Pipeline protesters spent Monday taking down their tents and gathering up supplies at a rail blockade along Route 126 in Harcourt, N.B.
“They planned on having this for 72 hours. Seventy-two hours is up today, and we are going to dismantle the camp,” said John Levi, warrior chief from Elsipogtog First Nation.
Levi said the First Nation’s grandmothers chose to stand in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs in protest of the the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.
“There (are) a lot of angry people right now and not just Indigenous people, but also the surrounding allies,” said Levi.
Flo Gallant is one of those allies. She was at the blockade to show her support for protesters.
“What they are doing to the native people is not fair,” she said.
She says she doesn’t agree with prime minister trudeau’s call for police to enforce injunctions and bring down the barricades.
Levi said that Trudeau’s move will have a negative impact on relations with Indigenous people.
“They call the shots are we are just the small guys here to protect the lands,” he said.
He said he doesn’t believe the pipeline will create long-term sustainable jobs in Canada, and in the end will only hurt the environment by contaminating land and water should the pipeline break – which he believes is inevitable
“They don’t care about the environment. They say oh this pipeline won’t break. Yeah, they are breaking. the earth is always shifting and they are on earth.”
Levi said blockades across the country may have impacted rail service, the transfer of goods across the country but, “that is the only time that the government listens”
“It’s not over,” he said. “We are going to dismantle the camp go home and plan for the next move.”