Editor:
I agree that any citizen of Canada has the right of free expression and the right to protest whatever they see fit. What they do not have is the right, as part of a protest, to block roads, railways and legal access to ports or other places of work and, if they do, they should be summarily removed, arrested and charged.
What these people seem not to realize is that they are:
a) Violating the rights of hundreds of Indigenous people who have approved this gas line project.
b) Destroying legitimate and legal economic activity.
c) Supporting half a dozen hereditary chiefs, who appear to be accountable to no one except themselves.
d) Agreeing that Canadian land “belongs” to Indigenous peoples as opposed to being shared.
e) Agreeing that Indigenous law takes precedence over that enacted by Parliament.
f) Trying to shut down the transportation and sale of natural gas, which is a “clean” fuel and is intended to replace “dirty” oil and coal, thereby preventing legitimate efforts to reduce GHG emissions.
g) Destroying wealth creation, which will help the Indigenous people.
If these protesters are successful, they will destroy Canadian jobs and they will signal that a handful of unelected (even by their own people) Indigenous chiefs effectively own this confederation and have unfettered right to shut it down economically.
Buzz Bennett, Gibsons
