Sarnia march supports B.C. pipeline opponents

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While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was telling an Ottawa news conference Friday that barricades on rail lines have to come down, about 100 people marched through Sarnia’s Chemical Valley in support of opponents of a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia.

The march started after 3 p.m. from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation office in a show of support for pipeline opponents on the Wet’suwet’en territory, which has led to barricades on rail lines in other parts of the country, including one near Belleville that has shut down passenger and freight trains.

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Several marchers carried signs, held banners or beat hand-held drums, and they paused for a short time blocking traffic in the intersection of Tashmoo Avenue and Churchill Road before continuing through the industrial neighbourhood next to the First Nation.

Sarnia police officers in cruisers watched the marchers and traffic.

“We came out in solidarity for Wet’suwet’en, and to keep water clean,” said Kari Faubert who was marching with her four-year-old daughter. “We’re very upset about the RCMP being there.”

The RCMP sent a letter on Thursday to the traditional leaders of the Wet’suwet’en nation, telling them the force intends to move its officers out of the territory and station them instead in a nearby town.

“No matter where you are in Canada, Indigenous people are all impacted by industry,” said Vanessa Gray, a spokesperson for the march and an activist from Aamjiwnaang.

“We know here in Chemical Valley we’re experiencing some of the worst impacts on our health from chemicals, and this is exactly why we want to stop this pipeline.”

A small group of pipeline supporters stood along the march route with signs.

Brad Humble said he didn’t see any of the marchers arrive riding horses. “They all show up in their vehicles, which is all driven from oil.”

Humble, who held a sign that said, Poverty to prosperity, thanks pipelines, said he works in Chemical Valley.

“It’s everybody’s livelihood,” he added.

Mike Plain, an elder from Aamjiwnaang, spoke to the marchers before they left the First Nation office parking lot.

“That land belongs to them,” Plain said about the Wet’suwet’en Nation where some residents oppose the pipeline. “They have a right to say what goes through their land, and what does not.”

Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation oppose the pipeline work on their traditional territory, despite support from elected band councils along the pipeline route.

With files from Canadian Press

pmorden@postmedia.com