Video still: “Get your gun off of me, lower your gun!” PBI-Canada is concerned that heavily-armed raids by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) against Indigenous land and environmental defenders could be repeated.
In January 2026, The Globe and Mail reported on the pending financial investment decisions to be made on two megaprojects opposed by Indigenous land and environmental defenders in northern British Columbia.
The newspaper highlighted:
– “Industry analysts expect LNG Canada to make a final investment decision by the end of 2026 on whether to proceed with Phase 2.”
– “Ksi Lisims is expected to make a final investment decision in 2026.”
The Globe and Mail had previously reported in October 2025: “The backers of Ksi Lisims plan to make a final investment decision by the end of this year [2025], in hopes of starting LNG exports to Asia in 2029.”
By November 2025, Natural Gas Intelligence reported: “Backers of Ksi Lisims LNG expect to reach a final investment decision (FID) next year [2026]… The project’s developers were aiming to sanction it this year [2025], but they remain in mature conversations to sign up additional offtakers and secure construction loan financing.”
Two weeks ago, the Prince George Citizen reported the British Columbia Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions Adrian Dix saying: “We hope to be approaching a final investment decision [on Ksi Lisims].”
Once the final investment decision is made, construction could begin quickly. Western LNG spokesperson Rebecca Scott has previously stated: “We would be starting construction soon thereafter.”
Ksi Lisims LNG terminal
The Globe and Mail article also notes that in November 2025 Prime Minister Mark Carney added Ksi Lisims LNG to its list of major projects of national interest to be considered for fast-tracking by the Major Projects Office.
The Ksi Lisims LNG terminal would be fed by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline that would be built on Gitanyow and Gitxsan territories. The project would also be powered by the North Coast Transmission Line. Construction on the transmission line megaproject is expected to begin this year.
LNG Canada Phase 2
The Globe and Mail also notes that Prime Minister Carney had announced in September 2025 that LNG Canada Phase 2 was on its list of major projects that it has recommended to the MPO for fast-tracking.
The National Observer has previously reported: “If LNG Canada Phase 2 is built … additional compressor stations will need to be built [on Wet’suwet’en territory] to squeeze more gas into the pipeline.” And the Canadian Press has noted: “Hereditary chiefs say two of the proposed compressor stations that would be a part of Coastal GasLink’s Phase 2 would be located on their traditional territory.”
Land and environmental defenders
Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan leaders have been clear in their opposition to the construction of compressor stations on their territory that would come with the LNG Canada Phase 2 expansion. The Wet’suwet’en experienced militarized raids by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) in January 2019, February 2020 and November 2021.
The Gitanyow have also been clear in their opposition to the PRGT pipeline being built on their lands to feed the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal.
In August 2024, they established a blockade on a road to stop truck transport related to the construction of the pipeline.
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!”
And in November 2025, Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Watahayetsxw (Deborah Good) vowed to establish another blockade after Prime Minister Carney announced his support for the Ksi Lisims LNG export terminal.
RCMP violence against defenders
Amnesty International has documented the “harassment, intimidation, unlawful surveillance and criminalization” by the RCMP C-IRG against land defenders opposed to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Front Line Defenders has also called on authorities in Canada to comply with their obligations under international law to recognize, respect and reinforce the work of human rights defenders.
Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks has described what land defenders experienced as “psychological warfare”.
“RCMP snipers meant to intimidate and abuse”
The Tyee has reported that RCMP Sergeant Ryan Arnold, who led the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team on November 19, 2021, said RCMP snipers, carrying carbine assault rifles modified to make them more effective at longer distances, were present to provide “a quick response unit” for officers making the arrests.
After that raid, Toronto-based Canadian Forces College Department of Defence Studies professor Chris Madsen told PressProgress: “Emergency Response Teams [ERTs] are being improperly used in suppressing peaceful indigenous protests on their own lands. Use of the ERT in this situation is improper because the protestors are clearly neither armed nor offering resistance, other than perhaps words.”
University of Winnipeg criminal justice professor Kevin Walby also told PressProgress: “I think the use of the ERT and the snipers is clearly meant to intimidate and abuse. It is meant to be traumatizing.”
Video still: RCMP with assault rifles on Wet’suwet’en territory, November 19, 2021. CBC News/Michael Toledano.
Peace Brigades International-Canada visited Wet’suwet’en, Gitxsan and Gitanyow territories in November 2021, June 2025 and October 2025.
We remain attentive to the final investment decisions on LNG Canada Phase 2 and Ksi Lisims, as well as construction of the PRGT pipeline and the North Coast Transmission Line, and the safety of the Indigenous land and environmental defenders exercising their rights to oppose these megaprojects on their territories.
We also remain ready to return to the territories if the safety of land and environmental defenders is put at risk by the deployment of the RCMP Critical Response Unit-British Columbia (CRU-BC).
Additional reading: PBI-Canada continues to monitor the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission systemic investigation of the RCMP C-IRG (January 23, 2026).
