Tag Archives: Coastal Gaslink

Energy, Indigenous Nations

Letters reveal what energy companies told RCMP before Wet’suwet’en raid

Leave a comment


By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

In late April, RCMP officers walked into the Gidimt’en Camp near the confluence of Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek) and Wedzin Kwa (Morice River). Their visits on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in northwest B.C. had been a daily occurrence, with members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group showing up at all hours, including in the middle of the night according to locals.

Continue reading Letters reveal what energy companies told RCMP before Wet’suwet’en raid →
Indigenous Nations

RCMP were planning raids while in talks with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs about meeting

Leave a comment

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

The images are familiar now, iconic even: Heavily armed RCMP officers use an axe and a chainsaw to break down the  door of a tiny house. 

Indigenous land defenders, their faces  marked with red handprints to symbolize Missing and Murdered Indigenous  Women and Girls, stand inside with arms raised as police aim  high-calibre rifles at them. 

Continue reading RCMP were planning raids while in talks with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs about meeting →
Communications, Indigenous Nations

Emails reveal how the RCMP changed its story about arresting journalists in Wet’suwet’en raid

Leave a comment

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Updated May 9, 2022, at 11:10 a.m. PT: This article was updated to clarify that filmmaker Michael Toledano was restrained with handcuffs after being detained by RCMP on Nov. 19, 2021. He was not initially restrained with zip ties. But he told The Narwhal that police added zip ties to reinforce the restraints after a key broke off in the handcuffs.

As police helicopters moved into unceded Wet’suwet’en territory and dropped off armed tactical officers accompanied by police dogs on Nov. 19, 2021, photojournalist Amber Bracken was reporting live updates.

She was inside a tiny house occupied by Indigenous land defenders and their allies.

Continue reading Emails reveal how the RCMP changed its story about arresting journalists in Wet’suwet’en raid →
Energy, Indigenous Nations

16 First Nations sign equity agreements for Coastal GasLink

Leave a comment

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If the Coastal GasLink pipeline is completed, 16 B.C. First Nations will have a combined 10 per cent ownership stake in the project.

All 20 First Nations with existing benefit agreements along the pipeline route were offered the opportunity to become business partners through equity ownership, according to TC Energy Corp.’s announcement on March 9.

Continue reading 16 First Nations sign equity agreements for Coastal GasLink →
Energy

Document reveals influence of oil and gas lobbyists on B.C. officials after Indigenous Rights ruling

Leave a comment

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

In the wake of a precedent-setting Indigenous Rights case in June 2021, B.C.’s ministry of energy did something rather unprecedented: it immediately cancelled summer auctions for new oil and gas tenures.

This sudden closure of oil and gas opportunities in response to the Blueberry decision — a B.C. Supreme Court ruling, which determined the province violated the Treaty Rights of Blueberry River First Nations by permitting and encouraging damaging industrial development — sent a shudder through the industry that continues to reverberate across the country today.

Documents  released to The Narwhal through freedom of information legislation show  petroleum and natural gas (PNG) lobbyists told public servants that  B.C. could lose more than $90 million in annual revenue and up to 10,000  jobs as a result of the Blueberry decision. These stark warnings were  then passed on to senior B.C. government officials, including Fazil  Mihlar, deputy minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation.

Continue reading Document reveals influence of oil and gas lobbyists on B.C. officials after Indigenous Rights ruling →