RCMP devote 40 investigators to attack at Coastal GasLink work site

RCMP seek to identify some 20 masked assailants who threatened Coastal GasLink pipeline contractors and caused millions of dollars in damage.

Heavy machinery at the CGL work site toppled over by raiders who apparently used other heavy machinery to carry out millions of dollars in damages.

by Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, Feb 18, 2022

Attackers disabled lighting and video-surveillance equipment during their raid on a remote Coastal GasLink work site in northwestern B.C. and commandeered heavy equipment to inflict damage estimated to be in the millions of dollars, the company said Friday.

Video and photos captured before the equipment was disabled in the attack have been turned over to RCMP.

Police are trying to identify suspects among the reported 20 to 40 individuals involved in the apparently co-ordinated attack that happened on Thursday, just after midnight.

Violence in Akwesasne as protestors clash with Mohawk police over dispensary raid

Police car burns on the Akwesasne Mohawk territory, Feb. 22, 2019.

by Alan S. Hale, Standard Freeholder, February 23, 2019

AWKESASNE — The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) is pleading for calm after a protest in front of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service headquarters became violent on Friday night, resulting in a police SUV to be stolen by protesters and burned on an international ice bridge that connects different portions of the community.

Thunder Bay police board apologizes for systemic racism

by Willow Fiddler, APTN National News, Jan 14, 2019

The Thunder Bay Police Services Board apologized to Indigenous people in the northern Ontario city over the systemic racism in its municipal police force.

It’s the first step in a process to reform how the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) regards, interacts with and treats the city’s large Indigenous population and those from northern communities who attend school or seek medical care in the city.

Federal officials expected nationwide protest from RCMP action at Wet’suwet’en camp

Toronto protesters block a roadway in solidarity with Unist’ot’en in response to RCMP raid. Photo: Facebook

Government Operations Centre conducted risk assessment in 2015

by Jorge Barrera, CBC News,  Jan 12, 2019

Federal officials have long expected a nationwide fallout of protests from an eventual RCMP action against the Wet’suwet’en nation over the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline, internal documents show.

‘Tripod’ delays access to Unist’ot’en camp; RCMP to maintain presence

RCMP take down “tripod” blocking access past Unist’ot’en camp Jan. 11. (Twitter photo)

by Chris Gareau, Interior News, Jan 11, 2019

Police checkpoints stayed up Friday as a structure blocked RCMP and Coastal GasLink workers’ past the Morice River bridge.

Described by police as a “tripod,” social media rumours that it held cultural significance were quashed by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and Unist’ot’en spokesperson Freda Huson, and they confirmed they wished it be removed according to RCMP.

RCMP, Wet’suwet’en reach tentative deal to let gas company workers through

Agreement would give pipeline workers access to area by Thursday afternoon

by Chantelle Bellrichard, CBC News,  Jan 9, 2019

A tentative agreement has been reached to allow workers for a natural gas pipeline company to access to an area in northern B..C. that had been the focal point of a First Nation protest.

The hereditary leadership of the Wet’suwet’en Nation spelled out some of the details of the tentative deal in a Facebook livestream on Wednesday from the healing centre of the Unist’ot’en camp.

RCMP arrive at Unist’ot’en camp with hereditary chiefs

Members of the RCMP Division Liaison Team arrive at Unist’ot’en checkpoint. Photo: Jesse Winter/StarMetro Vancouver.

By Perrin Grauer, Alex McKeen, Jesse Winter, StarMetro Vancouver, Jan. 9, 2019

UNIST’OT’EN CAMP— The RCMP and hereditary chiefs, with media in tow, arrived at the Unist’ot’en camp about 65 kilometres outside of Houston, B.C. in a bid to peacefully shut down the days-old standoff with members of the Wet’suwet’en nation.

RCMP on the move to last and longest-standing Wet’suwet’en camp

Burning barricade at Gidimt’en checkpoint on Jan 7, 2019, part of a series of additional blockades which served to stop the RCMP advance. Photo: Jesse Winter/StarMetro Vancouver.

By Jesse Winter, StarMetro Vancouver, Jan 8, 2019

MORICE WEST FORESTRY SERVICE ROAD, B.C.—After Monday’s chaotic retreat from the Gidimt’en checkpoint, the mood Tuesday at the Unist’ot’en camp healing lodge was subdued and tense.

Windows were covered with blankets.

On the bridge nearby, a gate was topped with barbed wire and monitored by a security camera, as Unist’ot’en clan members awaited the inevitable return of police.

Around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, spotters along the logging road reported police were on the move again with more vehicles and heavy equipment.

Soaring Eagles: Indigenous teens introduced to policing careers

Participants in the Soaring Eagle after their graduation ceremony on Aug. 10, 2018, in Edmonton, Alberta. Photo: David Bloom / Postmedia

The R.C.M.P. have begun a recruiting program aimed at Indigenous youth called “Soaring Eagle” and apparently modeled after the Canadian military’s programs “Bold Eagle”, “Soaring Bird”, “Black Bear”, and “Raven”.

by Stephen Cook, Edmonton Journal, August 10, 2018

Indigenous teens got the chance to train like police this week in the inaugural Soaring Eagles Indigenous Youth Camp.

Hailing from all over Alberta, the class of 16- to 19-year-olds spent the last week sleeping in barracks and attending classes about policing careers from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in preparation for Friday’s graduation at RCMP K Division Headquarters.

RCMP execute search warrants at Chilliwack cannabis shops on First Nations land

A Chilliwack RCMP officer outside the Indigenous Bloom Medical Cannabis Dispensary on the Kwaw-Kwaw-Apilt First Nation on July 12 as a search warrant is executed. (Paul Henderson/ The Progress)

Officers on scene at The Kure on Skwah and Indigenous Bloom on Kwaw-Kwaw-Apilt Thursday

by Paul Henderson, Chilliwack Progress, July 12, 2018

The proprietors of two new cannabis retail shops on two different local First Nations reserves in Chilliwack learned this week that, yes, marijuana is still illegal.

At around 10 a.m. on July 12, Mounties blocked the entrance to the parking lots at The Kure Cannabis Dispensary on the Skwah First Nation just off Wolfe Road, and at the newer Indigenous Bloom Medical Cannabis Dispensary on the Kwaw-Kwaw-Apilt First Nation on Ashwell Drive.