VANCOUVER – RCMP officers broke a blockade Thursday and arrested opponents of a gas pipeline in northern British Columbia, its spokesman says, in an operation the force characterized as a “rescue operation” for hundreds of workers. of the gas pipeline.
The dramatic developments in the Wet’suwet’en territory were the latest episode in an ongoing dispute that, two years ago, saw protests across Canada.
The hereditary heads of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and their supporters, who say they are acting peacefully, were arrested by the RCMP, a spokesperson for the hereditary heads and their supporters, Jennifer Wickham, told the Star.
“They’re trying to clear the way and they’re just arresting people right now,” Wickham said. “We are only waiting for more details. They haven’t been removed from the territory yet, so we haven’t seen anyone. “
More than eight people, including indigenous elders, the media and legal observers were arrested at 1 pm local time, it said.
Wickham said the RCMP armed with tactical equipment with canine units and heavy machinery moved towards the Gidimt’en blockade at the 44-kilometer mark of Morice Forest Service Road, using a vehicle and other obstacles to block the road. RCMP has not yet confirmed that the operation has started or the tactics used.
On Sunday, members of the Gidimt’en clan, one of five from the Wet’suwet’en nation, set up the blockade. They said about 500 workers in a labor camp received an eight-hour notice to leave before the road was closed.
Coastal GasLink, the pipeline builder, told the Star that it did not move its workforce out of the area during the eight-hour notice period due to worker safety concerns due to “inclement weather.”
The company said the water and supplies will be taken to the camps “as soon as it is safe to do so.” He said the “illegal” blockade is putting workers at risk.
Hereditary bosses and sympathizers are protesting the construction of a pipeline through their territory that they maintain has no right to be built because they were not given consent through their traditional system of government.
But all 20 elected First Nations councils along the pipeline path approved the project. The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted an injunction to prevent protesters from suspending work on the project in December 2019.
Those protests ended when the federal and provincial governments reached a memorandum of understanding with the hereditary chiefs in early 2020. The situation began to escalate again when the company began preparations to drill under the Morice River.
Now hereditary bosses say they are enforcing an eviction notice that they first issued to the company in 2020.
The 670-kilometer pipeline aims to transport natural gas from northeastern British Columbia to Kitimat, where an LNG facility is being built. Morice Forest Service Road begins about 75 miles south of Smithers.
The hereditary chiefs and those who support them say they never yielded, surrendered or lost title to the territory.
On Thursday morning, the RCMP issued a statement indicating that they would close the blockade in a move that it characterized as a “rescue and execute” operation. The force said in a press release that it had tried to negotiate a peaceful solution to the dispute, but could not.
In early 2020, protests were held across Canada in solidarity with Hereditary Chiefs after an eviction notice was issued to Coastal Gaslink.
With files from The Canadian Press
Reference-www.thestar.com