Angry protesters say they won’t back down
Opponents vow to elevate their fight as federal government plans to buy pipeline
The Canadian government’s plan to buy the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion was met with outrage on Tuesday by protesters in Vancouver and Burnaby, who vowed to step up their efforts to kill the project.
More than 1,000 people gathered near Science World on False Creek Tuesday evening to cheer Indigenous leaders as they excoriated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet.
Meantime, activists at an encampment on Burnaby Mountain said they would stay put near the gates of Kinder Morgan’s tank farm.
Khelsilem, an elected councillor of the Squamish Nation, said Trudeau had broken promises to his people to build a new relationship with them and hold the project from going forward until there was a “vigorous and thorough” review.
“He is a liar. He is a liar. He is a liar,” Khelsilem shouted to hollering and drums.
Before his speech concluded with a chant of “vote him out,” Khelsilem told his audience it had a duty to share a message with fellow Canadians: “People in this province and in this city know that this coast is our most precious relative, that we have a sacred obligation — all of us, not just Indigenous people — to protect what was given to us by our ancestors for the next generation.”
Melina Labaoucan-Massimo, a Lubicon Cree activist who said her community has been devastated by the Alberta oilsands, said she feared what may happen at this end of the pipeline after witnessing firsthand the devastation caused by fossil fuels there.
She said damage left her community unable to drink water from local streams or pick medicine and berries.
“All of the things that our people have done for thousands and thousands of years, from time immemorial, culture genocide is what we’re seeing at this point, and it’s not OK,” Labaoucan-Massimo said.
Labaoucan-Massimo read a letter she had written about Trudeau calling him a “pedlar of oil money doing the bidding of the oil lobby at the expense of taxpayers.”
She questioned why $4.5 billion wasn’t instead used to develop renewable energy.
“Today we can say, with total certainty, that Trudeau has failed,” she said.
Reuben George, a longtime pipeline opponent from the TsleilWaututh Nation, slammed the “lies” of Trudeau and his cabinet while criticizing Kinder Morgan’s dealings with Indigenous people.
“This is a big opportunity, more than we ever had before, to educate Canada on the true facts of the destruction it causes,” George said.
“Seventy-one per cent of Burnaby residents support the TsleilWaututh nation to stop them because they know the true facts. Canada’s going to know the true facts and we’re going to get rid of this government and we’re going to get rid of this pipeline.”
Earlier in the day, anti-pipeline activists vowed to stay put at protest camps on Burnaby Mountain, including Will George of the TsleilWaututh First Nation and watchhouse camp leader, who said his group will not relent after the federal government’s announcement.
“It doesn’t change anything, we will remain here, and we’ll be the fierce opposition,” George said.
“We’re going to increase our movement and demonstrations and put a call out to brothers and sisters across Canada. We’re going to hit the panic button on donations, because we’re going up against the feds now.”
Drivers passing the encampment honked their horns in support while others stopped to chat with the protesters.
“Our position hasn’t changed at all — climate change is still real and this is still Indigenous territory,” Elauna Boutwell said. “I still believe we need to transition into alternatives other than fossil fuels as soon as possible.”
Canada’s decision to buy the pipeline brought hope for Johnny Lee, who continued to build new structures at the protest camps the morning of the announcement.
“They’ll face a little more pressure because now taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill,” he said. “And not just from the Indigenous groups but also ‘settler’ allies.”
Lee admits the future of the camp sites remain unclear.
“It’s just history repeating itself, in regards to colonialism. The federal government has no jurisdiction here, it’s unceded territory,” he said. “We’re waiting for a little bit more information about what exactly this means for this area before we make any decision about how this camp is going to move forward,” Lee said.
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs also said they would continue their support for the protests on Burnaby Mountain, and others on the front line of opposition.
“The federal government is falsely giving out assurances,” said Judy Wilson, secretary-treasurer of the UBCIC, who is also chief of the Neskonlith First Nation.
“The proposed route of the expansion crosses 513 kilometres within our traditional territory. There are inherent title rights that have to be dealt with — and that’s a 150-year-old issue.”