Video still: Land defender Shaylynn Sampson arrested on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia by the RCMP C-IRG while resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline, November 19, 2021.
Peace Brigades International-Canada expresses concern that proposed major extractive projects brings an increased risk of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in communities near these sites, and the threat of gender-based violence against Indigenous land and environmental defenders.
The threat of man camps
The Globe and Mail now reports: “The federal government’s chief adviser on human trafficking says Ottawa’s strategy to fast-track mining and energy projects must include measures to ensure that women and girls from local communities are safe from exploitation and predation by workers in nearby ‘man camps’.”
“In an interview, the adviser, Jennifer Richardson, said the sexual exploitation of young girls and women is an issue of particular concern to Indigenous communities located near sites that employ large numbers of transient male workers.”
The article further explains: “In a bid to boost Canada’s economy, Prime Minister Mark Carney set up a new Major Projects Office to cut approval times, including for new mines, to under two years. …Ms. Richardson said Indigenous communities she has spoken to are concerned that the new major and extraction and energy projects, could ‘release violence against Indigenous women’.”
The National Inquiry
In 2019, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (page 584) stated: “The National Inquiry heard testimony and examined evidence that suggested that resource extraction projects can exacerbate the problem of violence against Indigenous women and girls.”
“Reports submitted by witnesses substantiate their claims, as does a considerable body of literature identified by the National Inquiry. They all point to the same conclusion: federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous governments, as well as mining and oil and gas companies, should do a more thorough job of considering the safety of Indigenous women and children when making decisions about resource extraction on or near Indigenous territories.”
It further noted (on page 592): “The National Inquiry believes there is an urgent need to consider the safety of Indigenous women consistently in all stages of project planning, assessment, management, and monitoring of resource extraction projects.”
Among the report’s findings (on page 593): “There is substantial evidence of a serious problem demonstrated in the correlation between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Work camps, or ‘man camps,’ associated with the resource extraction industry are implicated in higher rates of violence against Indigenous women at the camps and in the neighbouring communities.”
Violence against women land defenders
In January 2020, The Guardian reported on a study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and noted: “There have been numerous examples of gender-based violence [GBV] directed against environmental defenders and activists, who try to stop the destruction or degradation of their land, natural resources and communities. Sexual violence is used to suppress them, undermine their status within the community and discourage others from coming forward.”
The IUCN report says: “The violence and intimidation employed to exert control over individuals’ and local communities’ territories and natural resources can also instigate, magnify and reinforce incidences of GBV.”
The report also notes: “The GBV experienced by WEHRDs [women environmental human rights defenders] can often be exacerbated when it intersects with racial and ethnic discrimination. In Guatemala, indigenous communities, which make up 60 per cent of the national population, often find themselves in defence of their territories against extractive interests. The country has also experienced a startling rise in GBV, particularly against indigenous women.”
Major Projects
On March 20, 2026, The Globe and Mail reported: “Prime Minister Mark Carney and Energy Minister Tim Hodgson are striving to spur development of LNG in Canada, believing that exporting 50 million tonnes a year is possible by 2030.”
That article adds: “They say that longer term, the country’s total LNG exports could reach up to 100 million tonnes annually by 2040.”
In August 2025, Carney launched a Major Projects Office (MPO) “to get nation-building projects built faster … by streamlining and accelerating regulatory approval processes [and] helping to structure and co-ordinate financing of these projects as needed.”
In September 2025, Carney referred a number of projects to the MPO including the LNG Canada Phase 2 expansion (that would involve the construction of two compressor stations on Wet’suwet’en territory to increase the flow of Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline).
In November 2025, Carney referred the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal (that would be fed by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline on Gitanyow territory).
Final Investment Decisions
While the timelines have been subject to extension, The Globe and Mail reported in January: “Industry analysts expect LNG Canada to make a final investment decision by the end of 2026 on whether to proceed with Phase 2” and that “Ksi Lisims is expected to make a final investment decision in 2026.”
Concerns
PBI-Canada notes that there is no reference to the risks of associated violence in the prime minister’s announcement about the Major Projects Office.
We also note the unreleased systemic investigation into allegations of human rights violations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) against land defenders.
APTN has reported that almost a year before the systemic investigation was launched in March 2023: “An APTN News investigation of C-IRG in June of 2022 uncovered allegations against the unit that includes ‘intimidation, torture, brutality, harassment, racism, theft, destruction of property, arbitrary detention, inhumanity, lying and deceit.’ The investigation obtained evidence of vast spying — including casual surveillance of law-abiding groups engaged in the democratic process — collusion with private security, collaboration with industry lawyers and wilful violations of RCMP policy.”
That systemic investigation cannot be released because the position of the Chairperson of the federal Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP has been left vacant since January 2025.
We continue to follow this.
Additional reading: CRCC systemic investigation into the RCMP C-IRG now completed, but unreleased due to “absence of a decision-maker” (March 19, 2026).
