A Senior's Moment: Arrested Taking a Stand Against Kinder Morgan

Yesterday I Was Arrested Standing Up to Kinder Morgan

by Liz McDowell - Protect the Inlet

March 19, 2018

Yesterday, I was arrested taking bold action to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline, as a new wave of protests against Kinder Morgan began.

Indigenous leaders have called for a series of rolling actions that will take place this week from Monday to Saturday.

Everyday starting tomorrow, groups will meet at 8:00 am at the Burnaby 200 Soccer field for a mandatory training and then deploy for the action at 10:00 am.

Click here to let organizers know when you can make it.

After nearly five years working to raise awareness about the risks of the pipeline expansion, I decided to listen to the call of Coast Salish elders to “warrior up” against Kinder Morgan and put my body on the line.

TAKE BOLD ACTION

Yesterday I joined 25 other people from all walks of life and together we marched to the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby mountain tank farm.

Once we arrived, we sat in front of the gates for several hours, singing and getting to know each other, before the RCMP arrived to arrest us for breaking an injunction that makes it illegal to come within 5 meters of Kinder Morgan’s property.

Rolling actions against Kinder Morgan will be happening every morning from Monday until the window for tree-clearing at the tank farm closes on March 26th (in order to protect migratory birds that start arriving in the spring).

Click here to let organizers know exactly when you can be there. I know they’ve sent you a lot of forms this week, but please take a moment to fill out this one even if you’ve already filled out a whole bunch.

I take breaking the law very seriously, and I didn’t make this decision lightly. The injunction that a court granted Kinder Morgan last week gives the corporate oil giant more rights than Indigenous communities and British Columbians - and that’s deeply unjust. So I refused to follow the law.

 

"The injunction that a court granted Kinder Morgan last week gives the corporate oil giant more rights than Indigenous communities and British Columbians - and that’s deeply unjust."  – Liz McDowell

I grew up along the proposed pipeline route - first in Chilliwack (in Stó:lō territory) and then in Langley (in Kwantlen and Katzie territory). Communities in the Fraser Valley would face huge risks from this pipeline - it would run right under the aquifers that supply their drinking water, through vital farmland and under several key waterways. To me, these risks are very clearly not acceptable.

I want to protect these lands I call home, I want my daughter to grow up in a future without catastrophic climate change, and I want our federal government to respect the rights of the Indigenous peoples who’ve been caretakers of this land since time immemorial.

It was an honour and a privilege to stand in solidarity with Indigenous leadership and together with such a dedicated group of people, most of whom had never done anything like this before. I was arrested alongside people like Clayton Thomas-Muller, who said he was taking action not just to fight for a safe future for his two sons -- but for all of our young people.

And Jeanette Paisley, a retired Montessori teacher who said,

“I’ve been a law-abiding citizen all my life and I have rarely had a speeding ticket but I am appalled that Kinder Morgan can get its way and I’m very disappointed with Trudeau.”

"I’ve signed petitions all my life and when I heard about this I decided it was time I got off my duff and do something." – Jeanette Paisley, retired Montessori teacher.

And former Edmonton-based tech entrepreneur Tim Bray, who wrote a powerful blog about his experience. If you’re curious about what to expect when taking bold action, I really recommend this piece by Tim.

"If you’re in Van­cou­ver, and care about this stuff, you can make a dif­fer­ence."  - Tim Bray, Tech Entrepreneur

Thank you for being part of this movement, I hope to see you on the streets very, very soon. Once again, please fill out this form to let organizers know when you can make it.

With hope and determination,
Liz McDowell

PS - If you want to catch a glimpse of the bold and beautiful action from yesterday, check out the wrap up video on the Protect the Inlet website.