RCMP say a criminal investigation will be conducted after support beams on a bridge in northern B.C. appeared to have been cut near an area where police began arresting people for breaching an injunction that demanded they move aside to allow construction of a natural gas pipeline.

Four people were taken into custody yesterday and were to be taken to a detachment in Houston after six others were arrested a day earlier and released.

Saturday marks day three of the RCMP enforcement actions against the Wet’suwe’ten and their supporters opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline

Tensions remain high in the area and more arrests are expected over the weekend as people and obstacles remain in the way of Coastal GasLink and its contractors who are attempting to get back into a disputed area to re-start work on a natural gas pipeline. 

On Dec. 31, a B.C. Supreme Court judge issued an injunction against members of the Wet’suwe’ten Nation who have blocked access to a natural gas pipeline project inside their traditional territory and empowered RCMP to enforce the injunction.

Chief Na’moks of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation says people who’ve been arrested for opposing the Coastal GasLink pipeline weren’t obstructing any construction. 

He says residents are going about their business while the project is on hold during the winter season. 

Since Thursday the RCMP have been moving in, kilometre-by-kilometre, camp-by-camp, down the Morice West Forest Service Road, to enforce the injunction against named Wet’suwet’en defendants and supporters. 

Hereditary chiefs showed up at the new, 4-kilometre exclusion zone mark on the Morice Forest Service Road before 10 a.m. Saturday, expecting to have a meeting with RCMP Chief Superintendent Dave Attfield about next steps, in particular what RCMP planned at the 27-kilometre mark where a group of people remain in a camp area off the side of the road.

The camp was established in recent weeks as the RCMP presence increased on the territory in preparation for enforcement actions. 

Now, RCMP are saying people have to leave that area under their expanded exclusion zone. The hereditary chiefs are disputing this decision and expected to have a meeting with the RCMP at 10 a.m. to discuss the situation.

Hereditary chief Madeek had a heated exchange with RCMP Chief Attfield when he was told the chiefs would not be allowed to pass the four-kilometre post until further notice. 

Meantime, RCMP say several of their vehicles were damaged Friday by metal spikes at one of the protest sites.

Watch: RCMP break up Wet’suwe’ten blockade

The conflict, once again, is amplifying tensions between the Canadian and Indigenous legal systems as supporters of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs say it’s Wet’suwet’en law they are choosing to uphold. 

All the while, the RCMP continue to uphold the injunction which found Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TC Energy, is fully permitted by the province to work on constructing a $6-billion, 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline from northeastern B.C. to the coast in Kitimat. 

Exclusion zone expanded

By Friday night the RCMP had completed two waves of arrests resulting in 10 people being taken into custody.

The first waves of arrests occurred in the early morning hours on Thursday, when six people were arrested and released that night without charge, according to those arrested. 

The second wave of arrests occurred on Friday — resulting in the arrest of four people for breaching the injunction order, according to RCMP. 

For three days now RCMP have maintained an exclusion zone on the Morice West Forest Service Road, preventing anyone except police from moving freely down the road and into the areas where police continue to take enforcement actions. 

Hereditary chiefs have been let through at least once — in addition to a news crew from a B.C. news organization. 

But the exclusion zone continues to morph and change as police continue their actions on the road where the Wet’suwet’en and their supporters are maintaining a constant presence, along with trained legal observers and members of the press. 

On Friday night police announced the exclusion zone and checkpoint would be relocated more than 20 kilometres away on the road that is the only route that connects the Wet’suwet’en reoccupation sites with the nearest town of Houston, B.C. 

Police announced the new exclusion area after they came across an unexpected blockade on the road on Friday afternoon as vehicles were trying to leave from where the second wave of arrests had taken place to get back to Houston.

One of those vehicles was a police vehicle which was transporting the arrested people. 

The road was made impassable by people who parked several vehicles in a disorganized configuration that made it impossible for any vehicles to pass. 

Mounties said RCMP vehicles were damaged when they entered the court-ordered exclusion zone on Friday night.

RCMP were visibly frustrated when they came across the new blockade and tensions continued climbing as police tried to ask who they needed to talk to about what was going on. 

By late Friday night police had removed the vehicles with the help of heavy machine operators and the road was once again made passable — but tensions had clearly reached a new peak.

While vehicles were being moved on the road, dozens of police corralled Wet’suwet’en people and their supporters into a tight camp area, keeping a close watch over people’s movements in the area.  

As the clearing work came to an end for the night, the RCMP announced the exclusion zone would temporarily be expanded to keep the public much further from where enforcement actions are taking place.

RCMP did, however, commit to allowing the hereditary chiefs, industry and media access at a closer location. 

However, as of late Friday night, several people remained at the 27-kilometre camp area and police stated that if they didn’t leave in the morning they would be facing arrest.

Two of the nation’s hereditary chiefs, however, told the RCMP they did not consent to having people removed from that site and requested a meeting with senior RCMP and asked for that to happen on Saturday morning before any decisions were made or actions taken to remove people from the area. 

Unist’ot’en next site facing enforcement 

As the injunction enforcement enters the weekend, there is one, main site that police have yet to reach — the Uniost’ot’en healing village. 

It’s not clear how many people are staying there or what kind of obstacles stand in the way of Coastal GasLink and its contractors. 

Across Canada, people have staged blockades and protests in support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.

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