maps compare industrial activity today to 50 years ago. (Blueberry River First Nations)
Further, the ruling concluded that less than 14 per cent of forests in the region had been left intact, and there had been a clear decline in the number of moose, caribou and other wildlife in the region. All of this, Burke concluded, is the result of industrial activity and that it interfered with Blueber