Gitanyow and Gitxsan resistance to the PRGT pipeline continues as decision on fate of megaproject expected in March 2025
Photo: Gitanyow Simgiget (Hereditary Chiefs) burn a “benefits agreement” on the PRGT pipeline as they close their territories to all traffic related to the megaproject, August 22, 2024.
The National Observer reports that the fate of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline is now in limbo after its decade-old provincial environmental assessment certificate expired on Monday November 25.
Next up, the British Columbia Minister of Environment and Parks Tamara Davidson will either decide to make that certificate permanent and allow the megaproject to proceed, or require a new environmental assessment that would slow down the continuation of the project by two or three years, but not definitively end it.
That decision is expected by March 2025.
Photo: Gitxsan land defenders and supporters disrupt the swearing-in of the new British Columbia provincial government cabinet to say they do not consent to the PRGT pipeline on their lands, November 18, 2024. Photo by Mike Graeme.
Gitanyow and Gitxsan resistance to PRGT
We are following the resistance of Gitanyow land defenders, “Simgiget” (Hereditary Chiefs), and the “Huwilp” (Houses or governing units, the plural of “Wilp”) to defend the Gitanyow “Lax’yip” (territory) from the PRGT megaproject.
A statement from Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Deborah Good/ Simooget Watakhayetswx following the expiry of the certificate says: “We have stood on the territory since August, denying access for PRGT construction vehicles and monitoring to ensure that no construction activity occurs in the Lax’yip. We will continue our on the ground presence with new cabins, a new Indigenous Protected Area, and ongoing monitoring conducted by Wilp members and the Lax’yip Guardians. We thank everyone from around the globe who has offered support in the past 3 months for our effort, it is a true testament to a widespread concern regarding the PRGT and growing opposition to it proceeding.”
Back on August 22, Good said in this video statement: “As of tonight, I am closing the Cranberry Connector from 11 kilometers to 31 kilometres. …I am closing the road and I will keep it closed. There will be no trucks permitted through the territory. No LNG equipment will be permitted through the territory.”
Photo: Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs: “As we stand our ground and turn back LNG trucks, the love and support you are all showing us at the Genada [Frog Clan] Injunction is overwhelming!” August 30, 2024.
The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs have also explained: “The Gitanyow Lax’yip Stewardship Guardians are the ‘eyes and ears’ on the Lax’yip (Territory) and provide a critical role in environmental and cultural monitoring. The Gitanyow Lax’yip Guardians work closely and share an office space with the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority.”
The PRGT pipeline would also impact Gitxsan territory. Mike Graeme has posted (as part of an upcoming IndigiNews article): “Maas Gwitkunuxws Teresa Brown, a Gitxsan woman who’s chosen to make her home for the winter in an uninsulated school bus parked near the pipeline right-of-way, says she will do what it takes to make sure the project is kiboshed.”
Gitxsan land defender Kolin Sutherland-Wilson has also posted this video: “Land Defence + Dog Sanctuary Update with Maasxw Gutgwinuuxw. Home and Dog Sanctuary located on PRGT Pipeline right-of-way on Gitxsan lax’yip.”
And Wet’suwet’en land defender Sleydo’/ Molly Wickham has also posted on Instagram: “Please share widely and support grassroots Indigenous resistance to the PRGT pipeline. We know what’s coming and they need all the support to get ahead of this!”
Calls for the C-IRG to be disbanded
There are continuing concerns about the role the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), now named the Critical Response Unit-British Columbia (CRU-BC), could have in the criminalization and repression of Indigenous on-the-ground resistance to the PRGT megaproject.
Photo: RCMP C-IRG officers during the November 2021 raid on Wet’suwet’en territory. Photo by Michael Toledano.
A year ago, in November 2023, the Gitxsan Huwilp Government stated: “Industry-led injunctions ordered by the BC Supreme Court Chief Justice to allow the looting of indigenous lands must stop. Further, the RCMP volunteering to deploy the [C-IRG] – which is under investigation for corruption – as a military solution to perpetrate industry greed must stop. For the RCMP to extinguish indigenous peoples’ fulsome rights on their lands, threaten our lives, terrorize our women and children, weaponize our land defense is indefensible.”
Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Gamlakyeltxw/ Wil Marsden has also previously commented: “We saw years and years of fighting [on Wet’suwet’en territory], the [RCMP C-IRG] police violence, and even the company [TC Energy/Coastal GasLink] with harassment and surveillance of land defenders. We don’t want none of that to happen here. We have a plan for everything we’re doing and we prefer to reconcile with B.C. and Canada.”
On a PBI-Canada webinar this past March, Tara Marsden, Wilp sustainability director for Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, noted: “Our learning is that consent only works when we say yes, if we say no, even if we say no with science behind us, and our knowledge and our laws behind us, then we will be met with force from the C-IRG, from militarized invasion and occupation and intimidation and harassment.”
We continue to follow this.
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