Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen is travelling to the Gitdumden checkpoint today, calling on the federal government to demonstrate its commitment to reconciliation by engaging with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
“Following conversations with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership, I intended today to travel to the Gidimt’en checkpoint to show my support for a peaceful resolution and contained dialogue between the RCMP and Wet’suwet’en,” Cullen said in a press release this afternoon.
“Together we were able to secure the passage of a number of Wet’suwet’en chiefs through the RCMP blockade to the Gidimt’en camp. I have been in contact with TransCanada, the BC and Canadian government as well as the RCMP to ask that all sides continue dialogue.”
READ MORE: RCMP start clearing Indigenous pipeline protest camps
This morning Police moved to enforce an interim injunction against the Unist’ot’en camp, Gitdumden checkpoint and any other blockades set up south of Houston. Members of the RCMP arrived at the Gitdumden blockade on Morice River Road, allowing only hereditary chiefs to pass through to the camp.
A post on the Unist’ot’en Facebook page said the RCMP enforcement was an “act of war,” and called for international help with donations or “physical support.”
Dozens of Indigenous peoples and supporters have been gathered at the key access point on Gidimt’en territory for months as they seek to stop the Coastal GasLink pipeline from going through their lands.
The proposed 670 kilometre pipeline is expected to move natural gas from Dawson Creek to the newly-approved LNG Canada export facility near Kitimat.
-with files from Chris Gareau
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