Front Burner - Wet'suwet'en RCMP standoff sparks national protests

Episode Date: February 11, 2020

The bitter fight over the construction of a natural gas pipeline in Northern B.C. continues to escalate. Over the last several days, the RCMP has moved in to enforce an injunction order to allow Coastal GasLink to get to work on the $6 billion project. Dozens of people have now been arrested, on Wet'suwet'en territory where the pipeline passes through, and at solidarity protests across the country. Today, CBC reporter Chantelle Bellrichard explains why the stakes are so high for everyone involved.

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Be honest with yourself. The bitter fight over the construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern B.C. continues to escalate. Over the last several days, the RCMP has been moving in to enforce an injunction order to allow Coastal Gas Link to get to work on the $6 billion project. Please gather your effects and immediately depart the area. If you refuse to depart the area, you will be arrested for obstruction. Dozens of people have now been arrested on Wet'suwet'en territory where the pipeline passes through and at solidarity protests across the country. Wet'suwet'en is under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back! My colleague Chantel Belrichard just got back from reporting on the front lines of the standoff. And today she'll explain why the stakes are so high for everyone involved. This is Frontburner.

Hi, Chantel. Thank you so much for joining me today. Hi, thanks for having me. So I know that you just got back from the front lines of this dispute. And can you take me there? What's the scene been like as the RCMP moves in to enforce this injunction and clear the road where protesters have set up camps and blockades? On the ground, it's been very chaotic, where it's a shifting, very dynamic situation with a lot of

police resources on site and then of course Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and supporters who had had been dug in at a number of different sites along this forest service road that's subject to this bc supreme court injunction we obey no one except our hearts and our minds and our freedom. I've been looking at the images and videos that have come out of this standoff in the last several days. They're really quite powerful. And can you describe some of them for me? Yeah, there's been a lot of chaos and tense moments out on that territory. The police have moved in in sort of a very deliberate sort of kilometer by kilometer, camp by camp enforcement actions. And, you know, some of those images are people being arrested in pitch black after the first wave of arrests happened at around 4 o'clock in the morning on Thursday. Police, stay calm. My name is Staff Sergeant Charlie from the Kirk RCMP, reinforcing the B.C. Supreme Court injunction issued December 31st, 2019.

There are images of big lines of members of the RCMP sort of holding back people. On the edge of the new police line, two Wet'suwet'en elders are upset they're not allowed to go into territory they consider theirs. I never ever thought that we, as Wet'suwet'en people, would ever be faced with such a crisis as we're facing today. Is this Canada? Or is it Syria? There have been videos of these tense confrontations between the Wet'suwet'en supporters and police as things sort of shift and change hour by hour.

One of the moments that, you know, really, I think, aggravated things for the RCMP was when at this one point on the Forest Service Road, Mutoitin and the supporters had, sort of without anybody noticing, parked all of their vehicles in this really chaotic scene that you couldn't get across, you couldn't drive, made the road impassable, and the police were trying to get out

on the only road out of that area and came upon this scene of messily parked cars they couldn't drive through. And, you know, there's a video of the RCMP, a member of the RCMP approaching and saying, you know, if you don't get out of the way, you're going to face arrest. I thought you took cultural classes to understand. Okay. Right now, you're breaching the injunction. Right now, we're having a misunderstanding. Well, I just asked for a conversation before, and now you said you don't want to understand. Right now, you're breaching the injunction. Right now, we're having a misunderstanding. Well, I just asked for a conversation before

and now you said you don't want to talk. So I'm explaining to you that right now, what is happening... I don't think I said I didn't want to talk. And trying to give him a copy of the injunction, this person standing there staring back at the police saying, I don't... Nope, I don't need a copy of the injunction. Sort of frustrated exchange where police walked

away, got back in their vehicles. And, you know, in that particular moment, the police ended up getting blocked from passing this road for hours. So lots of really tense exchanges, moments of enforcement. But then, you know, the weird contrast is that there are all this downtime where people are, the Wet'suwet'en supporters have just been held at different exclusion zones by police and just gathering and visiting with each other. And there's lots of hugs and laughter and singing and prayer. And so it's just like this very chaotic scene with these moments

that seem such a stark contrast to the weight of what's going on up here. Come and stand with us! Mr. Dettney, what's up, Deeks? Tell me a little bit about what it's like there, what the environment is like. The Maurice Forest Service Road is just that. It's a forest service road that sort of exits off Highway 16, which a lot of Canadians would know as the Highway of Tears. And then it sort of curves off Highway 16 and it sort of snakes around alongside the Maurice River.

And people refer to this, the different sites where people have sort of set up permanent occupation sites or recent occupation sites as sort of by kilometer postings. So, you know, there was one at the 27 kilometer mark. There was one at the 39 kilometerkilometer mark, there was one at the 39-kilometer mark, at the 44-kilometer mark, and last in that line is at the 66-kilometer mark. And that's the longest standing of these reoccupation sites, the Unistodon site, where there is a land-based healing center. That is the last place where RCMP on Monday went in and started making arrests so they could clear the way so Coastal Gas Link and its contractors can get back to work on pipeline construction. And what is the significance of Unist'ot'en? Unist'ot'en has been around for a really long time out on the territory. So it's at a strategic place where the Unist'ot'en, who are sort of a group within the Wet'suwet'en Nation, strategically set up a checkpoint dating back to 2009. So over a decade now, they started operating a checkpoint on this bridge that crosses the Maurice River and saying, you know, nobody can pass through this checkpoint if you don't have the consent of the hereditary chiefs. So it's really an assertion of Wet'suwet'en

law, which of course still exists and has existed pre-Canada and sort of is rubbing up against Canadian law. And so people there started this checkpoint. It was sort of created in anticipation of a lot of proposed pipeline activity through that area. And over the years, it's really been built up as a permanent living site where now there's a land-based healing center. Use this space to make our people strong. Like the residential schools were used to take the Indian out of the child. We want to use this facility to put the Indian back in our children, meaning our culture. People are coming and going all the time.

It's not necessarily rooted in controlling that checkpoint, but more so about this permanent presence on the land that began by sort of trying to assert Wet'suwet'en law. I just want to take a step back here and distill the story with you for a moment. You and I have talked about this on the podcast before, but for those who are just coming to this or may need a refresher, at the heart of this conflict is not just a pipeline, right? As you mentioned before, it's about laws and about ownership of land. Tell me more about what this is all about. Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, I think it's overly simplistic to describe it as an anti-pipeline protest camps and, you know, then other people who are pro-pipeline. we're talking about a situation where there are many truths happening at the same time. So yes, it is true that the BC Supreme Court,

in granting an injunction for Coastal Gas Link, it is true that the courts say under case law or the common law system, you people who are impeding access to this approved and permitted pipeline project cannot keep blocking them or and put in enforcement orders for the RCMP to empower them to arrest people if they didn't abide by that. So December 31st in 2019 was when the court made its sort of final ruling on this case, or at least at the BC Supreme Court level. When we saw arrests a year ago. There's a sovereign with student land. You are trespassing. That was under an interim injunction.

So December 31st comes and now it is what is described as an interlocutory injunction, which just means it stands. And so December 31st rolls around. Unist'odon is still very much built up. There's a new camp that's been built up at the 44-kilometer mark. And then there's all this anticipation of enforcement actions. And so the pipeline company wants to get in there and do its job and is standing by this court decision. And it does have agreements with 20 First Nations along the route of this pipeline. Elected Chief Dan George of Burns Lake First Nation

signed a benefit agreement with Coastal GasLink in 2014, but he's working towards equity ownership of the pipeline. We won't need any money from Ottawa anymore. We can run our own businesses by ourselves under our own conditions. So I think it's going to help a lot of First Nations get out of poverty in the north. And that's where you see this tension between the colonial sort of system of governance imposed on Indigenous people versus, you know, systems of government that have existed before Canada was a thing. So with the Wet'suwet'en specifically, they are still under the Indian Act system. And so their nation, as they would define

themselves, has been broken up into six Indian Act bans, all with their own chief and council systems. And five of those six bans did sign agreements with Coastal GasLink, which means they receive direct financial payments for it and they receive contracting opportunities. But at the same time, the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs are like no no no like you don't have authority Indian Act banned council to make these type of decisions off reserve right and so because the pipeline doesn't go through any reserve land it's in the traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en nation which you know they do have weight when they say that they do have a Supreme Court of Canada decision behind them we're talking about the Delgamook decision, right? The Delgamook, yeah.

So, and that's really seeing like the lack of resolution from a Supreme Court of Canada decision from 1997, where the Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs together went to the court demanding sort of a ruling on their rights and title. And the court did confirm saying, you know, nobody ever signed a treaty with you. You've never ceded or surrendered title, your rights and title to your land of your traditional territory.

And then but the court couldn't say, OK, so now we say you have rights and title to this land or particularly title. They punted it back to the Wet'suwet'en nation and the governments in Canada, the Canadian governments to say, you guys need to go in and figure this out. And that still hasn't happened. And I think that's really at the root of what we're seeing is this unfinished business of nation building and government to government relationships at a time when we're hearing so much talk about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, supporting First Nations to be self-determining. So for a lot of people who are taking action, especially in First Nations across the country,

I think that's really where they're seeing this fight. And at the same time, there are people who are saying, get this thing built. There are jobs on the line. There are billions of dollars on the line here with this project that went through the BC process and got all of the permits and approvals that it needed to do its work. Right. It's an untenable situation on both sides. And also, you know, you mentioned the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People. We're also talking about reconciliation a lot in this country as well, which is a question that has come up, you know, consistently through this

controversy. More troops, more invading troops. This is Oregon's reconciliation. And is it the center of these protests that we're seeing around the entire country right now? Tell me a little bit about what we've been seeing the last couple of days. Yeah, we've been seeing actions pop up all over the place, sort of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, protests. I know here in Vancouver, you know, the port of Vancouver entrances were blocked. Vancouver police actually released some numbers. They said there have been 33 arrests.

The Delta port was blocked. Rail blockades have been showing up. There's a sit-in of Indigenous youth who had been occupying at the front of the BC legislature. Nations united with West Jordan. Nations united with West Jordan. Nations united with West Jordan. And they are demanding that the RCMP leave the area.

And I think at the same time, maybe part of that unrest is that there isn't any clear resolution to this dispute as it stands, you know, with people dug in in all positions in government, in the courts and all these things, in all positions in government, in the courts, in all these things, all these truths that are happening at the same time have created this scenario where we hear a lot of talk about people wanting a peaceful resolution to this, but increasingly or continuously not really seeing how that may be possible if this project continues along that route and the Wet'suwet'en remain adamant in their position. Those arrested on Thursday and their supporters say despite the police action, they're not going anywhere. They're on their way back. You can arrest us. You can try to remove us from the territory.

You can remove us from the territory violently and we will always come back. I suppose the question I have here, National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. I suppose the question I have here, though, is how many more options the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have here? Seems like this is getting very close to the end of the line here. Unist'ot'en is near the end of the line, no? Yeah, absolutely. is near the end of the line, no? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so just past Unistoden is where Coastal GasLink is right now on their construction schedule, want to get in there to build up this encampment area for pipeline construction to happen this summer. And so once they get free access to move through that road, you know, they're going to start doing the work that's scheduled right now. But at the same time, you know, it's a large, it's a big territory. And the Wet'suwet'en,

you know, even today, with those arrests that happened with Frida Houston being arrested, among others, you know, they said, you know, we may ask, we may be arrested, but this is not over. It's hard to know what they may plan to do. Okay, and tell me who Frida Houston is. Oh, so Frida is significant in all of this as sort of the longtime spokesperson at the Unistoden checkpoint site and now the healing center. We're not a protest camp. This is our home. And they're coming to invade my home today and that gate's my door. And she is one of actually the named defendants in the initial court application that Coastal GasLink put to the courts for this injunction. So she and Smogolgem, who's a hereditary chief within the nation,

were actually the two named defendants that went to court on this case. And so people were, you know, glued to this live stream that people at Unist'ot'en were putting out on Facebook today. And sort of this connection kept cutting in and out. It's a remote area and they were using satellite and trying to live stream what was happening. And, you know, you could see a group of women. They were standing under this arch with a fire and drumming and singing.

All the while, police were moving in on them. So we heard that RCMP had sort of helicoptered members in behind the checkpoint, and then they had RCMP on the bridge moving in. So they were boxed in, and these women just stood there drummingming and singing and one by one were being taken away by police. And at the end, as the arrests were being made, Frida was the last person standing there. And by the time the police were approaching her, she wasn't drumming anymore. She was just standing there dancing and singing at the top of her lungs and was, you know, sort of quietly led away by police singing as she went. And you could see her walking into the distance.

And in the back, you know, there were red dresses lined up along this road, which are a symbol for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. So the symbolism of all of this was, you know, quite powerful for people who were watching and sympathetic. You know, people who aren't are probably like, great, finally. But for those who are engaged in these actions you're seeing across the country, that was hugely symbolic. And there was a gate at at Unist'ot'en that sort of leads in, and it was some wooden structure. And there were also images of police cutting through it. And so from their side, they couldn't necessarily see what they were cutting through. But from Unist'ot'en looking outward, you could see that they had put a sign up that said reconciliation that was just sawed right down the middle as they took apart this gate. So the symbolism right now of what is happening was really poignant in watching that live stream and witnessing what was happening as

Frida was the last person led away, at least as far as I've seen so far, by police and taken into custody. And are we hearing anything from governments here, the B.C. provincial government and the federal government? Not a lot. I mean, all leading up to this, the government did attempt some de-escalation stuff between B.C. and the chiefs through intermediary with Nathan Cullen in the mix for a bit. And then those talks failed to come to any peaceful resolution. And after that, I'm not aware of any further dialogue they're having with the province. Premier John Horgan holding his first news conference of the new year.

There are agreements from the peace country to Kitimat with indigenous communities that want to see economic activity and prosperity take place. All of the permits are in place for this project to proceed. It will be proceeding. And the feds seem to be pointing back to the provincial government saying this is all within provincial jurisdiction. So this isn't about us. And this is for BC to sort out. Okay. And you mentioned Nathan Cullen, this is the former NDP MP. And what is the company saying about all of this? I mean, for Coastal GasLink, they've maintained all along that they want to see a peaceful resolution. And they also can't delay, you know, getting in that area and doing construction work.

They have construction timelines to meet. They have commitments to get this pipeline built. They have expressed disappointment at some points along throughout this process. In the last number of weeks, we kept insisting that they were offering to meet with the hereditary chiefs and that that invitation has been rejected time and time again by the hereditary chiefs who have said they have no interest in meeting with a proponent and they would only like to sit down and speak with decision makers at the federal and provincial government. Before we go today, I want to talk to you a little bit about the RCMP here. There have been all these arrests that we've been seeing, and there are concerns that the standoff could undermine this already fraught relationship

between the police and Indigenous communities. And do the officers on the ground seem mindful of that? I think it depends on which person. Definitely some who it would appear that their patience is running a bit thin and growing quite frustrated with the actions that they're trying to control of people on the territory and others who are sort of trying to maintain this dialogue with the chiefs. Is anyone here willing to speak with me? Have a good day. Officers who are great and calm and composed, others who are, you know, growing, you can see

their frustration at times, and then just the tension is just something that's difficult to describe, but it's certainly at play. Is there a fear that this could really escalate here, that this could end in violence? I think that's been a fear all along. I think that's evident in how many times in people describing what's going on there. The company, the RCMP, governments from BC, the federal government, the Wet'suwet'en, talking about how we will remain peaceful. We want a peaceful resolution.

And when you hear that word peaceful being used aspirationally so many times, it really sinks in that there is a very real risk of things not going peacefully. Okay, Chantel, thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, so before we go today, remember that glorious moment last summer when the Toronto Raptors took the championship at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. And then as Raptors president Masai Ujiri tried to make his way to the court, a California police officer accused Masai of assaulting him. Well, that officer is now suing for damages. This comes after the Alameda District Attorney said no charges would be filed against Ujiri stemming from the incident. After that decision, Masai said, quote, I'm happy that this

is now behind me and I look forward to the task of bringing another championship to the city of Toronto. Looks like he may have spoken too soon. But on the championship front right now, the Raps have the third best record in the NBA. So never say never. That's all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening to FrontBurner and talk to you tomorrow.