‘Secret’ CSIS report details violence from groups over pipelines
Gasoline bombs thrown at police during protests
• A newly released intelligence assessment of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion describes “violent confrontations” that have occurred over recent resource development projects.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service produced the “secret” report 10 days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline between Alberta and B.C. The “key assessments” were cut from a declassified version released under the Access to Information Act, but the focus on the pipeline shows intelligence officials weighed its security implications.
The report chronicles allegations of sabotage, burglary, trespassing, mischief and the torching of vehicles at protests against resource projects in New Brunswick and North Dakota.
Climate Direct Action (CDA) appears repeatedly in the Intelligence Assessment, which said the U.S. eco-group had targeted Canadian-owned pipelines in four “actions,” as well as Trans Mountain’s American owner, Kinder Morgan.
“Messaging from the CDA and other alternative media outlets highlight the need to prevent ‘dirty’ Canadian oil from entering the U.S.,” according to the report, titled Construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.
The report quoted the CDA co-founder as saying, “Our only hope is to step outside polite conversation and put our bodies and ourselves in the way. We must shut it down, starting with the most immediate threats; oilsands fuels and coal.”
The $ 7- billion Trans Mountain expansion would carry bitumen from the northern Alberta oilsands to the southern B.C. coast. But the May 9 B.C. provincial election has triggered uncertainty over the project.
The NDP and Green Party leaders announced on Monday they had reached an agreement that would see them form a coalition government in Victoria. Both parties oppose the Trans Mountain expansion.
The CSIS report, dated Dec. 9, discussed opposition to Trans Mountain dating back to 2014, and described events near the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick in 2013, when police enforced a court injunction against a camp protesting plans to conduct seismic testing to determine if fracking was possible.
Molotov cocktails were thrown at the RCMP and at least one shot was fired, it said. Six RCMP vehicles were destroyed by fire, and firearms, knives, ammunition and a small improvised explosive device were found in the camp, according to the report.