Ten months after an overnight attack on staff and equipment at a northern B.C. pipeline work site, two groups are offering a sizeable reward for information leading to an arrest and charges.
Crime Stoppers and the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) announced Monday that up to $100,000 is available in exchange for tips on the Feb. 17 attack at the Coastal GasLink site.
“These acts of violence were planned, coordinated, premeditated and carried out with precision,” said ICBA president Chris Gardner in a news conference.
“People were threatened, lives were at risk and more than $20 million worth of equipment was completely destroyed. The level of fear that these workers experienced was horrific.”
RCMP have not identified any suspects in the attack and have exhausted “all leads to date,” according to Supt. Jim Elliott, who joined Gardiner and Crime Stoppers’ Linda Annis at the Monday press conference.
No new tips have been submitted since the early days of the investigation, he added, and hours spent reviewing footage and interviewing victims, witnesses and persons of interest, have not produced results.
“We firmly believe there are people out there who can give us key information,” said Elliott. “We need to hold these suspects accountable.”
According to police, the attack on the Marten Forest Service Road work site near Houston, B.C. took place just after midnight on Feb. 17. A security guard reported about 20 people had invaded the camp, some armed with axes, and were attacking staff and smashing truck windows.
Police responded right away, but were impeded by “hard block obstacles,” said Elliott.
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“At one point at the 40-kilometre mark there were downed trees, tar-covered stumps, wires, boards with spikes on hem and debris on fire in the middle of the roadway,” he described.
“A number of people engaged our officers as they made their way through the debris and traps, by throwing smoke bombs and fire-lit sticks at them, causing injuries to one officer.”
Coastal GasLink staff escaped unscathed, but significant damage was done to the equipment.
If built, the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline would transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a liquefied natural gas facility in coastal Kitimat, where it would be exported to global markets.
The project is permitted under Canadian law, but does not have the blessing of Wetsuwet’en Nation’s hereditary chiefs, whose unceded territory it crosses. Concerned for the well-being of ecosystems and sovereignty over their land, the chiefs have said the pipeline is “illegal” under their laws — the only ones they recognize on their territory.
A court-ordered injunction was granted in December 2019 to stop opponents of the pipeline from impeding the company’s activities, but since then, a blockade has been set up on and off anyway.
In a statement shortly after the attack, hereditary chiefs said they were aware of the recent vandalism and safety concerns of Coastal GasLink personnel, and condemned all forms of violence.
“At this time, we do not have enough information to make any comments regarding the situation,” they wrote. “We have a trapping program on the yintah and members living on the yintah in this area, we continue to express our concern for their safety and wellbeing too.”
According to Coastal GasLink, the pipeline is 80 per cent complete with more than 470 kilometres of pipeline installed.
Linda Annis, executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers, described the Feb. 17 attack as “terrifying.” No one who has ever contacted Crime Stoppers has had to testify in court, she added.
“It’s reasonable to assume anyone with information about this crime might fear retaliation if they told anyone, but please be assured it’s safe to call us at Crime Stoppers. We guarantee your anonymity,” Annis said. “Please break this code of silence.”
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Houston RCMP at 250-845-2204, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 to remain anonymous.
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