Camp set up near Mission Flats Road in protest of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project

KAMLOOPS – The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project continues to face resistance from environmentalists and Indigenous groups. One group in particular has set up camp along the Thompson River. The protestors say they want to protect and preserve Secwepemc sites as well as the river and the salmon.

Miranda Dick is among the protestors. Speaking with CFJC Today, she said their goal was to stop the expansion project.

“The drilling pad is being set up at the Thompson River, so near Mission Flats is where they want to come through Kenna Cartwright, head down to Mission Flats Road area, desecrating pit house depressions and then further on to Airport Road where there’s more sites that are significant to the Secwepemc nation,” Dick explained.

Dick says the group has held numerous events and ceremonies in the area in an act of resistance to Trans Mountain over the past three years.

She says they have now been asked by the elders to set up a ‘permanent structure’.

“At the camp, on average, about 20 (people),” Dick said. “So we have some that are students and teachers so they actually have classes and stuff, and then the majority of them are working, too. So, it’s like our house. So, we just go home and go to sleep there.”

Tk’emlups te Secwepemc is among First Nations communities who have signed mutual benefit agreements with Trans Mountain. Chief Rosanne Casimir says she takes no issue with the protest, as long as health and safety guidelines are being followed.

“We know that they have voices and that they want to be heard,” Casimir said. “They care about the environment just as much as we do. I also know that we’ll be carrying their voices at various levels of government to ensure they’re also heard. We all care about the environment, we all care about future generations for our children and our families.”

Dick says there is no plan to leave the camp unless the pipeline project is stopped.

“The waterways and how we see it, is that if we’re not stopping something from happening here and an actual spill occurs, it could possibly affect everyone downstream.”

Trans Mountain did not have anyone available to comment on the protest, but sent the following statement by email:

“The Thompson River HDD is underway. Trans Mountain respects the right to peaceful, lawful expressions of opinions. It is important to remember there is a BC Supreme Court injunction in place that prevents the blocking or obstructing of access to Trans Mountain’s work sites and work areas throughout British Columbia.”