Canadian Army vehicles seen near Secwepemc land defence struggle against Trans Mountain pipeline

On November 21, Secwepemc land defender Kanahus Manuel tweeted: “There are 3 military tanks at blue River truck stop.”

The tanks appear to be Canadian Army Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs).

It’s not known what Canadian Forces Base they came from.

Significantly, it’s not clear why they are in Blue River.

While their movement could be related in some way to the flooding in British Columbia, this also comes shortly after the deployment of militarized RCMP officers on Wet’suwet’en territory to suppress the land defence struggle against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

We recall that the federal Minister of Natural Resources once stated that the military could be deployed to quell opposition to the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

In December 2016, Jim Carr said: “If people choose for their own reasons not to be peaceful, then the government of Canada, through its defence forces, through its police forces, will ensure that people will be kept safe.”

While Carr did later apologize, the federal Minister of Infrastructure Amarjeet Sohi was asked in February 2018 to guarantee that he would not use the military to force through the construction of the pipeline. The minister refused to give that guarantee.

We also recall that Canadian military armoured vehicles have previously been deployed against Indigenous land defence struggles, notably at Ts’peten (Gustafsen Lake) in 1995 and during the “Oka Crisis” in 1990.

We watch with concern.

Racist graffiti on the side of a Canadian Army armoured personnel carrier on unceded Kanien’kéha:ka territory (Oka, Quebec), September 2, 1990.