‘STRONG VOICES’, DIVIDED COMMUNITY
TRUDEAU TOUTS GAS PIPELINE IN B.C. FOLLOWING CONTROVERSIAL END TO BLOCKADE
As protesters in yellow vests held signs that read “Carbon Tax Cash Grab” and “Trudeau for Treason” outside a Kamloops, B.C., hotel on Wednesday, inside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted the benefits of a liquefied natural gas project that’s at the centre of an impasse with First Nations.
In a campaign-style speech at the Liberal fundraiser, Trudeau heralded the massive project as one of his government’s key achievements over the past year.
“We moved forward on the LNG Canada project, which is the largest private-sector investment in Canada’s history, $40 billion, which is going to produce Canadian LNG that will supplant coal in Asia as a power source and do much for the environment,” he said.
He made no mention of the arrests of 14 people Monday in northwestern B.C. who were protesting the construction of the natural gas pipeline by Coastal Gaslink, a key part of the $40-billion LNG Canada project.
Keith Lariviere, who is Cree and par- ticipated in the yellow-vest protest, said he knows some of the people involved in the pipeline blockade.
He said he supports their right to protest but he believes those building the pipeline also have the right to do their work.
“I go to sweat lodges with some of those people so I really know them intimately, and I do support their cause. I do support their right to their land. I don’t support the aggressive way they were forced out of their position,” said Lariviere, who travelled from Prince George.
On the other side of the hotel parking lot, a group of Indigenous protesters opposed to the pipeline sang, drummed and held a banner reading “PM Trudeau: Canada needs climate action now.”
Janice Billy said she supports the Wet’suwet’en because her First Nation, the Secwepemc, are also losing control of their lands.
“The people ... had no reason to be arrested. They are peaceful people. They were there protecting the land and water,” she said.
The arrests came as the RCMP enforced an injunction from the B.C. Supreme Court that ordered the removal of any obstructions to the pipeline project in and around the Morice River Bridge on a remote forest service road southwest of Houston.
The pipeline company says it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route but demonstrators say Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given their consent.
Earlier Wednesday, Trudeau told a CBC Radio program in Kamloops that he would not visit the blockade site.
“One of the things that is really important is to try to reduce the temperature a little bit,” he told the CBC.
He said the arrests were “not an ideal situation.”
The federal government has been working on reconciliation but the dispute over the pipeline is “still an ongoing process,” he said.
“There are a number of people and communities who are supportive, there are a number of folks who disagree with it,” he told the CBC.
The prime minister was scheduled to speak at a town hall gathering later Wednesday night.
He told supporters at the lunchtime fundraiser that he expected to hear “strong voices” at the town hall with very clear ideas about what his government should be doing.
“The challenge we have to have as Canadians is to be open to listening to people, to understand their concerns and their fears, and to work together to try and allay them,” he said.
“We will always have in this country perspectives that vary widely.”
The federal riding of Kamloops-thompson-cariboo is held by Conservative MP Cathy Mcleod and the Liberals see B.C. as a key battleground for the election in October.
Near the construction site where the 14 were arrested, RCMP roadblocks remained in place for a third day around the territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.
Sitting by a fire outside the RCMP roadblock, Alexander Joseph said the arrest of Indigenous people on their own traditional territory brought back some difficult memories.
“I come from residential (school), I come from the ’60s Scoop,” Joseph said. “It feels like the same thing is happening over and over again. The RCMP and the government coming in, taking away us, from our own culture, our own nature. And that’s not right.”
Joseph, 61, said he plans to remain at the police roadblock, which stops access to a logging road that leads to a second gate erected years ago by the Unist’ot’en house group, which is part of one of the five clans that make up the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.
Joseph is a member of the Lake Babine First Nation more than 100 kilometres away, but he said he wants to show solidarity with other Indigenous people who feel threatened on their land.
“I’ve got so much anger right now, I want to stay here until this is resolved in a positive way,” Joseph said.
The RCMP is allowing the oil and gas company’s contractors to pass through the roadblock to clear trees and debris from the road.