About a hundred people gathered in downtown Courtenay Tuesday afternoon in one of dozens of rallies across the province to support pipeline protesters arrested in northwestern B.C.
Standing in front of the office of Courtenay-Comox MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard and the satellite office of Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns on Fifth Street, protestors listened to Komoks First Nation member Andy Everson rally in solidarity with 14 people taken into custody Monday at a blockage southwest of Smithers, B.C.
The protests come after an influx of RCMP officers near two Indigenous protest camps in Wet’suwet’en traditional lands.
The Gidimt’en camp blocks a forest service road needed by employees doing pre-construction work for the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The other camp is operated by the Unist’ot’en.
Attempts by The Record to reach Leonard for comment were unsuccessful by press time. Her Courtenay office is closed until Jan. 16, and calls to her cell phone went straight to voice-mail.
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See below for photos of the Comox Valley rally.
