Saskatchewan premier ‘thankful’ to hear Trudeau call for end to Wet’suwet’en barricades

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said he is thankful that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling for the Wet’suwet’en solidarity blockades to come down.

Trudeau, along with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, spent a portion of Thursday evening in a teleconference with Canada’s premiers. Moe has been in contact with Trudeau on the issue since Wednesday, as chair of the Council of the Federation.

Moe told reporters on Friday that many of the points Trudeau made in his Friday address echoed the discussion points in Thursday’s call. He added he was “pleasantly surprised” to hear a sense of urgency on the call.

“The prime minister said today that Canadians have been patient throughout this process but that patience is not unlimited in Canada,” Moe said.

“Today we were thankful that after our call last night, the prime minister has moved on some of the discussion points that we’ve had. The prime minister most certainly strengthened his resolve in addressing what is becoming a very urgent situation.”

4:32 Trudeau says barricades across Canada ‘need to come down now’

Over the past two weeks, protestors across Canada have blockaded railways in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. This comes after the RCMP enforced a court injunction and made arrests at a blockade along the pipeline route.

The hereditary chiefs are opposed to Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline route for environmental reasons, which passes through their traditional territory.

The pipeline would carry natural gas through northeastern B.C. to the Pacific coast, and is supported by 20 other First Nations communities along the route. This includes the elected Wet’suwet’en band council.

On Friday, Trudeau said that court injunctions against the blockades must be obeyed, and the law upheld.

Moe declined to comment on whether or not he thinks police should now move in and take down rail barricades.

“I think the first opportunity is for those that are illegally blocking to receive the message and dismantle their blockades and engage in a discussion, and the prime minister indicated we had been attempting and trying to dialogue with these individuals,” Moe said.

“There is a discussion, that needs to be an ongoing discussion, but the barricades also need to be down. So the discretion of how law enforcement agencies decide to act, that’s entirely their choice, but the expectation of the government of Canada is the law will be enforced.”

The premier is hopeful that the barricades will be removed in short order.

While there have been no rail blockades in Saskatchewan, Moe said the province still felt the impact due to $2 billion in annual provincial exports that are shipped by train.