Grand Chief Phillip vows “long, bitter, protracted campaign” against Trans Mountain

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – One of the province’s top First Nations chiefs says the campaign to opposite Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has only just begun.

Flanked by several members of the NDP federal caucus, grand chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs called the Trudeau government’s approval of the $6.8-billion project a “deep and profound disappointment” and a “betrayal of our grandchildren.”

He adds that opposition to the project is sure to escalate, becoming both more litigious and more political.

“BC is not Canada’s doormat,” Phillip told reporters in downtown Vancouver today. “We have every right and reason to protect what gifts we have from our creator here in British Columbia.”

If Kinder Morgan begins construction on the expansion, Phillip says First Nations are prepared to take action on the ground.

When asked how intense the opposition might get, he invoked the 1990 Oka crisis, a lengthy standoff between the Canadian Military and a group of Mohawk people in Quebec.

Speaking to a group of business leaders in Edmonton on Thursday, Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr suggested Canada’s armed forces could be called in to protect pipeline workers and contractors from protesters.

Phillip lambasted Carr’s comments as “absolutely asinine” and “incredibly stupid”, adding they “exacerbate an already deeply emotional and volatile situation.”

The Trans Mountain expansion would triple the capacity of the current pipeline, and add 980 kilometres of new pipe along the route from the Edmonton area to Burnaby.

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