Tag Archives: Anti-Pipeline Protests

A timeline on rail disruptions by anti-pipeline protesters across Canada

Indigenous land defenders set up a blockade in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en along the CN rail and VIA rail line west of Winnipeg, on February 12, 2020. (Photo: Red Power Media)

RCMP began enforcing an injunction last week that prevents interference with construction of a $6.6-billion natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia.

Here is a timeline of rail disruptions by people showing solidarity with hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs opposing the Coastal GasLink project:

Feb. 6 — Protesters in Belleville, Ont., east of Toronto, start stopping railway traffic.

Feb. 7 — Via Rail halts service along one of its busiest routes because of the Belleville blockade. All travel between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal is cancelled. Canadian National Railway obtains a court injunction to end a demonstration by members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville. Protesters also begin disruptions at ports in Vancouver and Delta, B.C.

Feb. 8 — Protesters in Toronto disrupt Canadian Pacific Railway traffic moving through the downtown.

Feb. 9 — Kahnawake Mohawk community members south of Montreal erect a blockade on a CP rail line.

Feb. 10 — Demonstrators in the Montreal area disrupt commuter train service on the Exo Candiac line. A shuttle bus service is in effect for affected rail stations.

Feb. 11 — CN stops transport between Prince George, B.C., and Prince Rupert, B.C., because of a blockade near Hazelton, B.C. The company says it has halted more than 150 freight trains since blockades started on Feb. 6.

Feb. 12 — The Manitoba government says it may seek a court injunction to end a blockade on a rail line west of Winnipeg, but CN obtains its own court order. The RCMP also formally end enforcement operations in a region of northern B.C. that’s at the centre of the pipeline dispute. Two hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs start a constitutional challenge of fossil fuel projects, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls for demonstrators across the country to observe the rule of law.

Feb. 13 — CN shuts down its operations in Eastern Canada. The railway says blockades have ended in Manitoba and may come down soon in British Columbia, but the orders of a court in Ontario have yet to be enforced and continue to be ignored.

The Canadian Press, published Feb. 13, 2020

[SOURCE]

South Dakota Governor Caves on Attempted Efforts to Silence Pipeline Protesters

Photo: Rob Wilson

South Dakota’s governor and attorney general today backed down from their unconstitutional attempts to silence pipeline protestors. In response to a lawsuit we filed alongside the ACLU of South Dakota and the Robins Kaplan law firm, the state has agreed to never enforce the unconstitutional provisions of several state laws that threatened activists who encourage or organize protests, particularly protests of the Keystone XL pipeline, with fines and criminal penalties of up to 25 years in prison.

The settlement agreement reached today and now headed to the court for approval is an important victory for the right to protest. It comes soon after a federal court temporarily blocked enforcement of the pieces of the laws that infringed on First Amendment protected speech, and makes the court’s temporary block a permanent one.

The laws include the “Riot Boosting” Act, which gave the state the authority to sue individuals and organizations for “riot boosting,” a novel and confusing term. The court warned against the laws’ broad reach, noting that the laws could have prohibited:

  • Sending a supporting email or a letter to the editor in support of a protest
  • Giving a cup of coffee or thumbs up or $10 to protesters
  • Holding up a sign in protest on a street corner
  • Asking someone to protest
  • Under the First Amendment, that is impermissible.

The court rightly recognized the stakes of this case. And it put these anti-protest efforts in perspective, asking “if these riot boosting statutes were applied to the protests that took place in Birmingham, Alabama, what might be the result?” The answer: “Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference could have been liable under an identical riot boosting law[.]”

Indeed, South Dakota’s unconstitutional anti-protest efforts echoed the suppression of past social movements. From the start, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem called on “shut[ting] down” “out-of-state people” who come into South Dakota to “slow and stop construction” of the pipeline. Her harmful calls were reminiscent of government attempts throughout our history to delegitimize and minimize significant social movements as the work of “outside agitators,” including Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

South Dakota’s quick and costly retreat (they’ll have to compensate plaintiffs for attorney’s fees under the settlement agreement) should serve as a lesson for other legislatures considering similar efforts to silence dissent.

In the last few years, we have witnessed a legislative trend of states seeking to criminalize protest, deter political participation, and curtail freedom of association. These bills appear to be a direct reaction from politicians and corporations to some of the most effective tactics of those speaking out today, including water protectors challenging pipeline construction, Black Lives Matter, and those calling for boycotts of Israel. These legislative moves are aimed at suppressing dissent and undercutting marginalized and over-policed groups voicing concerns that disrupt current power dynamics.

But the First Amendment guarantees people the right to voice their opposition. This includes our clients — four organizations (the Sierra Club, NDN Collective, Dakota Rural Action, and the Indigenous Environmental Network) and two individuals (Nick Tilsen with NDN Collective and Dallas Goldtooth with Indigenous Environmental Network) — all of whom are protesting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and encouraging others to do the same.

Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline may be imminent. Pre-construction activities resumed this month, and a hearing on the new Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline, which will serve as the basis for approval of any future permits, is coming up next Monday.

With the laws we challenged proclaimed unenforceable, protesters and protectors no longer have to worry about incarceration or fines as they protest against the construction. That is, at a minimum, how democracy should work.

[SOURCE]

Photo credit: Rob Wilson

B.C. Premier Predicts ‘Crisis’ from Anti-Pipeline Protests on Burnaby Mountain

B.C. Premier John Horgan speaks at a Burnaby Board of Trade breakfast event Wednesday morning.

Premier says it’s going to be a long, hot summer of protests on Burnaby Mountain

B.C. Premier John Horgan is predicting a “crisis” over protests against the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans-Mountain pipeline in Burnaby .

According to Burnaby Now, Horgan told reporters Wednesday at a stop in Coquitlam, that the National Energy Board and the federal governments should be accountable for the escalating tensions around the Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion project, calling the resistance an “extraordinary circumstance,” and a crisis.

“It’s going to be a long, hot summer,” said Mr. Horgan, about the situation at an unrelated news conference.

Trans-Mountain pipeline operations have been targeted by protesters concerned about the prospect of a tripling of the amount of diluted bitumen from Alberta to Burnaby’s port for shipment overseas.

News1130.com reports, with Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan promising not to pay policing costs associated with the protests, Horgan was asked about whether that’s acceptable.

“The National Energy Board and the federal government have to have some accountability. I believe that British Columbia, on behalf of the province, is doing its due diligence through two court applications.”

RELATED:

Burnaby is policed by the RCMP, which operates in agreement with the municipality.

“With respect to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, this is not a threat by me, this is self evident by the number of people that are collecting on Burnaby Mountain everyday to express their disappointment with the federal government’s decision to proceed.”

Horgan says the federal government is to blame as well as the NEB.

According to The Globe and Mail, in a statement, a spokesperson for the Trans Mountain project said the initiative is under federal jurisdiction and has approvals from the NEB and federal government. But Ali Hounsell also noted that the courts have ruled in Trans Mountain’s favour in 14 of 14 cases related to the project.

“We support peaceful, lawful demonstrations of views, and trust that the Premier of British Columbia does as well. There are many ways to express opinions in a safe and lawful manner,” Ms. Hounsell said.

 A court injunction bars activists from getting within five metres of Trans Mountain’s two terminal sites on Burnaby Mountain.

Dan Wallace, of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation on Quadra Island, is tackled and handcuffed by RCMP officers after attempting to talk to a young man that locked himself to a piece of heavy equipment being delivered to Kinder Morgan in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday March 19, 2018. (Darryl Dyck/CP)

RCMP have made more than 170 arrests since March 17.

Burnaby plans to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to appeal a lower-court ruling last week in which the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a bid by Burnaby and the B.C. government to challenge a NEB decision that allows Kinder Morgan to bypass local laws during pipeline construction.

 There are various other legal decisions pending on the pipeline, including a review by the Federal Court of Appeal of the decision by Trudeau’s cabinet to approve the pipeline and a review by the B.C. Court of Appeal of the decision by the former provincial government to approve the pipeline.

Mr. Horgan has also already said his government will seek a legal ruling on whether his province can restrict increased amounts of oil from coming into B.C. while his government reviews oil-spill safety measures.