Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) will be providing political advocacy on behalf of Six Nations Natural Gas disputing charges from the Federal Carbon Charge.

Six Nations Natural Gas approached SNEC on the issue during the May 23 general council meeting.

Enbridge Gas' website details how rates will rise annually until the year 2030.

"The Federal Carbon Charge was introduced in 2019 and, at that time, consumers were paying 3.91 cents per cubic metre," it states. "The charge will increase annually every April 1, and, by 2030, consumers will be paying 32.40 cents per cubic metre."

The federal government's website details how every jurisdiction of the country has an opportunity to design its own pricing system; however, if none are designed, the national design will be put into place.

"Since 2019, every jurisdiction in Canada has had a price on carbon pollution," it states. "Canada’s approach is flexible: any province or territory can design its own pricing system tailored to local needs, or can choose the federal pricing system. The federal government sets minimum national stringency standards that all systems must meet to ensure they are comparable and contribute their fair share to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If a province decides not to price pollution, or proposes a system that does not meet these standards, the federal system is put in place."

Six Nations Chief Mark Hill discussed the next steps on this issue, saying he would like to explore all options to ensure Six Nations has all information to determined what its stance will be on the Federal Carbon Charge.

"Really, I would say the next step is for us to get all the updates across the board, come back, have that meeting specifically on this topic then be able to really build out our position," he said. "We've met the leader of the Conservatives (Pierre Poilievre), it was, obviously, I think at times controversial, not that we're supporting any party for that matter, but rather needing to look politically on strategizing how we can utilize the opposition to some of these issues."

Coun. Kerry Bomberry said that provinces with a carbon reduction plan were exempt from the Federal Carbon Charge, adding that he would like to see Six Nations identify as a sovereign nation and outline an independent carbon reduction plan, as opposed to following provincial regulations.

"I think that we should tell the government that as a sovereign nation we have our own carbon reduction plan," he said. "We have solar farms that we invested in, we have the battery storage plant that is being built, we have our Carolinian forest that we're maintaining."

Coun. Michelle Bomberry said that, in the meantime, with Six Nations Natural Gas consumers still dealing with these increased rates, she suggested that SNEC offset the increased rates by providing relief with the surplus of COVID-19 relief dollars to Six Nations customers.

SNEC approved the motion to provide more political advocacy on behalf of Six Nations Natural Gas to actively dispute the charges from the Federal Carbon Charge and say they are looking at meeting with the minister of finance to voice their concerns. They also said SNEC will look to bring the motion forward of offsetting the increased rates for consumers by way of COVID-19 relief dollars during a general finance meeting in early June.

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