Vancouver port gates blocked by Wet'suwet'en solidarity protest
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2020 01:24:37 +0000
Protesters blockaded all three entrances to the Port of Vancouver on Saturday in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and land defenders trying to halt a natural gas pipeline project in northwest B.C.
Traffic at the north ends of Heatley, Clark and Commissioner crawled for much of the day as more than 150 demonstrators occupied the intersections outside the port’s gates, blocking vehicles from entering. Police redirected traffic at each blockade.
The protesters carried banners reading “We are the land defending itself” and “Oppenheimer to Wet’suwet’en, all unceded Indigenous land.” They made speeches, sang and chanted, and blocked a man from driving his pickup truck across Clark Drive.
It was the third day of blockades at the port and part of similar action across Canada, including a ceremonial fire lit on the front steps of the B.C. legislature in Victoria.
Protestors block road access to the Port of Vancouver Saturday. Traffic was snarled as areas surrounding the entries to the port were also blocked; at Clark and East Hastings, Powell Street and Heatley Avenue, and on Commissioner Street.
Natalie Knight, one of the organizers of the port blockade, said they had no intention of leaving. She said the port was targeted in order to put financial pressure on resource-extraction companies and put political pressure on government.
“We’re here to express solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation whose territory is under attack by the RCMP, and provincial and federal government by extension, who are disrespecting Indigenous sovereignty and Wet’suwet’en hereditary law,” Knight said.
“We will step down if the hereditary chiefs’ demands are met, if the RCMP pulls back entirely, if the injunction is no longer enforced.”
Sgt. Aaron Roed said Vancouver police were monitoring the blockade and would provide regular updates on traffic disruptions using their social media channels.
Roed said police would try to reduce any impact the protest had on traffic, local businesses and the public. There had been no arrests, he said Saturday afternoon.
Protestors block road access to the Port of Vancouver Saturday. Traffic was snarled as areas surrounding the entries to the port were also blocked; at Clark and East Hastings, Powell Street and Heatley Avenue, and on Commissioner Street.
A spokeswoman said the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority was monitoring the situation and working with the city and police.
Marek Lesniewski, owner of ML Auto at the corner of Clark and Hastings, said he supported the protesters’ right to peacefully assemble but wished they would permit traffic to access small businesses like his.
Lesniewski said business had been at a standstill and he wanted police to move the protesters out of the intersections.
“No one’s doing any business,” he said. “On top of it, the people can’t commute.”
Herb Varley, another port blockade organizer, said he understood that some people were upset with the protesters but said the threat of climate catastrophe and damage done by colonialism made it important to “disrupt capital” at the port.
“Moral arguments do not work with the powers that be,” Varley said.
“What they understand is economic gains and losses. We have nothing against the people that work at the port. This isn’t about them. This isn’t about us. This is about the Wet’suwet’en. These are kind of economic choke points. Tremendous amounts of goods go through the port every single day.”
Protestors block road access to the Port of Vancouver Saturday. Traffic was snarled as areas surrounding the entries to the port were also blocked; at Clark and East Hastings, Powell Street and Heatley Avenue, and on Commissioner Street.
Meantime, Mounties have been trying to clear protesters from the exclusion zone near Smithers, B.C.
Four people were arrested by RCMP on Friday as demonstrators continued to access the site and organize blockades.
The B.C. Supreme Court granted Coastal GasLink an expanded injunction on Dec. 31 and the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs responded by issuing the company an eviction notice in early January, arguing the company was violating traditional Wet’suwet’en laws.
Mounties said the blockades disrupted the transfer of arrested people to a nearby police detachment and the exit of vehicles working on the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
As a result of vehicle damage, RCMP said the access control point would be temporarily moved to the 4 km mark of the Morice West Forest Service Road “to ensure the safety for those travelling, and to limit the actions of those who would place such items ….”
Hereditary Chiefs, industry and media will continue to have access to the 27 km mark of the road.
Enforcement began earlier this week after the provincial government and hereditary chiefs of the First Nation failed to reach an agreement in talks intended to de-escalate the dispute.
Coastal GasLink president David Pfeiffer has said the company has support from all 20 elected Indigenous governments along the pipeline path and would move forward with its construction schedule.
Protesters in cities across the country have come out against the pipeline, including in Ontario where protesters have stopped railway traffic east of Toronto.
With files from The Canadian Press