Doug Donaldson strikes me as an honourable man. That just makes the situation he’s in that much more difficult. …he has established himself as someone who is deeply immersed in First Nations culture and traditions. On occasion, he delivers messages in the house fluently in Indigenous languages. …A few years ago, he told the legislature: “I am the representative for Stikine, but I’m also an adopted member of Wilp Dawamukw [a sub-group of the Gitxsan nation].” …So a man with deep respect for First Nations is now nominally responsible for overriding long-standing concerns of some hereditary chiefs and allowing a pipeline through their claimed land. The project has the approval of all the First Nations’ elected leaders. It’s got signed benefit agreements with bands all along the route. But actual work was hung up until this week on the objections of some unelected individuals whose claims to authority aren’t well understood.