UPDATED: Supreme Court sides with Nunavut hamlet, halts seismic testing plans
UPDATE: The Supreme Court of Canada has quashed plans for seismic testing in Nunavut.
The top court ruled the National Energy Board's consultation process in Clyde River was "significantly flawed," and gave little, if any, consideration to the treaty rights of Inuit and their reliance on marine mammals for subsistence.
Jerry Natanine is the former mayor of Clyde River and part of the group that brought the case to the court.
"This morning when they told us about the ruling we were very excited and relieved," he told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann after the unanimous ruling was handed down on Wednesday.
"We're traditionally nomadic people and we moved around in our living areas from camp to camp following the animals, and we're in our region because of the animals that live up there. And if they were to be no more or move away to somewhere else, I don't how we would be — it's like that would be the end of our lives."
While As It Happens was speaking to Natanine by phone, he saw his own face flash across his television screen, and exclaimed: "Holy s--t, I see myself on TV!" (Listen above around the 02:30 mark)
He had been speaking at an Ottawa press conference about the court ruling earlier on Wednesday.
He was asked if he expects a hero's welcome upon his return to Clyde River.
"I don't know, I'm not much into that stuff," he said. "I'm so excited to go back home."
As It Happens also spoke with Natanine in November 2016 about his battle to stop the testing. Read our original story below:
It may be the Nunavut hamlet of Clyde River's last chance to stop oil and gas exploration in their waters.
Justice is on our side. We're not out to get anyone, we're not out being malicious or dishonest to anyone. We're going to fight this and protect our way of life.- Jerry Natanine, former mayor of Clyde River, Nunavut
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal on Wednesday that will decide if an international group of companies can do seismic testing in Baffin Bay.
People who live there believe the high-intensity sounds that are used to map the sea floor will disturb marine mammals they rely on for food.
Jerry Natanine is part of the group that's brought the case to the court. Here is part of his interview with Carol Off in the As It Happens studio:
Many communities have fought seismic testing. What are the arguments you're giving for the Arctic and why Nunavut should not have this?
Our main argument is that as Inuit, our history has been recorded to 4,000 years, we've been living up there, hunting and gathering, hunting the sea mammals and, basically, that's what we're trying to protect: our way of life.
And why do you think it's a threat to that way of life?
So in the 1970s, they did a little bit of seismic testing with dynamite. My father and my uncles, they were young men at the time. When they went seal hunting and they were going towards a seal basking on the ice, usually seals hear very good. And when you're far away, they'll put their head up, look around, see what's up. But in those days, they weren't bringing their heads up.
They were going right up to them and the seal would finally hear less than 10 feet away and they caught a few of them like that and realised their ears had puss coming out or were not right. And that's when my father said to me, "You know, we have to fight this thing. We have to stop this thing." So when I was a mayor, he said that to me and he got to me because at the time I was supporting it.
What are we going to eat? A $20 steak at the store? You cannot have that every day. A $25 watermelon? How are gonna eat? How are we gonna live?- Jerry Natanine
We have done a number of interviews on this program as to how climate change is affecting your ability to get food, to collect food, to hunt. What do you fear will happen to your way of life?
We fear that . . . if the seismic blasting were to happen . . . and people go seal hunting. There's no sign of anything. They go whaling. There's no sign of whales. And then it's gonna be like, what are we going to eat? A $20 steak at the store? You cannot have that every day. A $25 watermelon? How are gonna eat? How are we gonna live?
To go back to where we go, our on-the-land cabin and camping areas, if we were to go there and our children live there, run around and play, and when a seal comes up in the ocean, we can shoot it and eat it and, if they were not there, what would be the reason for us to be there?
You have an interesting partner in taking this to the Supreme Court because Greenpeace has not been an organization that people in Nunavut have supported. You've had a lot of differences of opinion, shall we say, especially over the seal hunt. Why is it that you have decided to get into bed with an organization that you have, in the past, really disagreed with?
Yeah, that's really something. So the company got awarded the license. There was 30 days to put in an appeal. And we haven't even talked about Greenpeace at the time yet. And they came out with an apology, by themselves, the affect that [anti] sealing [campaign] had on Inuit, all the negative affects. And they apologized and they fully support subsistence hunting.
I read the headline "Greenpeace apologizes to Inuit." Time went on, we're getting desperate, no one's answering us and I thought, "Oh, there's that article again. Maybe I'll read it." So I read it. Because all my life I really hated them. I wanted to become a lawyer to fight them.
To fight Greenpeace?
Yeah. So, as I was reading, I got touched in the heart. Tears started rolling down my eyes. All the stress of wanting to put in an appeal, they were all coming down on me. I started crying and I said in my heart, you know . . . I'm going to put this behind me. And just forgive them. And forget it . . . And then it was only a few hours, 72 hours before the deadline, and I'm thinking, "Well, Greenpeace it is. There's no one else."
I go to my father and my father, I'm sure he's going to say, "Don't you even mention Greenpeace," you know? I thought he hated them more than me. As it turned out, I was so surprised. He said, "The seismic testing they did in the past was really bad for the seals. If you can get Greenpeace to help us to fight it, you should do it."
And now you have your partner.
Yes.
You have lost at the National Energy Board level, at the Federal Court of Appeal level. Why do you think you're going to win at the Supreme Court?
We lost there. And the reasons the National Energy Board, the factums they gave, the reasons why we lost, don't make sense. They're as stupid as the answers the company gave us. And we've been saying justice is on our side. We're [in] the right. We're not out to get anyone, we're not out being malicious or dishonest to anyone. And that's how we're going to be. We're going to fight this and protect our way of life.
Listen to our full feature interview with Jerry Natanine in which he talks more about his appeal to the Supreme Court.