NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER A group of Hatters gathered outside of MP Glen Motz's office on 13th Avenue Monday to support the Wet'suwet'en First Nations people as well as protest the GasLink Project. Motz says he supports the GasLink Project as well as the right to peacefully protest.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
A group of Hatters gathered outside MP Glen Motz’s office Monday to hold a support rally for the Wet’suwet’en and to protest the GasLink Pipeline project in B.C.
The group met at 4 p.m. and spent time walking up and down 13th Avenue SE with signs as cars drove by. Local chapter chair for Council of Canadians David Condon says Monday’s rally has an important message.
“Even though this came together quickly and our crowd may not be huge, we wanted to show that Medicine Hat isn’t just monolithic in the way it thinks,” he said. “Indigenous rights and reconciliation is something the Council of Canadians is involved in and we decided to show solidarity and support for the Wet’suwet’en people.”
The group of roughly 15 met outside Motz’s office at 4 p.m. The MP, who was not present during the rally, says he supports the GasLink Project.
“As a Canadian, I support it,” he said. “I think this is the right thing for our economic future.”
Condon says there is more at stake than just the economy.
“It’s a difficult time for all of us – right now we have to weight environment verses the economy,” he said. “Can we put the economy before the rights of Indigenous people? Are we ever going to get to a point of real reconciliation?
“The two big issues are the RCMP and GasLink being on the land, and the pipeline itself.”
According to the TC Energy website, the pipeline will run approximately 670 kilometres, delivering natural gas from the Dawson Creek area of northern B.C. to a facility near Kitimat, where it will be converted to a liquid form for export by LNG Canada.
Protests have popped up in the Wet’suwet’en First Nations area as well as cities around the country. The RCMP has made a number of arrests related to the protests.
Motz says people need to research the project to get the full story.
“I think the protesters and the media need to understand that the 20 First Nations that are on the route of the pipeline already support it,” he said. “If these urban protesters actually cared about what the Wet’suwet’en wanted, they’d support the project.
“Actual members of the Wet’suwet’en community and the elected council want and support the pipeline.”
Condon says the politics with this issue are complicated.
“What I do know is that the band councils were put in place by the Indian Act,” he said. “There’s many people who understand that the Indian Act is a colonial document that was partly responsible for putting people in residential schools – the band council represents something the community didn’t put in place.
“Governments – provincial and federal – seem to just listen to the answer they want, whether it’s found by the band council or the hereditary chief.”
Motz says he supports the rights of protesters.
“Lawful protest is a right,” he said. “Illegal blockades and trespassing are not. These people protesting, the extremists, should stop speaking on behalf of B.C. First Nations.
“I fully support the right to peaceful, lawful protest – that’s democracy.”
