RCMP set up blockade on trucking road at centre of Indigenous pipeline dispute
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 03:13:03 +0000
The RCMP set up a checkpoint on Monday afternoon along the remote Morice West Forest Service Road, meaning anyone trying to access three Aboriginal protest sites and a pipeline work camp will need police permission to pass.
Dawn Roberts, spokeswoman for the B.C. RCMP, said the “access control checkpoint” had been established at the 27 km mark of the forestry road that starts on Highway 16, 5 km west of Houston.
“The purpose is to mitigate safety concerns related to the hazardous items of fallen trees and tire piles with incendiary fluids along the roadway, as well as to allow emergency service access to the area,” Roberts said in a prepared statement.
The Morice West Forest Service Road has become a flashpoint in Indigenous and government relations in B.C., as five hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation lead efforts to block a natural gas pipeline project from being built in their territory in the northwest of the province.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs from left, Rob Alfred, John Ridsdale, centre and Antoinette Austin, who oppose the Coastal Gaslink pipeline take part in a rally in Smithers B.C., on Friday Jan.10, 2020.
The pipeline, linking Dawson Creek and Kitimat, will provide fuel for the $40 billion Canada LNG plant under development in Kitimat. The builder, Coastal GasLink, has struck deals with elected councils of 20 First Nations along the route, including the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. However, elected councils are created under the Indian Act and have governance over reserve lands, not the broader territorial lands.
Jen Wickham speaks on behalf of the protesters — who are based at three sites at the 39km, 44km and 66km marks up the dead-end forestry road. The smallest camp is at the 39km point, beyond which the road is blocked by fallen trees. The Gidimt’en checkpoint is at the 44km mark and the largest, year-round Unist’ot’en camp is at the 66km point.
The Coastal GasLink work site is beyond the Unist’ot’en camp.
A map showing the route of the Coastal GasLink project taken from a Dec. 16, 2019 project update issued by Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project and TC Energy.
In January last year, the RCMP (acting on a court injunction guaranteeing workers access to the road) arrested 14 people after storming the Gidimt’en checkpoint military style.
The hereditary chiefs then signed an agreement allowing the pipeline workers temporary access. That was revoked on Jan 3, 2020, after which Coastal GasLink workers agreed to leave the site.
However, another court injunction was obtained by the pipeline builder and the RCMP and hereditary chiefs are now negotiating a way to avoid a violent conflict at the site.
Wickham said that on Monday afternoon the RCMP prevented a vehicle carrying food and supplies to the closest and least established camp, and also blocked one of the hereditary chiefs from passing. Wickham said a TV crew had also been blocked.
This came despite an earlier RCMP promise that “persons permitted would generally include all hereditary and elected chiefs, elected and other government officials, journalists with accreditation from recognized media outlets and persons providing food, medicine or other supplies or services required for the well-being and safety of persons behind the blockades.”
Premier John Horgan told reporters on Monday that the Coastal GasLink pipeline will be built despite the protests.
Horgan said the courts had ruled in favour of the project and the rule of law would apply to ensure work continues on the pipeline.
He said the project was “of vital economic and social importance to the region.”
Horgan said Indigenous peoples in B.C. have used the courts to successfully assert their rights and title, but in “this instance the courts have confirmed that the project can proceed and will proceed.”
A checkpoint is seen at a bridge leading to the Unist’ot’en camp on a remote logging road near Houston, B.C., on Thursday January 17, 2019.
Horgan’s government adopted legislation late last year to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It mandates the government to bring provincial laws and policies into harmony with the declaration’s aims of reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
The UN declaration says Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination, which means they can determine their political status and pursue economic, social and cultural development. It requires governments to obtain “free and informed consent” from Indigenous groups before approving projects affecting their lands or resources.
But Horgan says the declaration doesn’t apply to the Coastal GasLink project.
“Our document, our legislation, our declaration is forward looking,” he said. “It’s not retrospective. We believe it will open up opportunities not just for Indigenous people but for all British Columbians.”