‘Rescue mission’ breaches blockade to arrest protesters and free workers at northern B.C. gas pipeline
Five hundred Coastal GasLink workers behind blockade for four days can get food and water
RCMP officers made arrests and cleared a blockaded forestry road Thursday, allowing 500 Coastal GasLink pipeline workers that had been stranded at a work camp access to fresh water and food.
Brewer, who is the gold commander for the Community-Industry Response Group, added that the workers trapped in the camp “are nearing the end of their essential supplies,” and the police “are now mobilizing our resources for a rescue mission.”
TC Energy Corp. released a statement Thursday that said the RCMP operation was complete and it could use the road to deliver food and water to 500 workers that had been stranded at a work camp for four days.
The company has released photographs showing protesters using bulldozers and other equipment to fell trees and block roads to access the area. In one photo, a bulldozer appears to be digging up the road that is used to access the camps.
TC Energy had hoped to deliver new supplies and get trapped workers out on Thursday, but the company’s efforts to bring in food and water are hampered by damage to the access road, as trees have been felled and equipment used to block entry into the area. The company did not have an answer on whether food and water had been delivered before deadline Thursday.
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The statement, signed by elected chief Maureen Luggi, councillor Karen Ogen and councillor Heather Nooski added that the protesters cannot claim to be “practicing traditional protocols.”
“We must also point out that there are Wet’suwet’en people working on the natural gas pipeline who are now trapped behind the blockade,” the statement added.
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A group of hereditary chiefs established a blockade in the same area in January 2020 in an effort to prevent work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline. They issued an eviction notice to the company, which led to a court order and a standoff with the RCMP. In the end, the protesters were arrested and removed and work continued on the pipeline.
