Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the Mounties have left an outpost on the road to a disputed natural-gas pipeline project in B.C. but he appears to dismiss the notion that police will move completely out of the vast WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n territory.
The hereditary chiefs of the WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n Nation at the heart of countrywide rail and road disruptions have said they will not meet with federal and provincial officials to discuss their opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline until the RCMP leave their traditional territory entirely and the pipeline company ceases work in the area.
Blair said this morning the RCMP, which is under contract to police provincially in B.C., has removed its officers from an access road to a work site for the pipeline and stationed them in the nearby town of Houston, about 300 kilometres west of Prince George, B.C.
But when it comes to the hereditary chiefsB次元官网网址� demand that the RCMP leave the 22,000 square kilometres of the WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n traditional territory B次元官网网址� an area about twice the size of Cape Breton Island and a little smaller than Lake Erie B次元官网网址� Blair said the people who live there have a right to be protected by police.
B次元官网网址淚 think thereB次元官网网址檚 a very important principle: there are thousands of Canadians that live in that area are entitled to policing services,B次元官网网址� Blair said.
B次元官网网址淭hey are entitled, as every Canadian is, to be served and protected by a police service, and thatB次元官网网址檚 what takes place in all parts of Canada including in British Columbia.B次元官网网址�
Blair said he is optimistic about dialogue between the WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n hereditary chiefs and provincial officials and that there is hope of resolving the issues still in dispute.
Nevertheless, he said officials remain B次元官网网址渧ery anxiousB次元官网网址� for the barricades to come down.
Separately, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said the WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n hereditary chiefs have been meeting with one another in B.C. over the last two days after some of them travelled to Ontario and Quebec to meet Mohawk supporters last week.
Bennett said she is hoping to hear back from the chiefs today on whether they will invite her and her B.C. counterpart to discuss the protests and rail blockades.
One of the hereditary chiefs, NaB次元官网网址檓oks, who also goes by John Ridsdale, said today he believes progress is being made on the conditions the chiefs made for meeting with federal and provincial leaders.
He confirmed former New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen has resumed his role as mediator and liaison in the tense discussions and a meeting could happen as early as tomorrow.
He said the chiefs want the RCMP mobile detachment on the access road removed from their territory and they also want the Mounties to stop foot patrols.
Cullen has informed the chiefs that the RCMP is willing to dismantle the mobile unit but canB次元官网网址檛 meet the chiefsB次元官网网址� deadline of tomorrow, NaB次元官网网址檓oks said.
He added that the chiefs have agreed that as long as the foot patrols stop and the unit is shuttered, they have accepted that as meeting their terms for now.
He said the chiefs have also heard a commitment that pipeline workers will leave the territory and they plan to visit the remote area where work is occurring to verify that the terms have been met.
B次元官网网址淚n our view things are moving forward because we think the message has been clearly put to the provinces and the federal government that the relationship with Indigenous people and both levels of government has to change,B次元官网网址� he said.
Teresa Wright, The Canadian Press
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