Premier John Horgan is set to address the media about arrests made at a blockade along a forest service road that prevented access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northern B.C.
The arrests took place at the Gitdumt’en checkpoint on Morice West Forest Service Road near Houston for various offences earlier this week. RCMP were enforcing a court injunction, granted in December, ordering people to stop preventing Coastal GasLink pipeline workers from gaining access to the road and a bridge.
The Coastal GasLink pipeline is meant to transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to the coast where an LNG Canada facility is scheduled for construction.
Members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation had established two camps along the forest service road with fortified checkpoints: Gidimt’en and Unist’ot’en. They said pipeline workers could only pass with consent from hereditary leaders.
The arrests sparked protests across the country Tuesday, with rallies in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Richibucto, N.B., among others.
The protests also disrupted a scheduled speech from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was to address a forum bringing together federal officials and representatives from self-governing First Nations that have modern treaties with the Crown.
$6.2B pipeline
LNG Canada announced it was moving ahead with its plans for the Kitimat export facility in October.
Construction on the $6.2-billion pipeline, which is 670 kilometres long, is scheduled to begin this month.
Horgan said LNG Canada’s decision would help an economically deprived region of the province and bring in an estimated $23 billion in provincial revenue.
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