Coastal GasLink: Pipeline company posts 72-hour notice to clear way in northern B.C.
Credit to Author: The Canadian Press| Date: Wed, 08 Jan 2020 20:56:47 +0000
A natural-gas pipeline company has posted an injunction order giving opponents 72 hours to clear the way toward its work site in northern B.C.
The order stamped Tuesday by the B.C. Supreme Court registry addresses members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and supporters who say the project has no authority without consent from the five hereditary clan chiefs. It comes one year after RCMP enforcement of a similar injunction along the same road sparked global rallies in support of Indigenous rights and raised questions about land claims.
The order requires the defendants to remove any obstructions including cabins and gates on any roads, bridges or work sites the company has been authorized to use. If they don’t remove the obstructions themselves, the court says the company is at liberty to remove them.
It orders any peace officer to enforce the order, giving authorization to RCMP to arrest and remove anyone police have “reasonable or probable grounds” to believe has knowledge of the order and is contravening it.
“The police retain discretion as to timing and manner of enforcement of this order,” it says.
Coastal GasLink, however, says posting the order was procedural and the company has no plans to request police action.
The B.C. Supreme Court granted an injunction to Coastal GasLink on Dec. 31, 2019. The order stamped on Tuesday provides details of the court injunction. Previous injunction and enforcement orders remained in effect until the new order was issued, Coastal GasLink spokeswoman Suzanne Wilton said.
Aerial photos taken by Coastal GasLink on Jan. 6, 2020, along the Morice Forest River Service Road show dozens of trees felled and blocking the road, which leads to a natural gas company’s work camp outside Houston, B.C.Obstructing access was already prohibited under the previous orders, which also included enforcement provisions.
“We continue to believe that dialogue is preferable to confrontation while engagement and a negotiated resolution remain possible,” Wilton said in an email.
The company declined an interview request.
The order doesn’t apply to a metal gate on the west side of a bridge outside the Unist’ot’en camp, unless it’s used to prevent or impede the workers’ access.
Hereditary chiefs negotiated last year with the RCMP for the gate to remain outside the camp, which is home to some members of one of the First Nation’s 13 house groups, so long as it wouldn’t be used to prevent workers from accessing the work site.
Fourteen people were arrested by armed officers at a checkpoint constructed along the road leading to both the Unist’ot’en camp and the Coastal GasLink work site on Jan. 7, 2019.
The company has signed deals with all 20 elected First Nation councils along the 670-kilometre pipeline route, but the five Wet’suwet’en hereditary clan chiefs say no one can access the land without their consent.
The pipeline is part of the $40-billion LNG Canada project that will export Canadian natural gas to Asian markets.
Coastal GasLink shared photos Tuesday of what it says are more than 100 trees that have been felled across the logging road.
At a news conference Tuesday, hereditary Chief Na’moks called for construction to cease and for the B.C. government to revoke the company’s permits. He said the Wet’suwet’en felled the trees to protect their own safety.
“Those trees put across the road were for our safety. We must look at the history of the RCMP one year ago and what they did to our people and the guests in our territory,” he said.
Lawyer Michael Lee Ross, who represents the Wet’suwet’en members named in the injunction, said his clients are discussing a possible appeal of the order.
“A challenge of an order is normally a challenge of the legal basis on which the order is grounded. So that is one of the avenues that is still open to them,” he said Wednesday.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called on Canada to halt construction of the pipeline until it has obtained the free, prior and informed consent of all affected Indigenous groups.