Protesters digging in at anti-pipeline camp
BURNABY — Protesters at an anti-pipeline camp in Burnaby, say they are ready to defy an eviction notice handed out from the city.
The City of Burnaby issued a 72-hour notice to those occupying “Camp Cloud” on Wednesday, but protesters said in a news release issued Friday that three days wasn’t enough time to comply with concerns raised over safety.
The release says Camp Cloud will not be evicted, and the notice was wrongly issued without adequate consideration of a recent court decision or consultation with camp residents.
“We are doing the right thing, raising awareness about the collectively deadly impacts of the pipeline,” said camp resident Elauna Boutwell in the release.
The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in March that both the camp and a nearby watch house could remain in place in response to a court injunction filed by Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd., the company behind the Trans Mountain expansion project.
Protesters who defied a court injunction preventing them from demonstrating from within five metres of two pipeline work sites in Burnaby have been arrested with regularity since the judge issued the order in March.
They are angry over the expansion of the pipeline between Alberta and B.C. that would triple its capacity to carry bitumen destined for export. In May, the federal government announced it would buy the pipeline in an effort to see the expansion completed.
No one from the City of Burnaby could be reached for comment, but city manager Lambert Chu said on Wednesday there were concerns about safety and how the footprint of the site had grown to include a two-storey house and showers.
Protesters say the notice has a list of demands, including removing their sacred ceremonial fire and all the dwellings they need in order to continue their work.
“If we want fewer forest fires in the future due to global warming and fossil fuelled climate destabilization, we need to protect this sacred fire and all that it represents,” the release said.
The notice is set to expire Saturday morning, and instead of moving out, protesters say they’ll hold a news conference to relay their side of the story.