A new pipeline protest is gathering at the corner of Main Street and East Hastings Avenue in Vancouver Monday afternoon, just hours after dozens of people were arrested this morning.
Photos on social media show dozens of Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n supporters blocking off the intersection. Those gathered are protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which would carry natural gas 670 kilometres across B.C. to an export facility in Kitimat.
Protesters can be heard shouting: 鈥淪top the invasion, we stand with Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n.鈥�
In a social media post, Vancouver police said the protest was leading to traffic delays in the Downtown East Side.
Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n hereditary chiefs have long opposed the Coast GasLink pipeline, although the company has signed benefit agreements with all 20 elected chiefs along the route.
Earlier Monday morning, police arrested 47 people people who violated a court injunction that ordered protesters to stop blocking four Metro Vancouver ports.
Jen Wickham, a spokeswoman for one of the five clans that make up the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n Nation, said its members led by hereditary chiefs are defending their territory from construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
鈥淲e are the rightful title owners of our territory and we will continue to assert our sovereignty,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a question of protesting. It鈥檚 a question of their homes. They鈥檙e defending their homes.鈥�
The RCMP began enforcing a court injunction last week against people camped near a pipeline work site in Houston.
The conflict has prompted demonstrations spanning from the steps of the British Columbia legislature to a Via Rail line running between Montreal and Toronto. Wickham said she believes there is a growing understanding of First Nations rights among non-Indigenous Canadians.
鈥淚 think that people are starting to wake up to the fact that we have the right to our territory,鈥� she said.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e upset and they鈥檙e taking to the streets. They鈥檙e occupying offices, they鈥檙e stopping traffic and they鈥檙e stopping trains. They鈥檙e saying, loud and clear, 鈥楾his is not OK.鈥欌��
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People in Vancouver are taking the streets and blocking the intersection of Main and Hastings in solidarity with . No pipelines on stolen native land.
鈥� Nayeli Jimenez (@nayelijs)
Hundreds in the intersection of Main and Hastings, the latest in dozens (a hundred?) intersections and thoroughfares shut down in solidarity with in the last few days.
鈥� Torrance Coste (@TorranceCoste)
More to come.
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