RCMP poised to enforce injunction at fourth site of blockade of B.C. pipeline project
RCMP are poised to enforce a B.C. Supreme Court injunction in the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation at the fourth site along a forest service road that Coastal Gaslink and its contractors have been prevented from accessing for weeks.
The site police are set to move in on is Unist’ot’en, a place in the territory where the Wet’suwet’en have been re-establishing a permanent presence for more than a decade in what began as a strategic re-occupation to stand in the path of proposed energy projects through the area.
The Wet’suwet’en set-up an access checkpoint at Unist’ot’en in 2009, controlling who could and could not come into the area. But that checkpoint has since grown, and the area has morphed into a permanent settlement that includes a land-based healing centre.
It’s unclear how many people are currently staying in Unist’ot’en or what kind of enforcement approach can be expected there, but RCMP said in an email to CBC it will be taking action there on Monday as part of the injunction enforcement.
Acts of civil disobedience and solidarity gatherings have been taking place across the country to show support for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who maintain no pipelines can be built through their territory without their consent.
They do not consent to having pipelines through the territory.
Supporter camp growing at new exclusion zone site
The chiefs and their supporters have remained defiant of the B.C. Supreme Court injunction, asserting Wet’suwet’en law instead and demanding that the province and federal government come to the table to sort out their rights and title to the territory.
In recent days, their access to that territory has been shrinking.
The hereditary chiefs and their supporters have been slowly pushed farther and farther out of the area as police take enforcement actions, camp by camp, down the Morice West Forest Service Road.
As of Sunday, police were not allowing people past the four-kilometre mark on the road, saying that would be the boundary of an expanded exclusion zone that had previously been applied at the 27-kilometre mark.
«You know, I never ever thought that we as We’tsuwet’en people would ever be faced with such a crisis as we’re facing today,» hereditary chief Kaliset told CBC on Sunday while being kept out of the territory at the police roadblock.
«Us elders, we’ve sat back and we’ve watched — we support our young people with the work that they’re doing. Today we’re speaking out.»
The $6-billion, 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline has received approval from the province, and 20 First Nations band councils have signed agreements in support of the project, including five of the six band councils in the Wet’suwet’en Nation.
First Nations that signed agreements with the company stand to benefit through a number of avenues — with direct cash payments at different stages of the project’s lifespan, contracting and employment opportunities, and other agreed upon conditions.
However, the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs say those band councils are only responsible for the territory within their individual reserves because their authority comes only from the Indian Act. The hereditary chiefs — who are the leaders of the nation’s governance system in place before the imposition of the Indian Act — assert authority over 22,000 square kilometres of the nation’s traditional territory, an area recognized as unceded by the Supreme Court of Canada in a 1997 decision.
Construction continues elsewhere on the route
Construction continues along the length of the project at other sections, but Coastal Gaslink says it can only put off getting back into the area subject to the injunction for so long before construction timelines are disrupted.
For weeks the company has not been able to move freely along the forest service road at the geographic centre of this conflict.
The Morice West Forest Service Road leads into the heart of Wet’suwet’en territory, about 300 kilometres west of Prince George. It is also the only access road for workers to build the Coastal Gaslink pipeline through the area.
Weeks after the injunction decision came out on Dec. 31 it became increasingly clear that those involved in the dispute were at an impasse.
Early Thursday morning, police began the first wave of arrests on the road, at a camp set-up at the 39-kilometre mark.
After that, enforcement took place at the 44-kilometre Gidimt’en checkpoint.
The next day, people were cleared from an area established as a warming centre and gathering space at the 27-kilometre mark.
Between Thursday and Saturday, police arrested a total of 21 people as they worked to gain control over the area to ensure Coastal Gaslink contractors could clear the road of obstructions from Houston past Unist’ot’en.
Several of those arrested are scheduled to make court appearances on Monday.
Police continue to investigate alleged criminal acts on the territory, including mischief and setting traps likely to cause bodily harm.
