Paddling anti-pipeline activists formed a flotilla Saturday at the Kinder Morgan terminal in Burnaby.
The protest was part of “Break Free from Fossil Fuels,” a global day of action co-ordinated in Canada by Greenpeace Canada and 350.org that primarily took aim at tar-sands pipeline projects.
Since late 2013, the controversial Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has been the subject of heated protests and debate. Earlier this year, the City of Burnaby, City of Vancouver and provincial government all filed submissions to the National Energy Board saying they would not support the project.
The deadline for the NEB’s final recommendation to the federal government on the proposed project is May 20.
Saturday, dozens of protestors paddled kayaks and canoes to Kinder Morgan’s Westridge marine terminal to shut it down for the day. Hundreds of them gathered for a sit-in outside the facility’s gates, where they beat drums, sang and cheered. A stretch of highway was temporarily closed while protesters marched to the site.
Before the event, organizers provided training to ensure participants understood the risk of arrest for their actions. Burnaby RCMP refused to say Saturday evening whether anyone had been arrested.
Ruth Walmsley, a spokeswoman for Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE) – one of the groups supporting the protest – was at the centre of the action aboard a sailboat.
“I think it’s kind of hard to ignore, when this many people stand up to make it clear that there’s no social license for putting in this type of oil infrastructure at this point,” Walmsley said over the phone.
“It’s very clear that we absolutely, urgently need to leave the majority of oil reserves in the ground if we want to live in a safe, liveable planet.”
Ben West, executive director for Tanker Free B.C., spoke from outside the terminal’s gates, to which protesters were tying ribbons bearing anti-pipeline messages.
West was there to support the protesters and the First Nations elders and leaders who travelled to Burnaby for the event, he said.
He said with the deadline for the NEB’s recommendation looming, it was important to send a strong message to the federal government.
“This is a big moment for people in British Columbia and elsewhere who want to stop the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline,” West said.
“But in a broader sense, we just had this commitment from the Trudeau government in Paris to try to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees (Celsius) and, obviously, if we build new infrastructure, that will lock us into increased fossil-fuel consumption for probably the rest of our lifetimes.”
Grand Chief Serge Simon, of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake in Quebec, was also aboard a boat during the protest.
Simon said he came to B.C. in support of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the Yinka Dene Alliance. He said B.C. is “way ahead of everybody” else in Canada in terms of legal challenges and action against unwanted fossil-fuel projects.
Simon’s goal was to bring First Nations together from across Canada to sign a formal treaty opposing such “dangerous projects” as the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, “so that we’re not isolated, so that we’re not abused by government or industry,” he said.
“When we say, ‘No,’ you take ‘No’ for an answer. It’s that simple. We don’t want your poison, we don’t have to take it and we’re not going to be isolated. No way.”