RCMP move in to clear northern B.C. gas pipeline blockade, say opponents

“[It] was a peaceful watch camp, they were not blocking the road,” said Gidimt’en member and media coordinator Jennifer Wickham.

“The camp was set more than 10 metres from the road, and the people there were simply to keep an eye on activity to ensure the safety of people out there. As far as I know they were not given the option to leave the area peacefully.”

Wet’suet’en pipeline opponents and their supporters, who describe themselves as land defenders, say police have set up a new checkpoint at the four-kilometre mark and are excluding all access, including media.

Police have not confirmed any arrests.

Signs police action was imminent began to appear Tuesday night when talks broke off between Wet’suet’en hereditary chiefs and the provincial government, and Coastal GasLink hinted that it was preparing to seek enforcement of the injunction.

On Wednesday afternoon, RCMP said there would be “a minimal use of force” from officers in the area, including offering people who refuse to leave the injunction area the opportunity to be voluntarily arrested without handcuffs.

“If [these] scenarios do not occur, our members will respond to the behaviours that are presented to them,” said Asst. Comm. Eric Stubb. “They are instructed to use the least amount of force that is reasonable to safely arrest a protester.”

Chief Woos, one of the hereditary chiefs opposing the project, told Global News Wednesday he didn’t believe RCMP when they said little to no force will be used during the enforcement.

“The buildup there is contrary to what they are saying,” he said, estimating 60 to 100 RCMP officers had gathered in neighbouring towns outside the camp.

“They go in there and they stride about the area, they threaten, they make slurring remarks and threaten people with arrests.”

On Thursday, the Office of the Wet’suwet’en Nation also announced plans to challenge the Coastal GasLink project’s environmental assessment certificate in court, arguing the company was in violation of its conditions and had failed to incorporate the findings of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The $6.6-billion, 670-kilometre pipeline is intended to carry gas from northeastern B.C. to a massive LNG export plant being built near Kitimat, and would traverse unceded Wet’suet’en traditional territory.

The company has signed agreements with all 20 elected Indigenous councils along the route.

But opponents argue that those councils only have authority over on-reserve matters, as artifacts of the colonial system under the Indian Act.

The Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed Indigenous rights and title over unceded land, territory that Wet’suet’en project opponents say only hereditary chiefs have authority over.

– With files from Sean Boynton

by Simon Little, Global BC

RCMP move in to clear northern B.C. gas pipeline blockade, say opponents

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