Canada: RCMP descend on indigenous population

“The Canadian government has already destroyed the scientific research archives on Fisheries. The Canadian Minister of Fisheries has ignored the advice of her own scientists and now they are opposing native communities all in the interest of supporting commercial fishing interests. 

Gail Shea the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is committing crimes against nature and humanity with her ignorance of ecological reality and her arrogance in wielding power unrestricted by reason or compassion. 

The native communities of British Columbia are the only guardians left to defend the fish from greed and destruction and Harper's government is intent upon crushing their spirit and their opposition.”

Capt. Paul Watson, via Facebook

RCMP descend on native community on central coast of British Columbia in herring fishery conflict

Vancouver Sun,

30 March, 2014

The federal government has chosen a remote stretch of B.C. coastline to square off against aboriginals in a fight over an imminent commercial roe-herring fishery.

Federal fisheries minister Gail Shea is being blamed for an escalating conflict over a forthcoming commercial gillnet fishery that has resulted in RCMP descending on B.C.’s central coast to guard against potential interference by Heiltsuk natives.

The Heiltsuk have issued a statement saying, “We will exercise our authority to stop any commercial herring activity in our territories. We will protect our aboriginal rights to the fullest extent possible should commercial fishers not abide by the ban.”

In an interview Thursday, Heiltsuk councillor Reg Moody said he appreciates that the police have a job to do and that no one wants to see anyone get hurt. But natives are also committed to protecting herring stocks in their traditional waters.

“It’s real,” he said of the prospect for confrontation. “If a gillnetter is going to put his net in the water, it’s gonna be easy for me to drop a tree in the water in its place. We could make it difficult ... put trees in the areas where they plan to fish.”

Moody placed the responsibility for events squarely on the minister’s shoulders. “Our position has always been that we’re not unreasonable, but there has to be some fundamental changes made. It could have been avoided. We could work collectively.”

Shea, a P.E.I. MP, declined The Vancouver Sun’s request for an interview.

Federal fisheries spokesman Tom Robbins insisted that “the herring fishery is a legitimate fishery backed by solid fisheries science” and aboriginals have been consulted.

“We stand strongly against violence on the water,” Robbins said. “The department is monitoring the situation and will take appropriate enforcement action if there are any Fisheries Act violations.”

There are 50 participants licensed to fish for roe in the central coast gillnet fishery, he added. Due to pooling up, only about 20 vessels, including punts and packers, are expected to participate.

Ian McAllister of the environmental group Pacific Wild estimated more than 20 RCMP and up to six patrol vessels are now based in Shearwater on Denny Island near Bella Bella. “If you add up the daily police presence, overtime, boat fuel, planes going back and forth, it’s just ridiculous.”

RCMP Cpl. Dave Tireman would not confirm how many police are in the Bella Bella due to “operational reasons,” but noted police are there to keep the peace.

“We’re sitting in the back row of the bus,” he said. “We have to remain neutral. We’re there to make sure everything is safe and everything is peaceful.”

Three aboriginal groups along the B.C. coast have protested commercial herring-roe fisheries this season.

The Nuu-chah-nulth obtained a federal court injunction Feb. 21 blocking a commercial fishery on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The decision came after an internal memo revealed Shea overruled recommendations of scientists in her own department. Shea recommended opening the fishery in three disputed areas and in a hand-printed note alongside her signature wrote, “The minister agrees to an opening at a conservative 10-per-cent harvest rate for the 2014 fishing season.”

For every region on the coast, a “commercial cutoff” is established based on the health of herring stocks in that region. When stocks exceed the cutoff, commercial fishing is allowed at rates as high as 20 per cent of the biomass.

The Heiltsuk are asking the minister to add an 18,000-tonne “cushion” to that cutoff to help ensure sufficient stocks for aboriginals.

Natives plan to proceed with a 108-tonne spawn-on-kelp fishery this year on the central coast. Said McAllister: “It is a truly sustainable alternative to the industrial model that has killed herring stocks across the province.”

The federal government is appealing the federal court decision in the Nuu-chah-nulth case.

The Herring Industry Advisory Board supports the minister’s decision to allow the openings, but announced in a news release March 17 that the fishing industry, federal government and Haida had reached an agreement to forego both a commercial fishery and an aboriginal spawn-on-kelp fishery. “It was deemed more appropriate to stand down for this year to limit conflict with the Haida and work toward ensuring the science is good for next year,” said board chair Greg Thomas.

He noted that herring stocks are “near historic highs” in the Strait of Georgia, with seiners catching just over 6,800 tonnes and gillnetters just over 5,400 tonnes this season. That may help to explain the presence of herring spawning locally, including Boundary Bay, where they have reportedly not been seen in years.

A coast-wide herring harvest was set at 30,932 tonnes this year for all types of fisheries, including 9,829 tonnes for commercial seine boats, 8,865 tonnes for commercial gillnetters, and 3,383 tonnes for two spawn-on-kelp categories.

The roe-herring fishery had an allocation of 17,871 tonnes in 2014, compared with 13,703 tonnes in 2013, 11,793 tonnes in 2012, and 14,375 tonnes in 2011.

Keystone XL pipeline

Indigenous Vow: We'll Be 'Dead Or In Prison Before We Allow' Keystone Pipeline

Indigenous Vow: We'll Be 'Dead Or In Prison Before We Allow' Keystone Pipeline

Alter Net,

14 March, 2014

Lakota and American Indian Movement activists joined in a four-directions walk to commemorate Liberation Day, an event to mark the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As they do each year, four groups gather to the north, south, east and west and then walk eight miles until converging on top of Wounded Knee, where they honor the fallen warriors and the tribe’s rich history of resistance.

“It is an acknowledgement of the resiliency of who we are as a people,” explains Andrew Iron Shell, an organizer and activist of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. “It gives permission and courage for our up-and-coming generations to face the challenges of their time.”

The history of the occupation began with a massacre more than 100 years ago. On a cold day in December 1890, the United States army killed 300 Lakota men, women and children in a massive shoot out after a member of the First Nations refused to give up his arms. It marked the first bloodshed on Wounded Knee – although there had been many massacres of First Nations people by the colonialists before it. The event was also considered the end of the Indian Wars.

Eighty-three years later, on Feb. 27, 1973, about 200 Lakota members took siege of the town of Wounded Knee. Reclaiming a location that was written in the history books as a place of defeat, the Lakota stood their ground. They were there in protest of a failed attempt at impeaching the tribal president at the time, Richard Wilson, who was known to be corrupt and abusive. Initially a protest against the tribal government, the occupation took a turn when U.S. police forces arrived. The protestors switched the occupation’s focus to the United States’ frequent violation of treaties.

The armed warriors maintained control over the town for 71 days while the FBI encircled them. At the final standoff, two warriors were killed, about 12 people were wounded and over 400 were arrested. The Oglala were able to harness national attention through their occupation, using the spotlight to question the United States’ treatment of First Nations people.

As history passed, later generations rarely heard about the occupation of Wounded Knee — or about first nation people at all. This skewed national memory should be unsurprising: When you have a society and a nation built upon the subjugation of people of color, you can expect nothing more than the constant erasing of certain histories.

Ongoing genocide

I recently visited Prisoner of War Camp 344, also known as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It wasn’t my first time in the sovereign Oglala Sioux Nation, but it was my first time joining in the ceremonies celebrating the 41st annual Liberation Day to remember the 1890 reoccupation of Wounded Knee.

The vibrant American Indian Movement flags waving in the harsh South Dakota winter wind reminded me of the old black and white photos I used to see in my history books. The Lakota would not disappear without a fight, regardless of what the United States’ intentions were. Children walked alongside elders who had taken part in the occupation, showing clearly the group’s intergenerational wisdom. These are children who are stripped of learning their people’s history in schools, but instead learn it through stories and dances. They are children who live in a sovereign nation that contains two of the poorest counties in the United States and who recognize the threats their families face every day.

One of these threats come from the so-called town of White Clay, Neb., where visitors can witness the way violence against the First Nations people has changed — but not disappeared — over the generations. Consisting of only 12 people and four liquor stores, White Clay was once part of a 50-square-mile buffer that prevented alcohol from entering the reservation. In 1904, President Roosevelt signed an executive order that removed 49 of those square miles. Since then, the town’s economy has been driven by the $4 million in alcohol sales to the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There is no legal place to drink in or around White Clay: Alcohol containers can’t be opened on the property of the distributor, it’s prohibited to drink in the street, and the reservation is dry territory. Yet, somehow, the town of 12 people manages to keep four liquor stores open. Barely two miles from the reservation’s epicenter, and less than 200 feet from the dry reservation line, the town perpetrates a type of violence that is, on the reservation, known as liquid genocide.

The reason for this name becomes apparent when one examines the teenage suicide rate on the reservation, which is 150 percent higher than the U.S. national average for this age group. Many attribute this death rate to the sale of alcohol to minors, which White Clay store owners are known to do. The liquor stores also break the law by selling to intoxicated people, and by trading alcohol for pornography, sexual favors — including from minors — and welfare checks. The effects of free-flowing alcohol are devastating: On the reservation, 90 percent of all court cases are related to alcohol use.

Kate, a Tokala warrior, believes that alcoholism is part of a larger problem of the disappearance of indigenous culture. For her, the only way to live in the geographical region of Pine Ridge is the indigenous way. “We are the ones on the back roads, still chopping wood. We are living the way we used to live,” she said. “It’s not hardship; it’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Kate and many others know that alcohol was introduced to her people as a means to steal from them. Living deeply connected to the history of their nation, they believe that if they shake free of the colonized mindset, alcohol wouldn’t even be an issue.

Threats to the land

In addition to trying to close down White Clay, the Oglala Lakota Nation is actively fighting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This 1,700-mile pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil each day from western Canada through South Dakota en route to Texas. At two points it would even intersect with a pipeline that serves as a main water source for the Sioux Nation, affecting all of the Pine Ridge reservation as well as the nearby Rosebud reservation.

Advocates for the pipeline argue the pipeline is the safest way to transport crude oil. TransCanada, the company in charge of the pipeline, predicted that the first Keystone pipeline, which runs from Alberta to Illinois, would spill once every seven years. During its first year in operation, it spilled 12 times. The Lakota, along with other First Nations, have vowed to use direct action to stop construction of the pipeline.

For a nation whose land and sovereignty has been threatened for hundreds of years by U.S. politics, the Keystone XL pipeline is part of a long history of threats to the Lakota Nation – and to the earth itself.

“They want to get rid of the Lakota, the protectors of the earth,” said Olowan Martinez, an organizer in the Lakota community. “But what they don’t know is when they get rid of the Lakota, the earth isn’t too far behind. Our people believe the Lakota is the earth.”

President Obama is scheduled to be make a final decision on the pipeline by the middle of 2014. While the Lakota are hoping he will not approve the project, they are also getting ready to stand up and fight. During the Liberation Day celebrations, the Lakota’s dances and stories relayed messages about sacred water and Mother Earth. The tribe has also united with other First Nations to organize a three-day direct action training called Moccasins on the Ground, which was designed to prepare people to act if the pipeline is approved.

“Dead or in prison before we allow the Keystone XL pipeline to pass,” the Lakota warriors, many mounted atop horses, repeated during the Liberation Day celebration. Their words carried the weight of 521 years, and counting, of lived resistance.

Camila Ibanez is an organizer in New York City focusing on migrant rights, environmental justice and sexual liberation.

“This pipeline will not be built,”

WILL THE NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINE PUSH THROUGH UNSURRENDERED FIRST NATIONS LAND IN BC?

VICE,

23 January, 2014

A few weeks ago the National Energy Board of Canada conditionally approved Enbridge’s plan to build twin pipelines called the Northern Gateway in northern Alberta and British Columbia. It was a grotesquely unpopular decision, with environmental concerns so ubiquitous among residents of BC that even pro-tar sands political parties are against it. The pipelines would carry diluent chemicals and bitumen between coastal tankers and Alberta’s tar sands, increasing export opportunities while introducing the risk of a spill to the coast, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Bear rainforest, and some of the leastcontaminated fresh-water rivers in the world. But the plan’s final approval, seemingly inevitable under Canada’s oil-drunk federal government, could result in unprecedented conflict: A broad coalition of politicians, citizens, environmental groups and indigenous nations are prepared to block the project with their bodies as it inches towards the coast.

At the Unist’ot’en encampment in Wet’suwet’en territory, people are already living in cabins that were built to blockade the Northern Gateway. Along with most other indigenous nations in BC, who have never given up their lands to the Canadian state, those at Unist’ot’en camp believe that this project escalates a conflict that is centuries old—they equate the Northern Gateway with a violation of their sovereignty and the extension of colonial law into their unsurrendered territories.

It’s appropriate then that Northern Gateway’s most enthusiastic cheerleader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told the G20 in 2009 that Canada “has no history of colonialism.” In thishistoricidal remark, Harper denied the often horrific strategies used by settlers and corporations to force indigenous people from their lands over hundreds of years, policies which are the veryfoundation of our country. But these acts of violence and dispossession, which Harper seeks to erase from history, will only intensify if Enbridge’s Northern Gateway is approved. This is because Enbridge plans to build the Northern Gateway predominantly across unsurrendered indigenous lands.

“There are creative, subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle ways that the practices of colonialism are still carried out. And this is absolutely one of them,” Jess Housty argued. She is an elected councillor of Heiltsuk Nation in BC who gained support through her anti-Enbridge activism. Speaking on behalf of her nation, Housty told me that the Northern Gateway is “an issue of sovereignty. It’s the point where we’re saying enough is enough, too much has been taken away. This is our place, this is our territory, these are our resources. We have a responsibility to steward them and we’re saying no. It’s about asserting our right to govern ourselves and to act as a sovereign nation.” Fighting the Northern Gateway is a matter of getting “the authority of tribal law recognized” and seeing “how it can be enforced and honoured and respected as a law of the land and a law of this place that has never been ceded by its original owners,” Housty said.

This sovereignty that many indigenous nations claim along the pipeline route is established in BC’s history of land disputes, which is unique among the Canadian provinces in that it is largely unresolved. Hayden King, director of Ryerson University’s Centre for Indigenous Governance, explained: “In the history of the BC treaty process very few agreements have been made. The vast majority of territory in British Columbia is unceded, unsurrendered indigenous territory.” But according to King, there are “two competing and contrasting perspectives on what unceded land, unceded territory means when it comes to consultation, development, rights, and so on.”

At one pole are the original inhabitants of these territories who have never signed away their lands and believe that they have the right to self-govern. This perspective is promoted by broad alliances of indigenous nations in BC, such as the Yinka-Dene alliance of 130 nations who have banned the transportation of oil through their territories and waterways under tribal law. Speaking on behalf of the alliance, Chief Martin Louie of Nadleh Whut’en First Nation was confident that this indigenous law is enforceable, particularly because most people in BC are also opposed to Enbridge’s project. He explained that there are “a lot of people that stand to help us fight this fight, whether it’s going to be in court or on the land… All these years I grew up with people calling British Columbia beautiful. It’s not going to be that way with all these projects going through it, and a lot of people are behind us on this.”

Unist’ot’en spokesperson Freda Huson explained that in Wet’suwet’en territory the traditional, consensus-based system of governance is “still alive and well here, even though a lot of other First Nations have lost their system.” Under this system they have banned all pipelines and established a rule that those looking to pass through the territory must answer a series of questions: “Who are you? Where are you from? How long do you plan to stay if we let you in? Do you work for the industry or government that’s destroying our lands? How will your visit benefit my people?” The last question, Huson said, is the one that “industry has trouble answering.”

“We’ve written them several letters saying no to this project. Nothing they say or do will change our mind. Because the environmental concerns come before any money, and we’re not holding out just so we can get money from them. We don’t want their money. We want to keep our land for future generations,” Huson said.

But despite all this, Huson’s clan has repeatedly found that corporate surveyors are sneaking onto their land. In November of 2012 they issued a feather to a group of pipeline surveyors, which is “the last warning in our tradition that you’re trespassing when you haven’t even spoke to us and asked permission to be there. None of these companies have ever approached us.” Underhistorical Wet’suwet’en law, ignoring this warning and continuing to trespass is punishable by death.

“Does Canadian law respect that perspective? Not really,” Hayden King said.

Proponents of this pipeline, like Enbridge and the Canadian state, hold a radically different understanding of what it means for indigenous land to be unceded. Under Canadian law, King explained, these parties “have a duty to consult and accommodate” indigenous peoples when proposing new projects. However “Canadian law is still very fuzzy about what consultation entails” and this could involve anything from writing a letter to actually giving indigenous groups veto power over proposals. But ultimately, King explained, consultation “doesn’t mean that native people can say no to development if they oppose it… Canada assumes that it has ultimate jurisdiction over this territory.”

Sentries guard Unist'ot'en land from trespassers.

“We’re always going to have this disparity between the jurisdiction indigenous peoples believe they have when it comes to unsurrendered land and the jurisdiction that Canada believes it has over those unsurrendered lands… they’re just two separate ways of looking at the world. They’re incompatible,” King said.

But the incompatibility of these worldviews makes conflict inevitable. “We’ve seen over and over again how government, military, and police bulldoze indigenous people that are basically just trying to protect our lands,” Freda Huson said. “It’s actually them that instigate everything they try to turn it around via media… You’ve seen what happened across New Brunswick. It was a peaceful protest and they were macing the women and children.”

I asked Jess Housty of Heiltsuk Nation if she fears that the government will turn to violence to build the Northern Gateway when people along its route refuse to be moved. “I do not fear it but I anticipate it,” she said. But Housty would prefer a peaceful solution. “I have a firm belief that we need to resolve this by peaceful, logical means in any way we can. I believe that because that is what my elders have told me and that is what is consistent with my teachings as a Heiltsuk person. Having said that, if this continues to be escalated by the federal government, by the National Energy Board, by Enbridge and the proponents, there’s nothing that I won’t do to stop this pipeline and I know I won’t be alone in that. I say that with the spirit of my community behind me,” she explained.

At Unist’ot’en camp, where a much more militant strategy of land defence is already in place, Freda Huson believes the RCMP’s use of force is inevitable. “I believe they’ve been preparing for it because they opened a base for training in Prince George and they upped their training and security with the RCMP,” she said. Nonetheless, Huson remains confident that the pipeline will never be built. “If any of government or industry is listening, you don’t know what you’re up against.” Accordingly, the camp is currently investing in security equipment after several arsons occurred and a homemade bomb was set off in territory. The perpetuators of these acts are unknown, but Huson speculates that they could potentially be part of an RCMP dirty trickscampaign or that these acts may have been undertaken by corporate goons.

Enbridge’s spokesperson, Graham White, declined to comment on whether or not the company had consulted with the many indigenous communities that will be impacted by their project, or what they will do if communities along the route do not consent to its construction. “I really don’t see the point in me taking the time to provide any further comments,” he told me in an email. Mr. White might have been annoyed that I caught him in a lie the last time we spoke.

But in the case of the Northern Gateway, this process of consultation was undertaken by the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel. It was a process that may have fulfilled the government’s duty to consult, even though many nations refused to participate on the basis that they had no input into designing the process itself. “It’s a process that was not of our making as a community. It’s of course a process being imposed on us,” Jess Housty explained.

There was also a pervasive sense that the panel’s outcome was pre-determined and the hearings were just a public spectacle. “It’s not a meaningful consultation process if ‘no’ is not an acceptable end result. There was no way that this process was going to end in the Joint Review Panel recommending that cabinet reject this project and then cabinet rejects this project,” Housty said. This sentiment seems to be confirmed in the NEB’s final conclusion – after hearing 1,159 testimonies against the project and only two for it, from indigenous and non-indigenous groups alike, the NEB’s three person panel determined that “Canada and Canadians would be better off with the Enbridge Northern Gateway project than without it.”

But despite these criticisms, Housty’s nation decided that they would participate in this process and voice their concerns. For the arrival of the National Energy Board, Heiltsuk studentsorganized a peaceful protest at the airport that included children, elders, and hereditary chiefs in traditional regalia. When the NEB panel arrived, Housty recalls, they “walked off the plane, bee lined to a waiting taxi, took a water taxi across to the next island where they were staying at a resort, and then issued a letter saying that they were cancelling our hearings because they felt that their security was being threatened. It took a day and a half of negotiations to get the hearings back on track and that was time that was never adequately made up.”

When the hearings finally went forward, many speakers were unable to deliver their prepared testimonies due to time constraints. Those elders who spoke, according to Housty, “were antagonized by the panel. We had elders who walked off the stand in protest because they refused to suffer being disrespected that way by people who had come into our territory and who were supposed to be unbiased.” She recalls “the atmosphere in the room… was of three very distracted people who were doing a duty but doing it in a very perfunctory way.” Ultimately, she feels that her community was denied “their right to express themselves. And that’s a lot of hurt and anger and disrespect that’s still stirring in this community.”

Yet, with so much anger growing throughout Canada’s northwest, the NEB’s decision can in no way be final.

“This pipeline will not be built,” Housty asserted. “I very firmly believe that the proponents of this pipeline underestimate the opposition to it. This is not just a First Nations issue; it’s not just an environmental issue. There is a huge and diverse constituency around this work, this advocacy work, this activism. The networks that have been built, the communities that have been built, are incredible and powerful and strong. These are people that are unlikely and often unlooked for allies that have never banded together as strongly as I’ve seen them band together here. It’s an incredible thing to watch.”

Elsipogtog

Temporary Victory for Mi’kmaq! SWN Abandons Fracking Until 2015

A Houston-based energy company that has faced ferocious resistance from a Mi’kmaq-led coalition is ending its shale gas exploration work for the year, says Elsipogtog War Chief John Levi.

Earth First Journal,

6 December, 2013

Levi said Friday that the RCMP informed him that SWN Resources Canada is ending its exploration work, but will return in 2015.

Levi said SWN and its contractors would be picking up geophones from the side of the highway today. Geophones interact with thumper trucks to create imaging of shale gas deposits underground.

“They are just going to be picking up their gear today,” said Levi. “At least people can take a break for Christmas.”

Demonstrations against the company escalated this week. Demonstrators twice burned tires on Hwy 11 which was the area where SWN was conducting its shale gas exploration.

SWN could not be reached for comment.

SWN obtained an extension to an injunction against the demonstrators Monday after arguing it needed two more weeks to finish its work. In its court filing, SWN claimed it needed about 25 km left to explore.

Levi said the Mi’kmaq community, which sits about 80 km north of Moncton, will be there again in 2015 to oppose the company. Levi said SWN will be returning to conduct exploratory drilling.

“We can’t allow any drilling, we didn’t allow them to do the testing from the beginning,” said Levi.

Levi said word that SWN is leaving is no cause for celebration just yet.

“We went through a lot,” he said. “We need some time for this to sink in and think about everything, think about what we went through…People did a lot of sacrificing.”

More to come

Fault Lines: Elsipogtog, The Fire Over Water

Since our friends in the US are blocked from viewing, I re uploaded it. ALL CREDIT TO AL JAZEERA ENGLISH and subMedia.tv. This upload is not for profit or any other reason other than to ensure that everyone can watch it. #ElsipogtogSolidarity

Anti-fracking protests in Canada

Indigenous Canadian fracking protesters refuse to back down

OTTAWA, Canada — Anti-fracking demonstrators set tires ablaze to block a New Brunswick highway Monday in a fiery response to a judge’s decision to extend an injunction limiting their protests against a Texas-based shale gas exploration company.

al-Jazeera America,

2 December, 2013

In a courtroom in Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, Judge Paulette Garnett ruled to continue through Dec. 17 the injunction obtained by SWN Resources Canada against a coalition of protesters led by Mi’kmaq indigenous people from the Elsipogtog First Nation.

The injunction, which SWN obtained on Nov. 22, is designed to keep protesters from interfering with SWN’s seismic testing work. It requires that demonstrators remain at least 250 yards in front of or behind contractors and their vehicles and 20 yards to the side.

The Mi’kmaq have argued that SWN is conducting exploration work on land that they never ceded to the crown when they signed treaties with the British in the 18th century.

New Brunswick’s government granted SWN licenses to explore for shale gas in 2010 in exchange for investment in the province worth approximately CA$47 million (about US$44 million).

The protesters fear that exploration will inevitably lead to gas extraction by means of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which water and chemicals are injected into shale rock to release gas deposits trapped inside. Opponents say fracking can contaminate the environment, especially water.

SWN has been trying since mid-November to complete the final 10 days of work it says are left in its exploration season. The company has claimed in court documents supporting the injunction application that each day of lost work costs about $54,000 and that vandalism by protesters has resulted in damage to more than 1,000 geophones — pieces of equipment used for seismic testing in conjunction with specialized trucks.

Daily confrontations

But the injunction has not deterred the anti-fracking alliance of indigenous people and members of New Brunswick’s Acadian and anglophone communities, a grouping that has consolidated since Elsipogtog residents began trying to stop SWN’s exploration work last May. Over the past week there have been daily confrontations with police, as protesters — who prefer to be known as protectors of the land and water — have persisted in their efforts to slow the seismic-testing operation.

“This isn’t just a native issue,” Edgar Clair of Elsipogtog First Nation told Al Jazeera from the site of the blockade on Route 11. “But the natives want the world to know that this is Mi’kmaq territory, and they won’t back down, and they won’t abide by this injunction.”

Earlier Monday afternoon protesters blocked Route 11 — the latest front line in this conflict over shale gas exploration — after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who decide how and when to enforce the injunction, arrested several people on or near the highway. People at the site said that there were more than 100 RCMP officers in the area, that some were armed with rubber pellet guns often used for crowd control and that at least one K-9 unit was on hand.

As night descended, there were reports that police in riot gear were near the blockade. The RCMP could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Our people are tired, and this is a response to the justice system,” said an Elsipogtog community member who was at the site and asked to go by the name Jane Doe 372, for fear of being targeted by police. The moniker is a reference to the injunction that names five individuals and a John and Jane Doe. “We’re tired of not being taken seriously and that the treaties we agreed to are not being taken seriously.”

Dancing around burning tires

As the sun set and round dances were held around the burning tires at the blockade, drumming and singing could be heard in live video streams broadcast from the site.

SWN’s original application for an injunction was supported by the provincial government. In an affidavit accompanying the filing, Bill Breckenridge of the Department of Energy and Mines maintained that the company “is engaged in lawful exploration activity along New Brunswick Route 11, a designated highway under the administration and control of the province.”

This is not the first injunction that members of the Mi’kmaq-led coalition of fracking protesters have defied.

At the beginning of October, SWN Resources Canada obtained an injunction against occupants of an encampment of protesters blocking a lot where the company had parked seismic-testing trucks. The camp effectively trapped the equipment.

On Oct. 17, a day before the injunction was due to expire, the RCMP enforced it. Dozens of officers entered the camp with automatic rifles, dogs and beanbag guns. As the day progressed, RCMP pepper-sprayed elders and women from Elsipogtog. Six RCMP vehicles were torched, and some 40 people were arrested.

Nonnative support growing

Across Canada on Monday, solidarity actions unfolded in support of the Elsipogtog. Demonstrators set up a temporary blockade at Vancouver’s port and rallied in the western city of Victoria. In Toronto there were banner drops, and a group of protesters photo-bombed an interview by Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a local news station. A small rally was held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. And in Montreal, a solidarity blockade stopped traffic at an intersection until an angry motorist turned violent and ran his car into a protester.

“The call has been heard across Canada,” said Dave Goodswimmer, who traveled to New Brunswick with a small caravan of supporters from British Columbia more than a month ago. “We’re not going anywhere,” he told Al Jazeera by phone, adding that more people were expected to join the blockade as the night progressed.

“Nonnative support is growing and growing,” Clair said. “It’s becoming a bigger issue than a single corporation coming to bully us around. It’s becoming a small revolution. Canada’s going to change after this.”

Elsipogtog support rallies sprout across Canada

Demonstrations across the country took place Monday in support of the anti -fracking movement in New Brunswick.

For video GO HERE

Anti-fracking protest in Canada Monday

Snowy Standoff in New Brunswick as Anti-Fracking Protesters Fight for 'Next Seven Generations'

'I think the community is standing up for the environment, and the police are protecting the company, and that's not right.'

- Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Common Dreams ,

1 December, 2013

A snowy standoff took place in New Brunswick between Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and anti-fracking protesters on Sunday as Elsipogtog community members and their allies continue the fight to protect their land from shale gas exploration.

Twitter users captured a lineup of "protectors" facing police along Highway 11 where energy company SWN Resources has trucks conducting seismic testing for shale gas.

EVANGELINA OLIVEIRA ‪@muschifuss998

RT ‪@musesandrants ‪#RCMP protect the corporate human from real humans who have something to lose

‪#Elsipogtog ‪#cdnpoli ‪pic.twitter.com/dYKEFleHp1

Retweeted by Alejandra Sampieri

A similar protest on Highway 11 on Friday blocked the road for hours, and several protesters were arrested for breaching a court injunction by SWN. CBC reports:

Under terms of the court order, protesters cannot interfere with the company's shale gas exploration. They must stay 20 metres away from the side of roads where the company is working and 250 metres away from the front or back of its trucks.

Friday's arrests brings the total to 14 since Monday. [...]

"They have tear gas, they have guns, we have nothing," said protester Mary Okay. "They're the ones that are blocking the road right now." [...]

Some people accused the officers of acting like private security for the company. [...]

"I think it's a disgrace," said Nancy Strabach. "I think the community is standing up for the environment, and the police are protecting the company, and that's not right.

The fight represents "a global issue," protesters say, and are calling for solidarity and for Monday to be a day of "emergency action."

“We are not giving up despite these harsh weather conditions, sacrificing time with our families, our jobs, our homes, not only to protect land, water and people but to ensure a brighter future for the next 7 generations. We are asking for more support, through road blocks to be in solidarity. This is not just an Elsipogtog issue, this is a global issue and we need to raise awareness. Show us support any way possible, sending thank you’s, road blocks, banners, even dropping by, all and every type of support is appreciated.”