Today, CBC News will carry a story about an alternative route for the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which was proposed by the Office of the Wet'suwet'en.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church's recent court ruling cited several reasons for the company's decision to reject this, "including inappropriateness for the diameter of the pipeline, increased cost, the desire to avoid urban areas and greater adverse environmental impacts".
It took longer than it should have, but Canadians are finally paying attention to the struggle at Wet’suwet’en. The hereditary chiefs and supporters first built cabins on their traditional territory in 2010 to try to stop a pipeline from being built across their land but their campaign has grown thanks to effective solidarity actions.
Some of the world’s largest financial institutions have stopped putting their money behind oil production in the Canadian province of Alberta, home to one of the world’s most extensive, and also dirtiest, oil reserves.
OPINION: In much of northeastern B.C., Indigenous populations can no longer hunt and fish as their ancestors did, because their land and water are too polluted and disturbed by infrastructure.
As physicians, we are deeply distressed to see force being used to disrupt a legitimate protest by the Wet’suwet’en people. They are simply trying to protect the present and future health of their people. We need to be cognizant of the devastating effect that the Coastal GasLink pipeline will have on their way of life.
