Straight Talk

Lots of RCMP officers descend from helicopters near Gidimt'en Checkpoint on traditional Wet'suwet'en territory

by Charlie Smith on February 7th, 2020 at 11:34 AM
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      Tactical teams of RCMP officers have shown up at one of the key flashpoints in the ongoing dispute between Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and the provincial government.

      According to the Unist'ot'en Camp Twitter feed, up to two dozen Mounties dropped in behind the Gidimt'en Checkpoint, which was set up by Indigenous opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

      The Mounties are enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction obtained by the company aimed at preventing actions that impede completion of the $6.6-billion project.

      Coastal GasLink's 670-kilometre pipeline will deliver natural gas from northeastern B.C. across unceded Wet'suwet'en traditional territory to a liquefied natural gas plant being constructed in Kitimat.

      The Gidimt'en Checkpoint spokesperson, Molly Wickham (a.k.a. Sleydo'), told reporters that 55 vehicles, including 20 industry vehicles, headed to the checkpoint camp at 44 kilometres on the Morice West Forest Service Road.

      "There's a gate on the bridge that was put there for our protection and to do the checks to see who's coming and out of the territory," Wickham said. "That gate's been reinforced." 

      She pointed out that it's 13 months since the last raid by the Mounties on the Gidit'en Checkpoint.

      On January 7, 2019, the heavily armed RCMP officers arrested 14 people for violating the injunction, which was extended in December.

      At that time, the Mounties were prepared to use lethal force on those at the checkpoint, according to an article that later appeared in the Guardian.

      LNG prices fall even further

      On Wednesday (February 5), the Georgia Straight reported that LNG prices had fallen to a record low of US$3.51 per million British Thermal Units on northeast Asia’s benchmark Japan Korea Marker.

      The price for LNG in Asia tumbled even further on Thursday, closing at an an all-time low of US$3 per million BTUs. 

      Today, CNBC also reported that natural gas prices are nearly 30 percent below where they were a year ago—and down 15 percent since the start of this year.

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