Wet'suwet'en pipeline protests: Where do you stand on the rail blockades happening across Canada?

Bryan Meler
·Editor, Yahoo Canada
Updated ·1 min read

Protesters who stand with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have blocked off rail crossing across Canada, affecting train service and forcing CN Rail and Via Rail to cancel their routes.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s led to the nationwide blockades.

  • A 670-kilometre gas pipeline is being built by Coastal GasLink through British Columbia, which includes traditional Wet'suwet'en land.

  • The provincial government signed off on the pipeline, as well as five of the six band councils part of the Wet'suwet'en nation. Band councils are responsible for their own individual reserves within a territory.

  • The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, who are responsible for the territory as a whole, maintain that they don’t want any pipeline to run through their land.

  • The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have formed protests, which have prevented GasLink workers to access their construction sites for the pipeline. Those protests have led to arrests by the RCMP.

  • Other Indigenous nations and people around Canada have stood in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, by forming protests of their own.

  • The protests have led to train blockades, which have notably halted CN Rail and Via Rail service around the country.

What do you think of the blockades? Vote in the poll below and sound off in the comments.