First Nations warn that the Prince Rupert line will face sustained opposition.
The Tyee: At 6 a.m. Monday, Richard C. Mercer, a Nisga’a member, parked his truck across Highway 113, the Cranberry Connector, just outside Gitlax̱t’aamiks, B.C.
For the next three hours, he turned back every vehicle associated with the construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline. These vehicles started arriving in the area in larger numbers late last week, preparing for the start of work on PRGT, a joint venture between Western LNG and the Nisga’a Lisims government. The official work start day was Saturday.
Mercer’s roadblock was 10 kilometres from the site of a planned camp that will house 1,000 pipeline workers, part of the project to build an 800-kilometre pipeline from northeastern B.C. to supply gas for proposed LNG plants.
The only other access to this camp, from Highway 37, has been blocked by Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs since Thursday when Gamlakyeltxw Wil Marsden burned their 10-year-old agreement with TC Energy, the former owner of the proposed pipeline.
Since the Gitanyow blockade was erected, trucks carrying mobile office trailers and heavy equipment to the camp have had to drive nearly 300 kilometres on an alternate route through Terrace. Mercer’s roadblock temporarily closed the alternative access route.
Mercer is the spokesperson for a group of Nisga’a calling themselves Tribal Land Protectors. He has been going door to door in the four Nisga’a communities for the last few months, speaking with members about the impacts of the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG export terminal, which has yet to be approved by the B.C. government, and the PRGT pipeline.
Mercer said he has collected more than 200 signatures calling for an injunction to halt work on PRGT and that his group is currently exploring their legal options. About 2,000 people live on the Nisga’a Nation.
Earlier this month, The Tyee attended a pair of information sessions that Mercer held in Gingolx and Lax’galtsap and spoke with some other Nisga’a members opposed to the pipeline.
Evan Doolan, a residential school survivor, talked about his father’s trapline across the Nass estuary from Gingolx.
He is worried that pipeline construction will impact the trapline and that, together, the pipeline and LNG terminal will have negative impacts on prawns, halibut and other seafood.
Glenn Stevens, another member, shared the sentiment, speaking about the many ocean-based resources Nisga’a people harvest: “We don’t want to lose that here… we depend on it.”
After Mercer had blocked all LNG-related traffic for about three hours, two RCMP officers from the local detachment arrived and told Mercer he had to leave or they would charge him with mischief.
Mercer co-operated, telling The Tyee he was blocking the road “to show we don’t agree and we don’t consent.”
The message to pipeline proponents — and prospective investors — should be clear, he said. “We’re not going to take it anymore.”
Mercer’s actions are part of what appears to be an escalating opposition to the project involving traditional and elected governing bodies of multiple First Nations and several settler communities.
The Tyee attended a meeting Sunday between the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, including Gamlakyeltxw Wil Marsden and Watakhayetsxw Deborah Good who are leading the closure of the Cranberry Connector, and Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en and settler representatives.
Watakhayetsxw said, “As hereditary chiefs we are willing to die on this land.” Other Gitanyow leaders indicated that they may also establish physical blockades on their territories in the coming weeks.
Further east, the Madii Lii territory, which belongs to Gitxsan Wilp — a family unit or clan — Luutkudziiwus, has been closed to industrial access since 2014when PRGT was first approved.
A New Pipeline Battle Looms for BC
The pipeline’s route will still have to cut through a large swath of Madii Lii territory. Ira Good, among those who steward the territory, made it clear at a youth-led community meeting in Gitanmaax on Aug.19, that nothing has changed: “We stand against this pipeline. We weren’t consulted as a Wilp.”
Opposition continues in the west, as well. The Nine Allied Tribes of Lax Kw’alaams led the fight against the original LNG export terminal proposed for Lelu Island, which was abandoned in 2017.
Lax Kw’alaams remains opposed to the proposed new project.
The Nisga’a Lisims government told the Northern View in July that during the initial months’ work on PRGT will be limited to Nisga’a Lands.
But if the B.C. government allows the pipeline to proceed construction will have to move on to other sections of the route.
Nicholas Gottlieb, The Tyee
Nick Gottlieb is a writer and a graduate student at Simon Fraser University, as well as the author of Sacred Headwaters.
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