Coastal GasLink

A First Nation in British Columbia has served a company that wants to build a natural gas pipeline through its territory an eviction notice.

A hereditary chief with the Wet'suwet'en First Nation says the community is expecting further police action after the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled in favour of a natural gas company that wants to build a pipeline through its territory.

The British Columbia Supreme Court has granted Coastal GasLink an interlocutory injunction against members of a First Nation and others who oppose the company's natural gas pipeline.

The company behind the $6.2-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia says it's made a deal to sell a 65 per cent equity interest in the project, which has sparked protests and arrests.

A subsidiary of Calgary-based energy company TransCanada bulldozed through traplines and personal property from two different clans of the Wet'suwet'en Nation last week, while the RCMP enforced an interim injunction requested by the company so that it could proceed with construction. Some Wet'suwet'en members said the RCMP prevented them from entering their own territories. 

It was a difficult decision to sign a benefit sharing agreement with Coastal GasLink that would allow for a natural gas pipeline through the Wet'suwet'en territory, but a necessary one, an elected band council member says.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was campaigning in the Vancouver region on Jan. 19, supported by some star power as he explained his support for one pipeline project and his opposition to another.

First Nations leaders from across British Columbia traveled to Smithers for a historic gathering Wednesday morning, in a powerful show of support for the Wet'suwet'en Nation and all those standing up to defend Indigenous governance systems, human rights, and the well-being of lands and waters for all people in generations to come. 

The RCMP will review the actions of officers who arrested 14 people at an Indigenous pipeline blockade in northwestern British Columbia, and will also erect a temporary detachment to maintain safety in the area.

Premier John Horgan of British Columbia said on Wednesday that he sees “no quick fix” to the surging Canadian question about territorial rights as a First Nation group and law enforcement clashed in a remote northern part of the province this week.

Anger at Canada’s support for fossil fuel expansion boiled over Tuesday, forcing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to physically change venues before giving a speech to Indigenous leaders in Ottawa — where he failed to mention a blockade in British Columbia that had spurred a nationwide solidarity movement.

RCMP say they arrested 14 people from a blockade to a forest service road in northern British Columbia that is preventing access to a pipeline project.

TransCanada served an injunction on Nov. 26, 2018, against two leaders of the Unist'ot'en camp, accusing the members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation of blocking access in the area around the Morice River Bridge. Hereditary leaders of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation stand unified against pipelines in the territories they are obliged to protect through their traditional system of governance.