Anti-pipeline protesters return to Burnaby, a week after major march
Posted Mar 17, 2018 7:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – Anti-pipeline protesters are taking to Burnaby once again, to continue voicing their displeasure with the Kinder Morgan expansion project.
The protests come after thousands gathered last week to try and stall the project despite a temporary injunction that required they stay at least 50 metres away from any site was granted to Trans Mountain.
It appears the goal is the same this time around — to try and stop Kinder Morgan from clearing trees on the Burnaby site before March 26th. That’s when nesting migratory birds return to the area, and close the company’s construction window.
If the company misses that deadline, Kinder Morgan will have to wait until August to finish their logging work, costing them time and money.
Clayton Thomas-Muller is one of the number of protesters taking part today. He says they are ready to take bold action, and that includes the possibility of being arrested.
“People are here to put their bodies on the line in a good way, to stand up and use their democratic right to protest, and of course indigenous peoples are acting within their sovereign right,” he tells NEWS 1130. “Citizens and first nations have their right to express themselves through all sorts of tactics, today we’re taking collective action together.”
He says this is an important moment. “Today marks the beginning of an escalation, where citizens and first nations alike are working together to put a stop to this threat to the Burrard inlet, and our shared climate.”
Mike Hudema with Greenpeace Canada says that group will be among the protesters.
“Peaceful resistance has been a cornerstone for change across the world for decades, and it will continue to be so,” he says in a release. “Greenpeace will be on hand standing with Coast Salish leaders and hundreds of others during the coming days to help train people who want to take bold action to protect the water, protect the land and exercise their right to peaceful protest.”
Today’s protest comes one day after a woman, who is said to have chained herself to a work truck at a Kinder Morgan site, was arrested.
Kinder Morgan was granted another injunction by a judge on Thursday, that says demonstrators have to stay five metres away from their terminals.
Last week, thousands gathered in Burnaby to protest the pipeline, while another –smaller– group gathered in Vancouver in favor of seeing it built.
The former group built a watch house near the elementary school on Burnaby Mountain, which is about 50 metres from one of Kinder Morgan’s facilities.
