Substitute the word ROF into Enbridge pipeline. What you get is similar tactics of negotiation.

TORONTO - So what happens when a Native chief decides to like the idea of the Enbridge pipeline creating jobs for their community?

Ask Chief Elmer Derrick.

After threats, he had gone somewhat underground following a deal he made for his nation last year.

Like what was on display outside the King Edward Hotel Wednesday, Canada has heard from chiefs who don’t want the $5.5-billion pipeline.

But what about from those who do?

It’s not easy for them to talk of how their communities will benefit.

“There’s massive resistance against those who support the pipeline,” said an insider. “Some have faced threats and intimidation.”

Chief Derrick is one example.

On behalf of the Gitxsan people near Terrace, B.C., he signed an agreement with Enbridge which would bring at least $7-million to his community.

“Over time we have established a relationship of trust with Enbridge, we have examined and assessed this project, and we believe it can be built and operated safely,” Chief Derrick said in a joint news release last December.

“We believe that the construction of this pipeline is of vital importance to the future of Canadian energy security and prosperity.”

He also said while it would provide needed employment for First Nation’s people “let me stress that all decisions we make in pursuing business on

Gitxsan land remain faithful to the laws of our people. Those who wish to do business in Gitxsan territory will be held to Gitxsan standards.”

He didn’t get a pat on the back.

By late January, not only were some of his contemporaries trying to rip up the agreement, they forced him on the run. His office was boarded up so he couldn’t get in and there was 24-hour watch on for his whereabouts so locals could give him a piece of their mind.

“That guy is not well liked,” admitted Chief Jackie Thomas at the Toronto protest Wednesday.

“He was making a deal on land that he had no business making and no authority to do so,” added fellow Chief Martin Louie.

Needless to say, they are two chiefs who say they don’t have a price to allow a pipeline through Native land. They seem like peaceful people and appear sincere about their convictions.

They are free to protest.

But Native leaders, who seek to bring in opportunity, should not be shut up either.

Wednesday night Derrick told The Toronto Sun while “I respect the other chiefs and what is good for their communities, we did our due diligence and wanted to advance the situation for our young aboriginal people who are in need of work and who have to go away for three weeks at a time to get it.”

He said “after 40 years I am used to threats” but said it was “sad that there were threats on my family.” Still, the chief is “optimistic” the pipeline will be a “positive” and that “they will come around and there will be exciting decades ahead.”

It’s not easy for chiefs with his kind of approach to take this kind of stand.

“Some have had their tires slashed,” said a source. “Others have had their windows broken.”

Still, 22 chiefs out of about 50, have made deals with Enbridge anyway.

Meanwhile, a source tells me the deal Chief Derrick made technically stands.

The only thing left to quibble over is the amount. So it seems it was not the deal Derrick made that the people trying to scare him were upset about as much as it was the size of the deal.

“They want more than $7-million was guaranteed and want to negotiate,” said a source.

The truth is a lot of these loud protests are really nothing more than slick negotiation tactics in progress.

In the meantime, it’s interesting to watch the well funded The Yinka Dene

Alliance Freedom Train make its Toronto stop. Travelling on trains is not free and nor is staying in downtown Toronto hotels. It will be interesting to see how much of the costs will come out of Canada’s Indian Affairs $7-billion annual budget or if it comes from outside activist funding sources.

“There is lots of money out there to oppose the pipeline from the United

States,” said a source. “In fact, there’s more money available to oppose it than to support it.”

This is has prompted the Canadian Revenue Agency to scrutinize the charitable status of some American environmental lobby groups to see if they actually are charities or using their status as a front to fund foreign radical movements?

In light of what happened to poor but progressive Chief Derrick it would be good if the RCMP and CSIS takes a gander, too.

If people are being paid by outside interests to blow up deals through intimidation between government, business and First Nation leaders, they shouldn’t get a tax break, too.