Mar 19, 2018 - Mass Arrests at Kinder Morgan Pipeline Blockade

Saturday, March 17TH 2018, Coast Salish Territory/ Burnaby, BC – A group of more than two dozen Indigenous people, community members, families and retired teachers are being arrested on Burnaby Mountain after they blocked Kinder Morgan’s tank farm front gate for four hours.

Coast Salish community members Oceann Hyland and Will George led the protectors in ceremony at the Watch House and then escorted them to Kinder Morgan’s gates.

Twenty-eight Indigenous people, community members, families and retired teachers peacefully blocked the gates to Kinder Morgan’s tank farm for 4 hours until the RCMP moved in to arrest them, moments ago.

16 more supporters arrived at the site and surrounded the group blocking the gate in support.

Protesters block a gate outside Kinder Morgan before RCMP officers moved in and arrested them for defying a court order, in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday March 17, 2018. Approximately 30 people who blockaded an entrance – defying a court order – were arrested while protesting the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The pipeline is set to increase the capacity of oil products flowing from Alberta to the B.C. coast to 890,000 barrels from 300,000 barrels. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

“Today we’ve remembered and embraced the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who believed in the power of civil disobedience to shift public opinion. We want to demonstrate that we mean business. We’re going to do whatever it takes, and by any means necessary, and we’ll show up day after day until we win this fight. We encourage our allies, native and non-native alike, to join us in this collective action,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, member of Treaty 6 Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, as he was being taken away by RCMP.

Clayton Thomas-Muller from 350.org arrested at blockade.

Arrestee Angelina Rose, a UBC student, said as she was being arrested, “We need more people standing on the front lines. As a person of mixed Indigenous and settler history, I owe it to my Ancestors, my future grandchildren and Coast Salish nations to stand with them in this fight.”

One-in-ten British Columbians, and one-in four opponents of Kinder Morgan’s new pipeline in British Columbia say they would be willing to take peaceful civil disobedience to resist the pipeline. Following the 10,000 person-strong march and rally against Kinder Morgan last Saturday, bold shows of daily resistance from everyday residents of British Columbia are expected in the week ahead. Local community members vowed to continue supporting opposition to the construction project.

Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and tanker project is opposed by the Province of British Columbia, the State of Washington, the cities of Vancouver, Burnaby and Victoria, and 19 other municipalities, 250,0000 petition signers,and 23,000 Coast Protectors who have taken the pledge to do “whatever it takes” to stop Kinder Morgan.

The company remains under pressure to finish its tree clearing operations before March 26th, after which the arrival of migratory birds would force a stop in construction and cause significant project delays.

Photos and Video Link : https://flic.kr/s/aHskxQE8ts

CONTACT:

media@protecttheinlet.ca
Amina Moustaqim-Barrette – (514) 229 5843 (Lead media contact)
Jesse Firempong – 778-996-6549
Virginia Cleaveland – 510-858-9902
Tegan Hansen — 250-354-3302