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The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a TC Energy natural gas pipeline under construction in British Columbia, Canada. Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where the gas will be exported to Asian customers. Its route passes through several First Nations peoples' traditional lands, including some that are unceded. Controversy around the project has highlighted divisions within the leadership structure of impacted First Nations: elected band councils support the project, but traditional hereditary chiefs of the Wetʼsuwetʼen people oppose the project on ecological grounds and organized blockades to obstruct construction on their traditional land. Wetʼsuwetʼen people opposed to the pipeline argue that they have a relationship with the land that the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction threatens. A court injunction against protesters blocking the project in an effort to defend their unceded land was granted twice by the BC Supreme Court, in 2018 and 2019. In 2019 and 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) entered the blocked area and cleared road access for construction using the threat of lethal force, arresting several of the land defenders. The 2020 arrests sparked widespread protests across Canada in solidarity with the original protests. Protests targeted government offices, ports and rail lines. A protest in February 2020 by the Mohawk First Nation people of Tyendinaga in Ontario blocked a critical segment of rail, causing Via Rail to shut down much of its passenger rail network and Canadian National Railway (CNR) to shut down freight service in eastern Canada for several weeks. Coastal GasLink (CGL) resumed construction after the RCMP cleared Wetʼsuwetʼen from the access road; however, the pipeline project is still opposed by the Wetʼsuwetʼen hereditary chiefs. The Wetʼsuwetʼen asked CGL to halt construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over concerns about spreading the disease. Construction has largely continued, though several stop-work orders were issued by the provincial government in June 2020 following an environmental assessment. The Wetʼsuwetʼen also had concerns about the threats of violence that Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people face resulting from man camps along the pipeline construction path. The Wetʼsuwetʼen filed for judicial review on the CGL’s request for a pipeline environmental permit extension on the grounds that CGL had over 50 non-compliance orders and due to the findings of Canada’s National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. When CGL attempted to drill under the Morice River, further conflict erupted as Wet'suwet'en defenders erected blockades and destroyed construction equipment. These blockades were removed in November 2021. By September 2022, CGL had equipment in place to drill under the river; the company said they had completed eight of ten river crossings required for the project and were nearing 70% completion at that time. In May 2023, CGL completed all ten river crossings, including micro-tunnelling under the Morice River south of Houston. In March 2022, CGL signed agreements with 20 elected First Nation band councils supporting the project, including 17 signing on to purchase equity in the project. Project description The pipeline's route starts near Dawson Creek and runs approximately 670 kilometres (420 mi) south-west to a liquefaction plant near Kitimat. The route passes through the traditional territories of several Indigenous peoples, including the Wet'suwet'en. The Wet'suwet'en traditional government does not consent to the construction of the pipeline, the RCMP have violently displaced members of the Nation multiple times in order to build this pipeline. The natural gas transported by the pipeline will be converted into liquefied natural gas by the LNG Canada plant in Kitimat and then exported to global markets. In particular, the company expects the primary market for the natural gas will be Asian nations planning to convert from coal-fired power plants. The initial estimated cost to construct the pipeline was CA$6.6 billion. The project is owned and will be operated by TC Energy. LNG Canada selected TC Energy to design, build, and own the pipeline in 2012. In December 2019, investment management firm Aimco and private equity firm KKR entered into an agreement to buy a 65% equity interest in the project for an estimated CA$600 million. The deal was closed May 25, 2020 and by August 2020, construction of the pipeline was underway. By the end of July 2022 it was announced that approximately 70% of the pipeline had been completed and the cost of the project had increased to CA$11.2 billion. In October 2023, pipeline installation on the project was 100% complete. Opponents and proponents The project is opposed by the hereditary chiefs of the Wetʼsuwetʼen, other First Nations peoples, and environmental activists. Hereditary chiefs claim jurisdiction over and responsibility to protect traditional Wetʼsuwetʼen territory. They said in 2020 that the jurisdiction of elected band councils, imposed under the Indian Act, is limited to their reserves. The Indian Act was put in place in 1876, soon after Canada became a country. This colonial law gave the government power over all Indigenous affairs. With this act, the newly formed Canadian government had control over indigenous identity, culture, governance, and political structures. Political scientist Michael Morden explains that the 1876 Indian Act is, “a work of cradle-to-grave legislation that seeks to govern every aspect of the lives of qualifying First Nations in Canada”. Morden states that with its intended purpose of assimilation, as the Indian Act works “by extending autocratic control over First Nations and displacing Indigenous institutions and norms of governance, it provoked anger from its earliest enactment”. The Wetʼsuwetʼen people were traditionally governed only by hereditary chiefs. However, under colonial jurisdiction, the Indian Act created another form of governance: the elected band councils. Environmental scholar Avital Meira van Meijeren Karp explains that “the Wet’suwet’en First Nation has the elected chief and council which is the colonial governance system that approved the CGL pipeline, a key distinction in this case”. Though the elected band councils agreed to the CGL pipeline construction, the hereditary chiefs remained in opposition to the project. The hereditary chiefs state that Wet'suwet'en territory was never ceded to the federal government and that not all Wet'suwet'en people are governed by the decisions made by the elected chiefs and councils created under the Indian Act. The hereditary chiefs noted that 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi) of Wetʼsuwetʼen territory was never ceded to the Government of Canada. When this took place, British Columbia was still a colony, and it did not enter into treaties with the Wetʼsuwetʼen pe.... Discover the Joseph Dipuma popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Joseph Dipuma books.