Pipeline approval record reveals conflict with Wet’suwet’en years in the making – CBC

Documents from B.C. approval process reveal fraught battle behind conflict roiling the country

Feb 19, 2020

A battle between the hereditary chiefs of a B.C. First Nation and a company planning to build a natural gas pipeline through their territory in the northwest of the province has exploded into the Canadian consciousness with cross-country protests.

Rail blockades that began earlier this month in opposition to the project have crippled the country’s transportation network, but the paper trail behind Coastal GasLink’s pipeline approval reveals a conflict years in the making.

The root of the current clash can be found in reasons given for an environmental assessment certificate issued by B.C.’s ministers of environment and natural gas development on Oct. 23, 2014.

The province acknowledged concerns from the Office of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and other Indigenous groups — and gave the green light to the project anyway.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/coastal-gaslink-wet-suwet-en-battle-1.5465049