RCMP claim of B.C. anti-pipeline extremists shocks native, environmental leaders

OTTAWA — An internal RCMP report’s portrayal of northern B.C. as one of two Canadian regions most vulnerable to violent, anti-pipeline extremists working with aboriginal radicals to sabotage “critical infrastructure” is “absolutely bizarre,” one of B.C.’s most outspoken First Nations leaders said Wednesday.

Stewart Phillip, head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, has long espoused civil disobedience to defend First Nations rights and was recently arrested during an anti-pipeline protest on Burnaby Mountain.

He expressed shock after being read sections of the report that was obtained earlier this month by the Montreal newspaper La Presse.

The report said New Brunswick, where a half-dozen RCMP vehicles were torched in an anti-fracking First Nations protest in 2013, was the number 1 hot spot in terms of potential violent attacks on the oil and gas industry.

“Aside from New Brunswick, the most urgent anti-petroleum threat of violent criminal activity is in northern British Columbia, where there is a coalition of like-minded violent extremists who are planning criminal actions to prevent the construction of the pipeline.”

“It’s absolutely bizarre, bordering on misguided hysteria,” Phillip said after being read several passages from the 44-page document, titled Criminal Threats to the Canadian Petroleum Industry and stamped “Protected … Canadian Eyes Only.”