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Tribal Nations urge Canada to abandon support of Line 5 oil pipeline

The Line 5 pumping station on the south side of the Mackinac Straits.
Lester Graham / Michigan Radio
The Line 5 pumping station on the south side of the Mackinac Straits.

The report comes months before Canada will have its human rights record scrutinized in a routine review by the U.N.

Tribal nations say Canada’s government has prevented the 70-year-old pipeline from being shut down for good… when it invoked a 1977 treaty that guarantees transit of oil across the border.

David Arroyo is Chairperson of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

“It's just a matter of time before there's an accident, a catastrophic accident that's going to change our livelihood for the whole state. And that's one thing I wish people would understand that it's not just an indigenous problem…. It's all of our problems.”

Enbridge says Line 5 continues to operate safely and that relationships with Indigenous communities is, quote, "essential to Enbridge's continued success."

Canada will have its human rights record reviewed in mid-November.

Michael Livingston is a senior at Central Michigan University majoring in Journalism and International Relations. He grew up in Hartland, a small town in Livingston County. After graduation in 2022, he aspires to take his reporting abroad as a correspondent.