{"id":5085,"date":"2023-06-22T08:14:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T12:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/?p=5085"},"modified":"2023-06-24T21:34:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T01:34:19","slug":"chemical-valley-and-the-origins-of-indigenous-resistance-to-line-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/2023\/06\/22\/chemical-valley-and-the-origins-of-indigenous-resistance-to-line-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical Valley and the Origins of Indigenous Resistance to Line 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Note: this essay is part of a series of six essays on <\/em>How to Know about Line 5. You can <\/em>read the series introduction and find links to the other essays as they are posted here<\/em>.<\/a>]<\/p>\n

In 1952, Sarnia, Ontario began to undergo what a Detroit Free Press<\/i> staff writer, James Pooler, dubbed a \u201cBlue Water Boom\u201d: an $80,000,000 expansion of Sarnia\u2019s petrochemical industry (known as \u201cChemical Valley<\/span><\/a>\u201d), born out of the area\u2019s production of synthetic rubber during World War II. Imperial Oil, a refining company historically and presently reliant on Enbridge\u2019s Line 5 pipeline, shared in $15,000,000 worth of this expansion. Dr. J. L. Huggett, <\/span>the superintendent of Imperial Oil at the time, boasted that oil would produce 752 different products.<\/p>\n

News reports of the petrochemical industry expansion also promoted a narrative about \u201cprospering Indians\u201d who sold parts of their reservation near Sarnia to the expanding petrochemical industry. In fact, Pooler concludes one of his reports on Sarnia\u2019s Chemical Valley with: \u201cToday the Indian is being chased right off the reservation by expanding industry. And you should be chased off your land by that kind of money!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Accounts like these attempt to situate the Indigenous community as fortunate<\/i> to have the petrochemical industry\u2019s expansion near and into their territory. But the overt reality is that the refinery expansions dispossessed the \u201cprospering Indians\u201d near Sarnia \u2014 the Aamjiwnaang First Nation<\/span><\/a> \u2014 of their land. It was ongoing colonialism. This dispossession can be seen, in part, in the First Nation\u2019s resistance to the 1953 construction of Enbridge\u2019s Line 5 pipeline, which terminates in Sarnia\u2019s Chemical Valley.<\/p>\n

In July of 1953, Canada\u2019s ministry approved a right-of-way<\/span><\/a> over the Aamjiwnaang First Nation\u2019s reserve near Sarnia. In the order, the ministry required that the Interprovincial Pipe Line Company (the precursor to Enbridge) compensate the First Nation, since Line 5 crosses their territory. Just months prior, Interprovincial had received pushback from the Aamjiwnaang community, who refused to let the pipeline cross the proposed section of their land and suggested that the company construct the line along an alternative route. The First Nation\u2019s primary objection to the pipeline\u2019s construction through their reserve was that the area requested was \u201cthe most valuable they have left.\u201d\u00a0The Star\u2019s<\/i> Sarnia Bureau claimed that the First Nation\u2019s Council \u201cforesaw the day when the reserve might become simply a network of pipe lines buried four feet under the sod and useless on the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the reserve was pressed to accept some form of compensation, the First Nation suggested that the company rent that section of their territory annually, rather than obtain an easement. Interprovincial ultimately rejected Aamjiwnaang\u2019s proposal, but did consider and adopt a new route. The original proposal would have had the pipeline nearly cut through the center of the First Nation\u2019s reserve. The new route no longer cut through the reserve\u2019s center, but still crossed LaSalle and Churchill roads, which the Aamjiwnaang community claimed as part of their reserve. In the order, Canada\u2019s Minister of Transport acknowledged that the Aamjiwnaang\u2019s Chief and Council were opposed to the government\u2019s granting of the right-of-way through their territory. The government acknowledged the First Nation\u2019s ownership over at least a section of LaSalle street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The First Nation responded to the order by continuing to resist Line 5\u2019s encroachment. They cited Treaty 29 (1827)<\/a> to assert that their reserve is not a part of Canada; hence, they argued, the Canadian federal government did not have the right to grant the right-of-way decision, as the pipeline would trespass their territory. They even threatened to take the issue up to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

At the time, Interprovincial began laying the pipeline in the areas permitted by the order.\u00a0 As a result of the forced easement, the First Nation eventually appealed to the county court for compensation. Judge E. A. Shaunessy \u2014 the judge who oversaw the case \u2014 demanded that the Aamjiwnaang community provide proof of ownership over all or a part of LaSalle street. This demand was given despite the fact that the Canadian federal government had already acknowledged this ownership when the ministry provided Interprovincial with the right-of-way order. Interprovincial then provided the court with documentation that indicated the area was located outside of the reserve; in turn, Shaunessy didn\u2019t hold the company accountable for any<\/em> compensation to the First Nation, as was initially required by the federal government\u2019s right-of-way order.<\/p>\n

But what if Shaunessy was given proof that the Aamjiwnaang First Nation owned that section of LaSalle street? Would the outcome have been any different? The current dispute<\/span><\/a> over Enbridge\u2019s Line 5 trespass across the Bad River Band\u2019s territory seems to provide an answer to that question. Despite concluding that Line 5 has been trespassing on the tribe\u2019s territory since 2013, U.S. District Judge William M. Conley has not met the Band\u2019s demand for the pipeline\u2019s immediate shutdown. Conley recently issued an order<\/span><\/a> for Enbridge to compensate the tribe with roughly $5.15 million (a shamefully paltry sum), and to either shut down or reroute that section of the pipeline by 2026. Enbridge is already planning to appeal the ruling, arguing that the company is not trespassing on tribal territory and that the order does not provide enough time for a reroute. More importantly, the Bad River Band had already stated that they have no interest in being compensated<\/span><\/a> in place of Line 5\u2019s immediate shutdown<\/span><\/a>, or in its reroute. A spill along the pipeline\u2019s current and alternative routes poses a threat to their cultural practices and ways of life \u2014 rights they have guaranteed to them by Treaties from 1837 and 1842<\/a>.\u00a0Conley\u2019s decision parallels the Canadian federal government\u2019s initial approach to the 1953 dispute over LaSalle street; both assumed authority over Indigenous land even when territorial boundaries are (or seem) clearly defined.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s what that makes clear: decisions made by legal systems and federal governments with regard to pipeline operators, like Enbridge, seem to supersede the authority of Indigenous groups over their own territories. If the territory in question is found to be outside of an Indigenous reserve, then this fact can be used to allow pipeline operators to continue their construction and\/or operation of a pipeline. If a pipeline is found to trespass Indigenous territory, then the pipeline operator will merely have to negotiate terms with the impacted tribe; terms which ultimately allow, in the given moment, the ongoing operation of Line 5.<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]how will the U.S.<\/span> and Canada<\/span> ever begin to repair their long histories of dispossession and injustice?[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean to ignore the difficult position that Conley has been placed in, notably given the Canadian federal government\u2019s invocation of the 1977 Pipeline Transit Treaty<\/span><\/a> with the United States. But if a clear, distinct trespass of the pipeline on Indigenous territory is not enough precedent to force the immediate shutdown of Line 5, then how will the U.S. and Canadian governments and their legal systems ever come to adequately consider the human and ecological consequences of constructing and operating many of these pipelines in the first place? Moreover, how will the U.S.<\/span><\/a> and Canada<\/span><\/a> ever begin to repair their long histories of dispossession and injustice?<\/p>\n

What has, for instance, become of Sarnia\u2019s Chemical Valley, that was so heavily boasted of by some in the mid-twentieth century? For the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Chemical Valley dangerously exposes their 900 community members to toxic pollutants. Average benzene levels near the reserve reached 32 micrograms per cubic meter in March of 2023<\/span><\/a>, while Ontario\u2019s Ambient Air Quality Criteria (AAQC)<\/span><\/a> sets its maximum at 2.3 micrograms per cubic meter over a 24-hour period of exposure and 0.45 annually. In the same month, sulphur dioxide reached an average of 147 parts per billion within one hour near their reserve, while Ontario\u2019s AAQC sets its maximum at 40 parts per billion within one hour of exposure. This criteria is set by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks; and while it\u2019s not used to regulate chemical emissions in Canada, it provides guidelines for the maximum rates of various contaminants that humans can be exposed to before the contaminants have an impact on human health. Moreover, these measurements do not consider the impact of exposure to several<\/i> of these contaminants at the same time<\/i>. The Aamjiwnaang First Nation cites a large number of health complications among their members, including increased rates of asthma, skin rashes, headaches, and cancer. <\/span><\/a>In the early 2000\u2019s, the First Nation also had their fears confirmed regarding a continual decline in their community\u2019s overall rate of male births, which had dwindled down to a one to two ratio of male to female births<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s crucial to recognize the demarcations of Indigenous territories when considering the shutdown of Line 5, pollution is not contained outside of their boundaries \u2014 and this is perhaps most evidently seen in the Aamjiwnaang reserve near Sarnia. The Red River M\u00e9tis\/Michif scholar Dr. Max Liboiron goes as far as to say that pollution itself is colonialism<\/span><\/a> because colonialism is first and foremost about accessing Indigenous land, not just its settlement: \u201c[Colonialism] can mean using Land as a Resource, a practice that may generate pollution through pipelines, landfills, and recycling plants, or as a sink to store or process waste\u201d (10). Even assimilative capacity<\/i> \u2014 the scientific theory adopted by state and federal environmental regulations to establish thresholds for pollution \u2014 assumes an entitlement to Indigenous land by enabling pollution that their bodies and territories have to absorb. Pollution entails land transformation and dispossession. It often produces the end results of settler colonialism, albeit through a different colonial form.<\/p>\n

While covering the 1953 dispute between the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Interprovincial, The Star<\/i>\u2019s Sarnia Bureau\u2019s Charlie Whipp chillingly captures the relationship between Sarnia\u2019s expanding petrochemical industry and colonialism: \u201cIt may well be that the 4,000 acres nestling right in Sarnia is under the same ownership it had when Christopher Columbus landed . . .\u00a0 So right here in this city we may have the last remaining unconquered Indians. At that time, their reserve comprised some 10,280 acres. Today there are about 4,000 left.\u201d In the twenty-first century, Aamjiwnaang\u2019s reserve measures at roughly 3,100 acres<\/span><\/a>; and its 3,100 acres are surrounded and polluted by Sarnia\u2019s Chemical Valley. The Aamjiwnaang First Nation continues to resist<\/span><\/a> toxic pollution to their land, air, water, and on-reserve members today.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

At the 2023 Michigan Climate Summit<\/span><\/a> held earlier this month at Oakland University, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed argued that the face of the climate crisis should not be the threat it poses to polar bears or other charismatic megafauna, but the threat polluting industries pose to human lives. He pointed to the fact that children in Detroit breathe toxic air daily because of the lack of industry regulations and ongoing environmental racism. We might think about Detroit\u2019s Marathon Oil refinery <\/span><\/a>and the Detroit communities forced to deal with its pollution. We should also think about Sarnia\u2019s Chemical Valley and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation.<\/p>\n

When Governor Gretchen Whitmer revoked Enbridge\u2019s Line 5 easement in 2020, the Michigan government acknowledged Indigenous treaty rights for the first time in Line 5\u2019s history<\/span><\/a>. If we look at the Line 5 battle as a microcosm of the climate crisis, then the Straits of Mackinac and the broader span of the Great Lakes are \u2014 and have been for a long time \u2014 the movement\u2019s \u201cpolar bears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Note: this essay is part of a series of six essays on How to Know about Line 5. You can read the series introduction and find links to the other essays as they are posted here.] In 1952, Sarnia, Ontario began to undergo what a Detroit Free Press staff writer, James Pooler, dubbed a \u201cBlue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":5091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5099,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions\/5099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}