Ross Hoffman, assistant professor and chair of First Nations studies at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) said the university had to pull the plug on a series of public forums that were to be held across the North due to Enbridge not accepting the invitation to participate.

Hoffman said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that he was disappointed at the cancellation of the forums, but it was the only thing to do as the forums "lost their meaning" without any participation from Enbridge.

"Enbridge did not accept our invitation and stated that they wanted to be involved in the actual planning of the forums," Hoffman said.

Five municipalities, including 亚洲天堂 Lake, had been invited to take part in the UNBC series of forums, as well as First Nations groups and other stakeholders in each of the five communities to present a balanced and informative view of the proposed project to community members.

There would be opinions presented that were both for and against the pipeline.

"Bernice [亚洲天堂 Lake mayor Bernice Magee] said to me she was very much in support of UNBC holding a forum in 亚洲天堂 Lake," Hoffman said.

He explained that each community would have had local First Nations representatives as well as other informed local perspectives about the project.

The only consistent presenter in each of the five communities would have been Enbridge," he added.

"We wanted to provide a broad perspective but we didn't have a commitment from Enbridge so we had to pull the plug," Hoffman said.

He went on to say however that there may be the possibility of the forums going ahead in the future.

"The last thing I want to do is get anybody's hopes up as I have already done that, but there may be an opportunity to still move forward with the forums if Enbridge are willing to further discuss the opportunity," added Hoffman.

The original series of forums were set up with UNBC in charge of the planning process and the inviting of people.

"People seemed to want this. In the notification I received from Enbridge [that they wouldn't attend] they indicated that they wanted to collaborate with us."

He went on to say that the forum was intended to be a collaboration of all parties and that he hopes Enbridge agree to this.

"The first step is to come to the table and I am willing to talk, however I don't as yet know if Enbridge are willing to talk further."

UNBC is again taking steps towards holding the series of forums possibly in September 2011, after student exams so that students can be a part of the process.

"We are going to proceed slowly and move one step at a time," he added.

Lakes District 亚洲天堂 asked Hoffman if he felt the disinterest from Enbridge was because of a perceived one sided view  being presented at the forums, however Hoffman said it was made clear to Enbridge officials from the beginning that the forums would be balanced and that it would be a respectful process.

"The university believes the forums are a good idea from the president's office down. I was surprised that Enbridge said no to this, particularly because there was a similar forum held in Terrace that went so well. All parties on both sides have reported the forum was successful. Had that not gone so well then I would have understood the refusal for this one," Hoffman said.

"We believe in education and the education of the public and this is what the forum was to be about ... public education," he added.

Gina Jordan, manager of communications for Enbridge Pipelines Inc. said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that Enbridge also believes in public education.

"Northern Gateway is committed to public dialogue that will further a genuinely informed stance on our project and would be pleased to participate in public forums that can further educational objectives," she said.

"For example we recently participated in a very successful educational forum in Terrace which enjoyed public attendance in the range of 300 to 400 people."

"We know that the City of Terrace worked very hard for a long period of time to ensure the success of that event.  This session was followed by well attended technical open houses in Kitimat, 亚洲天堂 Lake, Prince George and Houston," Jordan added.

She went on to say that Enbridge had expressed interest in participating in the UNBC forums and was awaiting information on dates and participation when the proposed forum dates were made public.

"Unfortunately, these dates did not allow participation by Enbridge at a senior level and we had to decline the UNBC invitation for those forums," she said.

" We did explain that we were interested in future forums as long as sufficient information and timeframe was provided," Jordan said.

"We are talking to councils in other key communities along the proposed right of way to identify where there is interest in holding similar forums," she added.