Trudeau says B.C. protest arrests not ‘ideal,’ but rule of law must be respected

RCMP officers approach the barricade at the Gidimt’en camp in northern B.C. Members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have been preventing company workers from getting through their checkpoints, asserting they can only pass if they have consent from hereditary leaders. (Chantelle Bellrichard/CBC).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s “not an ideal situation” that 14 people were arrested Monday in northwestern British Columbia over a protest against construction of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline.

Trudeau made the comment Wednesday on a CBC Radio program in Kamloops before his visit to the city to attend a Liberal party fundraiser and a town hall gathering.

The federal government has been working on reconciliation but the dispute over the pipeline, a key part of the $40-billion LNG Canada liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat, is “still an ongoing process,” he said.

“There are a number of people and communities who are supportive, there are a number of folks who disagree with it,” he told the CBC.

The RCMP enforced an injunction Monday from the B.C. Supreme Court that ordered the removal of any obstructions to a Coastal GasLink project in and around the Morice River Bridge on a remote forest service road southwest of Houston.

The pipeline company says it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the route but demonstrators say Wet’suwet’en house chiefs, who are hereditary rather than elected, have not given their consent.

Trudeau said he would not visit the blockade site.

“One of the things that is really important is to try to reduce the temperature a little bit,” he said.

Dozens of protesters on both sides of the pipeline debate gathered Wednesday outside the hotel where Trudeau was set to speak at the Liberal fundraiser.

Protesters wearing yellow vests carried signs that read “Carbon Tax Cash Grab” and “Trudeau for Treason” while taking part in a chant opposing a United Nations pact on migration signed by Canada. Conservative critics argue it threatens Canada’s sovereignty.

Keith LaRiviere, who is Cree and participated in the yellow-vest protest, said he knows some of the people involved in the pipeline blockade.

He said he supports their right to protest but he believes those building the pipeline have the right to do their work.

“I go to sweat lodges with some of those people so I really know them intimately, and I do support their cause. I do support their right to their land. I don’t support the aggressive way they were forced out of their position,” said LaRiviere, who travelled from Prince George.

On the other side of the hotel parking lot, a group of Indigenous protesters opposed to the pipeline sang, drummed and held a banner reading “PM Trudeau: Canada needs climate action now.”

Janice Billy said she supports the Wet’suwet’en because her First Nation, the Secwepemc, are also losing control of their lands.

“The people … had no reason to be arrested. They are peaceful people. They were there protecting the land and water,” she said.

The federal riding of Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo is held by Conservative MP Cathy McLeod and the Liberals see B.C. as a key battleground for the election in October.

Story by Laura Kane, The Canadian Press

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