Written Evidence of the Haisla Nation Northern Gateway Pipelines Inc. Section 52 of the National Energy Board Act Application for Enbridge Northern Gateway Project NEB File OF-Fac-Oil-N304-2010-01 01 Filed 27 May 2010 OH-4-2011

AFFIDAVIT OF THOMAS GREGORY ROBINSON

I, Thomas Gregory Robinson, residing in Kitamaat, BC, MAKE OATH AND SAY THAT:

1. My traditional Haisla name is Galastaax. This name was given to me by my mother, Dora Robinson, according to Haisla nuyem (law).

2. I am currently a Seasonal Fisheries Technician. I have worked as a Coastal Bridge Watchman-Cook/Deckhand, Commercial Salmon/Herring Fisherman, Commercial Prawn Fisherman, and Food Fisherman. Over the years I have been a hunter, I have practiced traditional gathering of foods and medicines, and in my youth I trapped.

3. I currently harvest the following resources from Haisla Territory:

a. Seal: For food, cultural and social purposes from Coste Rocks, , Amelia Island, Ursula Channel, Kildala Arm and Gardner Canal.

Deer: For food, cultural and social purposes from Coste Island, Arm, Kitimat Valley, Gardner Canal, and Douglas Channel.

Goat: For food, cultural and social purposes from Gardner Canal.

Moose: For food from Kildala Arm, Kildala Valley and Kitimat Valley.

b. Fishes (Fin fish/Shell fish)

1

Halibut: For food, trade, cultural and social purposes from Kitimat Arm, Douglas Channel, Kildala Arm, Gilttoyees (North), Sue Channel, Devastation Channel, Gardner Canal, Verney Passage and Ursula Channel.

Herring: For food, cultural and social purposes from Minette Bay, Kitimat Arm and Douglas Channel.

Herring Eggs: For food, trade, cultural and social purposes from Kitimat Arm, Douglas Channel.

Black Cod/Grey Cod/Rock cod/Red Snapper: For food, cultural and social purposes from Douglas Channel.

Sea Cucumber: For food, cultural and social purposes from Douglas Channel, Fraser Reach, Gilttoyees (North) and Kildala Arm.

Salmon: For food, cultural and social purposes from Kitimat Valley River System, Kitimat Arm, Douglas Channel, Gilttoyees (North), Gardner Canal, Egeria Reach and Verney Passage.

Octopus: For food from Kitimat Arm, Douglas Channel, Kildala Arm and Gilttoyees (North).

Shell Fish

Clams: For food, cultural and social purposes from Whale Channel, Ursula Channel, Verney Passage and Douglas Channel.

Cockles: For food, cultural and social purposes from Whale Channel, Ursula Channel, Verney Passage and Douglas Channel.

Crab: For food, trade, cultural and social purposes from Kitimat Arm, Kildala Arm, Douglas Channel, Gilttoyees (North), Gilttoyees (South), Devastation Channel, Verney Passage and Gardner Canal.

2

Prawn: For food and social purposes from Kitimat Arm, Kildala Arm, Douglas Channel, Gilttoyees (North) and Devastation Channel.

Shrimp: For food and social purposes from Kitimat Arm, Kildala Arm, Douglas Channel, Gilttoyees (North) and Devastation Channel. c. Tree/Plants/ Fruit/Roots

Trees

Cedar Wood/Bark: For art, cultural, medicinal, social, trade and economic purposes from throughout Haisla Territory.

Alder Wood/Bark: For art, cultural, medicinal, social and economic purposes from throughout Haisla Territory.

Wild Crab Apple: For food, cultural and social purposes from estuaries of rivers and creeks within Haisla Territory.

Plants (Marine):

Sea Grass (Local): For medicine, cultural and social purposes.

Seaweed: For food, cultural, social and economic purposes from throughout Haisla Territory, as well as through trade with neighbouring Indigenous Groups who inhabit coastal lands, to the north, to the west, and to the south of Haisla Territory.

Kelp-Various (local/trade): For food, trade, cultural, social and economic purposes.

Plants (Land):

Devil’s Club: For medicinal, cultural and social purposes.

Halibore: For cultural, ceremonial and medicinal purposes.

3

Wild Celery (Gxiestm): For food and cultural purposes from estuaries and sub-wetland areas.

Berries:

Elderberry: For health, food, cultural and social purposes in the Kitimat Valley.

Wild Current: For food purposes from Foch Lagoon and Kitimat Valley.

Blueberry: For health, food, cultural and social purposes from Kitimat Valley, Kildala Arm and Douglas Channel.

Salmonberry: For food, cultural and social purposes from valleys and drainage systems, river and creek banks and areas in Kitimat Valley, Kildala Valley and Gilttoyees Valley.

Huckleberry: For food, medicinal, cultural and social purposes from the Kitimat Valley and Douglas Channel.

Thimbleberry: For food, cultural and social purposes from Kitimat Valley.

4. This is important to me because:

a. The act of harvesting the natural resources from within Haisla Traditional Territory, is for us, a practice that goes back to the time of our ancestral birth; it goes back to the ancient time of our arrival on this land; it goes to the time before the intervention of Western culture and politics. Our historic and present knowledge of food and resource harvesting techniques and practices, otherwise known as 'Hunting and Gathering', developed, over millennia, as our ancestors increasingly became more attuned to the physical environment and resources of Haisla Traditional Territory. The harvesting of foods and resources reconnects us with the time when our cultural identity and perspective of self was clear and unobstructed.

4 b. This activity is now one that brings us physically, out onto the lands and the waters of our Traditional Territory. It brings us into contact with the lakes, the rivers, the creeks, the pools and the waterfalls where our ancestors performed the purification rituals, and found their spiritual sustenance. It brings us to the shores where the dugout canoes of old were disembarked, where we find the rock faces that contain the petroglyphs; to the valleys and the mountains that marked our territorial boundaries and supplied them with the wide variety of resources upon which they depended for their lives and for the lives of their children; the burial bent boxes that contain the remains of those same ancestors, and that remain within the forests, and the cedar 'plank trees' that were left by the hands of our ancestors, and which stand as archaeological evidence of our true place in this country. c. The present practice of hunting, fishing and gathering brings us to the places where family members from our ancestral past have been before us; to the places where they left the petroglyphs that remain as gestures of greeting to us, and that go to signal the continuum of our habitation of these lands. We are able to walk the same routes, wade into the same pools, climb the same mountains, to see the same beauty, to feel the same love for the light in the eyes of our children, as they play on the shores, drink of the fresh waters, and eat the foods and the fruits, of the land and the waters, that continue to nourish us. d. The bones of our ancestors are here in the lands around us; their tools can be found on the shores and in the forests; their stories are in the hearts of our elders; their spirit is in the souls of those who are reborn to us as our children; and their memories live in our dreams. Those who have gone before us are with us in spirit, and celebrate with us as we revisit, and reconnect with them in the pristine places that remain of our ancestral homeland. They laugh with us in our times of happiness, and

5

they stand by us in our times of grief. They move with us as we wander across the land and out over the waters. They sit with us at the tops of the mountains that we climb; and for those who learn to listen, they speak to us, and let us know that they are near.

e. In essence, this is the language of our Northwest Coast Traditional Cultural Religion. This is the practice and the realm and the voice of our Traditional Spirituality. In this way we practice the religion of our ancestry. The act of drinking of the fresh waters of our Traditional Territory, is one of many forms of our traditional prayer. The act of sitting at the edge of the waters of a lake, a river, or at the tide-line, and simply appreciating the intrinsic, immaculate, solemn and simple beauty of unadulterated nature, is an act of deep, and intense, traditional expression of gratitude and of Northwest Coast style prayer. To live each day with a deep appreciation for the wholeness, and the purity; the sanctity of nature; this is our religion.

f. At this point in our history, we, The , find ourselves facing the ultimate threat to our place in this world; namely the potential destruction of our precious ecological environment; the demolition of our social, cultural, and religious Territorial Land and Spiritual base; the emaciation and the destitution of the ecological heart of our Homeland Territory.

g. Long after Big Oil and its money is gone from our Homeland Territory, what will be left of our home? What will be left of our lives; our families; our friends? What will be left for our children? The answer is destruction, destitution, and death.

5. If my ability to hunt, fish, gather and engage in traditional practice were lost or compromised it would affect me in the following ways:

6 a. Economic and Health: I depend heavily upon the natural food resources of Haisla Territory to sustain myself and my family. The loss of this resource would be an economic catastrophe for myself, and for my family. The foods and medicines that we gather from the land and from the waters are also a source of great health benefits, as we continue to take up old remedies and to discover new medicinal remedies to be found and derived from plants and trees of our Territory. Harvested meats and seafood, without chemical, and hormonal additives and preservatives, provide us with greatly increased levels of health and vitality, and quality of life. b. Socially: The harvesting and sharing to food resources of Haisla Territory is truly a social event. It brings us together as we find ourselves out on the lands and on the waters in the acts of harvesting the foods and other resources. At these times we learn from one another and teach the young the lessons that we have learned about the harvest, about self determination and about leadership. We cement old friendships and develop new friendships. These meetings effectively become social events of social and cultural development, where we hear each other's renditions of old stories and past personal experiences, on the waters and on the land. This is effectively a recording of our living history, as well as the reestablishment and reinforcement of cultural norms, and ultimately, for us as Haisla, it is a community building process. It is through such social activity that the Haisla Culture continues to find its basis. The loss of harvesting practices due to the loss or destruction of natural resources would mean the loss of this social activity that is crucial to the continuation of Haisla Cultural Identity and the longevity of Traditional Haisla Cultural Practices and Society. This would truly be a tremendous loss of quality of life at many levels, for myself, for my family and friends, and for the local and the extended Haisla Community. c. If my ability to hunt, gather, and fish were lost or compromised, I myself, as well as my family, would suffer from a severe decline in the quality of

7

my diet. Elders and others unable to access the resources, the people with whom I share the fruits of my harvest activities, would experience the loss of my contributions to their traditional diet.

d. If I were to lose my access to, and my ability to enjoy the vibrant nature of my homeland due to destruction by industry, my quality of life would be incredibly diminished, and the quality of life of my family and friends would, without question, also be greatly diminished, and our spirit would suffer greatly.

e. I believe that the resultant suffering brought on by such loss would cause tremendous heartbreak, and that the sense of loss among our people would be immeasurable, and for many, insurmountable. I believe that the youth of this community would suffer greatly, and that the suicide rate within this community would escalate beyond any historic milestone.

SWORN [OR AFFIRMED] BEFORE ME at ______(City), in the Province of ______this day ___ of ______, 2011. Thomas Gregory Robinson

______A Notary Public or Commissioner for Oaths in and for the Province of ______

8