Indigenous Business Event Draws Protest From Water Protectors Group

DULUTH, Minn. — About a dozen protesters were near Pier B on Tuesday evening, rallying against the Minnesota Tribal Contractors Council that was holding its yearly fall networking dinner inside the hotel.

The event brought together indigenous and non-indigenous business leaders to connect and talk about the trades industry.

The conflict on Tuesday was over the protesters wanting indigenous workers to stay away from working for Enbridge, which built Line 3 and is working on Line 5.

It’s unclear if Enbridge had representation at the event.

The president of the council said he felt like there is a false narrative circulating about the event celebrating the completion of Line 3, adding that his group supports jobs in both the conventional energy and green energy fields.

He added that his event was about connecting indigenous workers and businesses together for opportunities extending outside reservations.

“I wouldn’t call them protesters, I would call them members of the public, you know,” Jim Jones, the president of the Minnesota Tribal Contractors Council, said. “People have a misconception and that’s what’s happening tonight outside there. There’s a narrative that’s being told through you and others and on social media that this is a celebration of a project that ended two years ago. It’s not. This is about promoting tribally-owned businesses and networking for those businesses, such as mine…if we’re going to promote our members and our tribal people for economic opportunities outside of the boundaries of the reservation, then we need to put our hand out and say ‘hey.”

The protesters who were outside said they were part of the water protectors group, and shared a message about why they were there, along with their thoughts on Enbridge.

“I’m painted turtle, and we all decided to come today all of us animal friends to remind our indigenous relatives of their own responsibilities to the land, and so today Enbridge is meeting with our Native American contractors and so we are here to remind them of their responsibility to take care of us,” Gaagigeyaashiik (Dawn Goodwin), said. “We don’t want our brothers and sisters, our Native American contractors, to help Enbridge destroy our lands…we want to bring attention to Line 5. That needs to be shut down and we need to transfer from fossil fuels. We need to protect what we have left.”

Jones said about 100 people attended the council event.