Marchers decry pipeline expansion through B.C.

Several hundred people marched through Fort Langley Saturday to oppose the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline that runs through Langley.

Organized by groups including the Pipe Up Network and the Kwantlen First Nation, the march headed from the Kwantlen reserve to the Fort Langley Community Hall.

The march paused in the center of the Jacob Haldi Bridge that connects MacMillan Island to the village of Fort Langley. Above the Fraser River, Kwantlen members drummed and sang before the march continued.

“We must protect the beautiful and bountiful land that has sustained us for thousands of years,” said Brandon Gabriel, one of the key organizers.

Gabriel, a member of the Kwantlen First Nation, mentioned the environmental damage seen recently from a spill of bunker fuel from a ship near Vancouver. That oil has been washing up in English Bay, and Vancouver and B.C. politicians have been highly critical of federal response to contain the spill.