Chris Sankey sees a better way forward for Indigenous people in Canada.
As a businessperson and member of the Coast Tsimshian community of Lax Kw’Alaams near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, he knows firsthand the benefits that private enterprise and the energy sector can bring to remote communities.
Speaking with hosts Geoff Costeloe and James Robertson on their podcast Unbound: Fearlessly Exploring Issues That Matter, he outlines the crucial role that responsible resource development can play in helping Aboriginal people move beyond the strictures of the outdated Indian Act.
“It just makes complete sense for us to move away from the Act and focus on the private sector where we can utilize our own sole-sourced revenues, where we don’t have to rely on government to take care of our elders, to take care of our communities, take care of education and health and all of that,” says Sankey.
Listening to actual Indigenous people who want to be equal stakeholders in the economy will enable them to actualize the full potential of their future prosperity, says Sankey. Only considering the perspectives of activists and outside groups who claim to speak on the behalf of First Nations, but who only push their own agendas, is counterproductive.
He believes that Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike can partner in mutual respect to develop our resources for the benefit of the country as a whole.
“Without the oil and gas sector, there is no transition to all these other sectors that everyone so desperately wants in solar, geothermal, hydrogen, electrification…This craziness of ‘no more pipelines’ is absurd, and it’s really taken a stranglehold on Canada. It is really hurting us as Indigenous people because if you take away that sector, it is the Indigenous communities in this country that will suffer the most,” says Sankey.
