RCMP set up blockade on trucking road at centre of Indigenous pipeline dispute – Vancouver Sun

Premier John Horgan told reporters on Monday that the Coastal GasLink pipeline will be built despite protests.

The RCMP set up a checkpoint on Monday afternoon along the remote Morice West Forest Service Road, meaning anyone trying to access three Aboriginal protest sites and a pipeline work camp will need police permission to pass.

Dawn Roberts, spokeswoman for the B.C. RCMP, said the “access control checkpoint” had been established at the 27 km mark of the forestry road that starts on Highway 16, 5 km west of Houston.

“The purpose is to mitigate safety concerns related to the hazardous items of fallen trees and tire piles with incendiary fluids along the roadway, as well as to allow emergency service access to the area,” Roberts said in a prepared statement.

The Morice West Forest Service Road has become a flashpoint in Indigenous and government relations in B.C., as five hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation lead efforts to block a natural gas pipeline project from being built in their territory in the northwest of the province.

Read More: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/rcmp-set-up-blockade-on-trucking-road-at-centre-of-indigenous-pipeline-dispute