Wet'suwet'en members back to work on Coastal GasLink pipeline
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 02:49:03 +0000
At least two dozen Wet’suwet’en workers will be on the job today as Coastal GasLink restarts pipeline work along the contested Morice River Service Road in northern B.C.
The move came as two legal challenges were launched by pipeline opponents. One was from two Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs arguing the federal government’s approval of the Coastal GasLink pipeline was unconstitutional. The other was from protesters challenging the injunction used to end the blockade of the Port of Vancouver earlier this week.
The pipeline is intended to pump natural gas from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada export facility being built in Kitimat.
“This week will see the recommencement of construction activities in Wet’suwet’en territory and the return to work of many members of the Wet’suwet’en community,” Coastal GasLink, which is owned by Calgary-based TC Energy, said in a statement. “Members of the Wet’suwet’en community will be heavily involved in the upcoming spring and summer construction programs and the coming years as the project advances.”
The Coastal GasLink work site on the remote Morice River logging road southwest of Houston B.C. has become a flashpoint of Canada-wide protests over the past two months.
What started as a local blockade by some Wet’suwet’en members — primarily led by five of 13 Wet’suwet’en clan house chiefs opposed to the construction of the pipeline through their territory — has expanded to blockades in Metro Vancouver, Victoria, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The chiefs are being supported by anti-climate-change, anti-capitalist and anti-poverty groups, and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Green party.
The pipeline project is supported by five of six elected Wet’suwet’en band councils, representing a quarter of the B.C. First Nations bands that have signed letters of support for the pipeline in exchange for financial, employment and training benefits.
The company has promised $1 billion in benefits to First Nations along the 670-km route.
The five signatory bands that fall under the umbrella of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation are the Witset, Wet’suwet’en, Skin Tyee, Nee-Tahi-Buhn and the Ts’il Kaz Koh (Burns Lake Band).
Troy Young is a Witset member whose family business holds a number of contracts with Coastal GasLink for clearing and roadbuilding. His grandmother was a hereditary house chief.
“People in Canada have the right to protest. This is a democracy. It is unfortunate that they are protesting with only half the story being told,” Young told Postmedia News.
“I don’t feel the elected councils are being given a fair voice in this matter. From discussions I have had, the elected chiefs recognize that employment can be a multi-generational gain for the family. People working on a pipeline can send their children to school to provide for better opportunities in the future. The elected chiefs want to break the bondage of poverty that exists within our communities.”
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.
The Wet’suwet’en’s 22,000 square kilometre range is home to five clans, with 13 houses operating under those clans (some clans have three houses and some have two). Each house has a hereditary chief and wing chief.
As the controversy around the pipeline protests has deepened, divides among those Wet’suwet’en in favour and those against has deepened. According to a report in the Aboriginal news source APTN, a letter has been sent to those involved in the conflict calling for a rare all-clans meeting.
Andrew George — wing chief of the Grizzly house — told APTN “what currently is going on does not reflect the true governance of the Wet’suwet’en, on both sides. We are afraid something bad might happen.”
Coastal GasLink said it “will redouble efforts to engage with the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and with the Unist’ot’en in search of a peaceful, long term resolution that benefits the Wet’suwet’en people.”
Unist’ot’en is one of the three houses of the Gilseyhu or Bull Frog clan.
Wet’suwet’en First Nation bands contacted by Postmedia News said that they were preparing a joint press release on the renewal of pipeline work and would not comment at this time.