Government offices open despite pipeline protesters in Victoria
Credit to Author: The Canadian Press| Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 23:29:13 +0000
VICTORIA — Police say pipeline protests outside government offices in Victoria on Friday were peaceful with much of the noise generated by passing motorists honking their car horns in support.
Groups of protesters, ranging in numbers from about 20 to 100 people, stood outside numerous government office buildings, chanting slogans and waving placards supporting Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs opposed to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in their territories.
The scene was much different from Tuesday outside the British Columbia legislature when hundreds blocked entrances to the building, yelling “Shame” and “Shut Down Canada.”
Premier John Horgan was critical of the protests at the legislature, which led to a police investigation of four alleged assaults, as he accused demonstrators of disrupting people going to work and drowning out the views of others.
Victoria police said Friday’s protests ended in the early afternoon.
Gloria Filax said she came to Victoria from Gabriola Island to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
Protesters outside the Government Communications and Public Engagement office on Government Street on Friday, Feb. 14, 2020.
“I just think there’s a critical mass of things happening and issues coming together,” she said outside the Ministry of Environment building. “It’s about reconciliation and the disappointment in what our provincial and federal governments are not doing.”
Filax said the protests are necessary to show governments and business leaders the Wet’suwet’en do not support the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is part of a $40-billion LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export terminal project slated for Kitimat.
“I don’t really care if the trains are blocked,” she said. “I’m sorry it’s inconveniencing people, but you know what, that seems to be the only way we can get attention from our government.”
Indigenous youth supporter Michael McKenzie said the protests at government offices and across Canada are about backing the Wet’suwet’en chiefs.
“I think there’s a lot of awareness getting out there,” said McKenzie, who was outside Victoria’s courthouse. “I think there’s obviously a lot of different opinions but it’s important in this time and place to stand in solidarity.”
B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union president Stephanie Smith said members were advised not to cross so-called picket lines in front of government ministries today.
“A line is a line in terms of the labour movement here in B.C.,” said Smith. “In the absence of a ruling from the Labour Relations Board on its legality or an injunction we advise members not to cross a line.”
Earlier, the union issued a statement saying that it is not affiliated with the organizers and the union is not participating in the planned protests.
Meanwhile, a blockade of rail tracks near Vancouver that paralyzed a key commuter rail service early today has been lifted.
TransLink, which manages operation of the West Coast Express commuter train between Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, says in an email that CP Rail advises the tracks will be in service in time for the homeward commute.
Regular afternoon trips from Vancouver east to Mission are now scheduled.
The train carries about 5,000 commuters daily and many of them were stranded in the downtown core Thursday afternoon when opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline set up a camp on tracks just east of Vancouver.
Protesters at the B.C. Legislature on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has no plans to order the RCMP to end the blockades of vital rail links across the country.
Speaking in Munich, where he’s attending a global security conference, Trudeau brushed off demands made in Ottawa earlier in the day by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.
Trudeau says “we are not the kind of country where politicians get to tell the police what to do in operational matters.”
Scheer wants Trudeau to order the public safety minister to tell RCMP detachments to end blockades by supporters of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs opposed to construction of a natural gas pipeline through their territories in northwestern B.C.
Trudeau said Canada has failed Indigenous Peoples for generations and there is no quick fix to problems that have sparked the latest disputes.