Protesters have established blockades and protest camps across Canada, in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation bid to halt construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia. The hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en Nation are protesting against the Coastal GasLink project, the $6-billion, 670 km pipeline, that would see natural gas flow from the Dawson Creek area to the west coast of the province.
Tensions have ramped up considerably in the past few days. Last week, the RCMP began enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction, establishing a protest “exclusion zone” to allow construction to proceed. RCMP tactical units are currently in an operation against numerous protest camps built to block construction of the pipeline.
In British Columbia, protesters have continued to block workers from entering the Port of Vancouver and Deltaport. The protestors were served with a court injunction ordering them to stop blocking access to the ports late Sunday. The injunction, granted by the B.C. Supreme Court, says they must leave the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority lands and stop blockading the port’s access points, however, protesters say they intend to stand their ground. Coupled with this, a rail blockade has been affecting all traffic in and out of the Port of Prince Rupert since February 8.
Protests in Ontario have halted rail traffic between Toronto and both Ottawa and Montreal since February 6. Members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory have been protesting along the rail lines that cut along the territory’s border near Belleville, Ontario, in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. CN Rail has obtained a court injunction to end the demonstration, which was served to demonstrators by CN police Saturday afternoon, however, rail traffic along these corridors remains at a standstill.
We will continue to monitor this situation and advise accordingly.
For more information, please call David Lychek, Manager – Ocean & Air Services at (905) 882-4880, ext. 1207.
