Opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline currently under construction in northern British Columbia took to the streets of Vancouver on Monday, briefly blocking northbound traffic on the Cambie Street Bridge.
The rally and march began at 10:00 a.m. in front of Vancouver City Hall, where Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks addressed the crowd about their opposition to the CGL pipeline through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.
“This is our land, this is our air, and humanity must stand together to protect this for all,” he said.
He then led several dozen people on a march downtown that included a 15- to 20-minute stop on the roadway in the middle of the Cambie Street Bridge.
Chief Na’moks is currently on a tour of towns and local communities to raise awareness of the issue and how the militarized RCMP are conducting raids on Wet’suwet’en sovereign land.
Dozens of land defenders have been arrested over the past three years by RCMP enforcing a 2019 BC Supreme Court order granting a temporary injunction preventing anyone from interfering with access to a road leading to a work site of CGL.
“They come through our doors with axes and chainsaws, with snipers standing there, with attack dogs, and the least we can do is try to hold them accountable,” Chief Namox said as he detailed the plainclothes , which community members have filed against the RCMP.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are in Vancouver at the invitation of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust, which opposes the expansion of the TransMountain Pipeline through unceded Tsleil-Waututh territory.
“What they are doing is within their law to protect what they love,” said Rueben George, spokesman for the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust. “This is not just for the Wet’suwet’en. They do it for everyone. “
Local leaders were joined by climate activists from the group Stop Fracking Around, which wants to see an end to all fracking in Canada.
“Any fossil fuel extraction only exacerbates the problem we’re already seeing with melting glaciers and drinking water security,” said Christine Turing, one of the group’s organizers.
CGL says the project is now 70 percent complete and work to complete the pipeline continues.
Chief Namox says his people and their supporters will continue to fight him and the injunction.
“This is our territory. We are not out of contract. We have 22,000 square kilometers,” Chief Namox said. “This is the territory of the Wet’suwet’en people and we will continue to have access to it.”
The Coastal GasLink project involves the construction of a 670-kilometre pipeline that will carry natural gas through northern British Columbia to the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat. Once it reaches the terminal, the gas will be liquefied and shipped to international customers.
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