This was supposed to be the year of LNG for British Columbia, the year that its new export industry started sending billions of dollars in royalties flooding into the province’s coffers, allowing it to pay off its debt and create an energy powerhouse to rival Alberta’s oil sands.
That was the vision that then-premier Christy Clark touted ahead of the 2013 provincial election, in which she talked about the promise of liquefied natural gas exports to Asia and beyond as an economic breakthrough for B.C., with the takeoff point slated for 2020.
As the western sun sank into the Pacific, hundreds of voices echoed around the transit station at Commercial Drive and Broadway in Vancouver.
Hundreds of people again blocked a key intersection in this West Coast city, snarling rush-hour traffic and closing out the 13th straight day of nationwide solidarity actions in support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their fight against the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their traditional territory.
Will it continue to bulldoze Indigenous rights in the name of resource exploitation and jobs and profits for the few, or it will renounce its colonialist past and strike out on the path of respect, collaboration and partnership with Indigenous people?
A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT TO THE SITUATION ON WET’SUWET’EN TERRITORY
The following statement was adopted at the February 18, 2020, regular meeting.
The Vancouver and District Labour Council is alarmed by the ongoing conflict taking place on the Wet’suwet’en territory. While the recent discussions between the Provincial Government and the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs was a hopeful development, it unfortunately did not lead to a resolve of the dispute.
The B.C. Greens have committed to supporting the B.C. NDP government on supply and confidence bills.
But Andrew Weaver and his two B.C. Green caucus colleagues have no intention of voting for Bill 10, which would provide a natural gas tax credit for "qualifying corporations".
The Wet’suwet’en Nation is opposed to a fracked gas pipeline crossing their territory in British Columbia without their free, prior and informed consent.
To assert their sovereignty over their territory and stop surveying and construction activities related to the pipeline, the Unist’ot’en and Gidimt’en clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation established two checkpoints on key roadways on their lands.
