National chief rips enforcement of B.C. court order
AFN’s Bellegarde says use of police force against peaceful activists a violation of rights
The arrest of 14 people at an Indigenous blockade in a remote area of northern B.C. became a flashpoint Tuesday that sparked protests across the country.
Protesters stopped traffic in Vancouver and Victoria and prompted a counter protest in front of the headquarters of the company building the pipeline at the centre of the dispute.
RCMP made the arrests Monday at a blockade southwest of Houston, where some members of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation had set up a camp to control access to a pipeline project route across their territory.
Police were enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction granted to a TransCanada Corp. subsidiary, Coastal GasLink. It ordered the removal of obstructions in Wet’suwet’en territory as work gets underway on a $6.2-billion pipeline carrying natural gas from the Dawson Creek area to Kitimat.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs told a crowd at Victory Square in Vancouver that it would be a watershed year for Indigenous people in the fight against pipelines crossing their lands.
“We’re starting off 2019 with a bang,” he said to cheers and applause. “I want to say to Prime Minister Trudeau: Welcome to battleground British Columbia.”
About 60 people attended the rally in support of the First Nation outside the headquarters of TransCanada Corp. in downtown Calgary.
They were greeted by about the same number of pipeline supporters who were encouraged to come out by Canada Action, a Calgary-based lobby group.
There were also protest in Ottawa and Halifax.
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations said the use of police force against people peacefully protesting the construction of the pipeline is a violation of their human and Aboriginal rights.
“Building consensus under duress will make the resolution of the situation in northern British Columbia very difficult,” Perry Bellegarde said in a statement Tuesday.
“Real consensus will be built when the parties, with very different views, come together in meaningful and productive dialogue. And I am confident that they can do this.”
Bellegarde said the Canadian and B.C. governments have promised to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but in northern B.C. they are imposing their laws over those of the Wet’suwet’en.
Gidimt’en member Jen Wickham said hereditary chiefs gathered near the site of the B.C. camp on Tuesday and expected further RCMP action.
Wickham was in Prince George where she said 13 people arrested for violating the court order, including her sister Molly Wickham, were scheduled to appear in court. She said an elder arrested on Monday had already been released.
The Gidimt’en set up a gate in December in support of an anti-pipeline camp that members of the Unist’ot’en, another Wet’suwet’en clan, established years ago.
Wickham, who has fielded calls from India and the United Kingdom about the pipeline resistance, said it’s been “surreal” to see the international response.
She said she believes the issue is gaining attention now because the Gidimt’en have dispelled the myth that it’s only individuals from one clan opposing the project.
New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen, who represents the area, said the protest he witnessed on Monday was “determined” but “peaceful. He estimated about 200 police officers were used to enforce the court injunction.
Cpl. Madonna Saunderson would not say how many RCMP officers were involved.
The company said it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route for LNG Canada’s $40 billion liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat, but demonstrators said Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given consent.
LNG Canada announced in October that it was moving ahead with its plans for the Kitimat export facility. Construction on the 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline is scheduled to begin this month.
About 500 people gathered at the B.C. legislature in Victoria chanting and carrying placards.
Shelagh Bell-Irving attended the protest in support of the First Nation blockade. “This is wrong and we have to stop it. We need to shut down Canada now and let the government know we the people are running the show and not them.”