Pacific Future Energy recruits former First Nations chiefs to help launch project

Former AFN ‘grand chief’ Shawn Atleo with his political master, PM Stephen Harper, looking on.

BRENT JANG, The Globe and Mail, Dec, 10 2014

Pacific Future Energy has recruited two former national chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations to help launch a venture that is seeking to construct a $10-billion B.C. bitumen refinery.

Shawn Atleo has been named to the company’s management roster as senior adviser of partnerships for the project that wants to take bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands and convert it into refined products for export to Asia. And Pacific Future Energy appointed Ovide Mercredi to its advisory board.

“First Nations’ values and principles will shape this long-term vision and the potential for a new, more sustainable energy industry for all British Columbians and Canadians,” Mr. Atleo said in a statement released Wednesday by Pacific Future Energy.