Politicians and elected First Nations leaders are denouncing what police have called a violent confrontation in separate attacks after midnight on February 17 against officers and employees at a construction site for a natural gas pipeline being built across northern British Columbia.
Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino called the allegations of violence at the Coastal GasLink site and on a forestry road "disturbing."
"I'm deeply concerned to hear reports of violent confrontations at the work site including the injury of an RCMP officer," he said Friday, February 18 in Ottawa.
The attack took place in the territory of the Wet'suwe'ten First Nation, a member of the Carriers Sekani Tribal Council.
“This attack shocked our communities,” Wet’suwet’en First Nation Chief Maureen Luggi stated. “These violent attacks are against our values. They not only left a great deal of property damage, but also has created a local environmental crisis due to the industrial fluids that were spilled due to the destruction. As Chief of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, I condemn these attacks.”
The 670-kilometre pipeline has been at the centre of several protests and arrests.
Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs opposing the pipeline sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada in 2020.
Coastal GasLink obtained an injunction against blockades and Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs issued the company an eviction notice.
Hereditary Chief Na'moks declined to comment on Friday.
"We simply don't have enough information to make any comments, all we know is no arrests or charges and harassment of our camps continue," he said in a text message. "Nothing more than that until we get more information as well."
The elected council of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation is among those who have approved of the project.
Luggi added, “the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council member nations have agreements with Coastal GasLink to allow the project to be constructed and operated on our territories. These agreements were made in good faith, and in accordance with our laws and customs. The violent attacks of February 17th betray our values of peaceful deliberation to resolve disagreements.”
“This appears to have been a highly organized operation carried out by violent and dangerous criminals with no respect for the environment or the safety of the workers and law enforcement personnel. These protesters do not represent the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council or its member nations,” a statement from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council continued.
RCMP said they were called to a Coastal GasLink construction site following reports of an attack against security guards and damaged property. Before getting there, officers were stopped on the road by a fire where a group allegedly threw smoke bombs and flaming sticks, injuring an officer, police said in a statement.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Chris Manseau said Friday, February 18, that the investigation is ongoing and there were no updates.
Photos of the construction site provided by police and Coastal GasLink show overturned machines, including a backhoe, dump trucks with caved in front ends and a trailer with a large section smashed out of its middle.
"This was a calculated and organized violent attack that left its victims shaken and a multimillion-dollar path of destruction," Chief Supt. Warren Brown, north district commander for the RCMP, said in a news release on Thursday.
Premier John Horgan called the attack "reprehensible," saying the damage and destruction are disturbing.
"The B.C. government understands the seriousness of this violent and criminal act," he said in a statement.
"Intimidation and violence should be condemned by all British Columbians."
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney as well as former Edmonton and Calgary mayors Don Iveson and Naheed Nenshi called the violence "deplorable" on social media.
In a tweet, Kenney raised the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act to end a blockade against COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa, asking if similar measures would be used by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the attack at Coastal GasLink.
"Will the Trudeau government now seize the bank accounts of the foreign funded eco-terrorists responsible for this violence?" he asked.
Coastal GasLink said in a news release that the confrontation occurred in the same spot where a blockade protesting the pipeline's construction was set up last year for about two months.
