Rally to support Wet'suwet'en held in downtown Calgary

CALGARY -

A protest against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline snarled traffic in downtown Calgary early Tuesday evening.

It was one of a series of protests taking place across Canada to show support for the Wet'suwet'en nation hereditary chiefs, who are opposed to the project despite it being approved by the elected council of the Wet'suwet'en nation.

The opponents oppose the gaslink project, a 670 kilometre pipeline that will transport natural gas from Dawson Creek to Kitimat B.C.

They also sought to show solidarity with protesters who were arrested at the site in B.C. last week.

"I saw how they took Indigenous women that have been living there on their own land and hauled them off to jail," said one protester.  "And so of course I stand with those women. And I believe that the RCMP ought to be trained to handle situations in a much better way."

The Coastal Gaslink pipeline is already more than half completed. According to Coastal Gaslink, almost the entire route is cleared and 200 km of pipe is already in the ground.

"It is absolutely about the environment as well," said another protester. "It's about collaborating on new initiatives for resolving our problems in the environment. We have to come together we've done damage that we rapidly cannot repair."

Traffic was disrupted along Fifth Avenue downtown, as the rally took place in front of the headquarters of TC Energy, the company building the pipeline.