Indigenous Canadian chiefs protest pipeline

An indigenous community opposing construction of a gas pipeline in Canada launched a legal challenge on Wednesday over the climate impact of fossil fuel projects on indigenous territories while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged pipeline protesters blocking rail lines to find a quick solution.

Hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en Nation asked the federal court to declare that “Canada has a constitutional duty to keep the country’s greenhouse gas emissions within the Paris Agreement limit.”

The hereditary chiefs are at odds with the indigenous community’s elected officials, who have supported the Coastal Gaslink route of the pipeline project in British Columbia. The hereditary chiefs say that they, and not the elected officials, hold authority over traditional lands.

Anti-pipeline protests have spread across Canada in support of Wet’suwet’en Nation’s opposition to the proposed pipeline.

Demonstrators near Canadian National Railway (CN) tracks in Ontario, Canada’s most populated province, disrupted passenger trains and goods transportation for a sixth straight day on Wednesday.

About 100 supporters protested outside the Supreme Court in British Columbia Wednesday shortly after the legal challenge was launched.

The protests against the pipeline have turned into a flashpoint for indigenous rights demonstrators. Trudeau has said it is a priority for his government to repair relations with First Nations and to champion indigenous rights.