From CommonDreams.org:

Hundreds of First Nations protesters and supporters descended upon Toronto [yesterday] to protest Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project, which would transport tar sands crude from Alberta to the British Columbia coast.

Representatives of the Yinka Dene Alliance, made up of First Nations groups in British Columbia opposed to Enbridge’s pipeline, left Vancouver on a “Freedom Train” on April 30 and headed to the meeting in Toronto to highlight their opposition to the tar sands plan.

“It is not about money, it is about our way of life,” said Chief Jackie Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation.

“We won’t expose our grandchildren to the risk of an oil spill,” Chief Thomas said.

Rabble.ca reports that “twenty-five per cent of the proposed 1177-kilometre pipeline route is on the Yinka Dene Alliance’s territories, which surround the headwaters of the Fraser, Skeena and Mackenzie watersheds.”

Hereditary Chief Tso Dih of BC’s Nak’azdli Band, who is on the Freedom Train, said, “Enbridge’s pipelines and oil supertankers aren’t in Canada’s interest, and we’ll do Canadians a favor by putting a stop to them.”

The protest took place at Enbridge’s annual meeting.