'Land Defenders' Block Intersection in Vancouver During Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Demonstrations

Demonstrators rallied outside the British Columbia Supreme Court building in Vancouver on Wednesday, February 12, as a show of solidarity with Wet’suwet’en tribal leaders fighting against a Coastal GasLink pipeline, local media said.

According to reports from Huffington Post Canada, indigenous chiefs are fighting against the pipeline and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who were ordered to enforce an injunction to build the pipeline through tribal lands.

Hereditary chiefs were in opposition to the pipeline, while Wet’suwet’en elected band councils signed agreements for the pipeline to run through the lands to carry natural gas from northern British Columbia to the coast.

Protesters and land defenders occupied transport locations such as ports, rail lines, and intersections across Canada “to draw attention not only to the pipeline, but also to Indigenous land rights on the whole,” the Huffington Post report said.

On Wednesday, lawyers were reportedly inside the Supreme Court building arguing for protesters to stop blocking port entrances.

This video was taken from downtown Vancouver and also from outside the Coastal GasLink building. Credit: Dayna Mahannah via Storyful