People from the Battlefords and the surrounding area gathered in the basement of the Royal Canadian Legion No. 70 in North Battleford Thursday night in solidarity with water protectors some 1,000 kilometres away near Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.
The event, which had speakers, dinner and a concert, was organized by local environmental group Water is Life, Treaty 6, The Battlefords to benefit Oceti Sakowin Camp, the largest of the anti-pipeline encampments that sits just north of the Cannonball River.
Elizabeth Cline, a founder of Water is Life, Treaty 6, The Battlefords, says she was compelled to start the group following the Husky Oil spill on July 21 when more than 200,000 litres of oil flowed into the North Saskatchewan River.
"I think as a society we just need to start being more careful with our water," said Cline. "Once that heavy crude goes into your river, it doesn't come out. I mean, they're able to retrieve some of it, but much of it is lost and settles to the bottom of the river and remains toxic.
"Once we contaminate our water, then what? Maybe it's OK for those of us who live in cities with municipal water treatments, but there are people who don't."
Cline also stated she felt there was a lack of information regarding the effect on animals around the river and the aquatic species that live in the river.
Communities along the North Saskatchewan River know all too well the risk of leaking pipelines, which may have something to do with the local solidarity movement. As Cline noted, "We don't want what happened here to happen there."
Jordan Nicotine, a fellow member of the environmentally minded group, says the proceeds from the benefit concert will be travelling south to Oceti Sakowin, but their local group has seen the ripple effect of anti-pipeline protests up north as well, saying, "It's not us just helping them. They're helping us because it's not going to stop in South Dakota, it's going up, it's making its way across the land."
Nov. 29, the federal government announced approval for two new pipeline projects, Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain and Enbridge's Line 3 and already there has been talk of protest. Speaking at the benefit Thursday night was elder Alexander Kennedy, who noted that people in B.C. will not be as receptive to the proposed pipelines as people in the prairie provinces.
Nicotine says protesting pipelines is just the first hurdle of environmental security. "We're fighting an entity. I understand pipelines are the safest way to transport oil, but this is just the beginning of what we have to do."
The group says they'd like to see the government move toward cleaner energy. Cline also noted a need for stricter regulations on oil companies by the government and more effective monitoring of pipelines.
On that part, some action has been taken. Nov. 28 Energy and Resources Minister Dustin Duncan introduced legislation that would enact tougher rules for pipelines and would establish government inspection, investigation and compliance power. The legislation would also raise penalties and require financial assurances where pipelines cross bodies of water.
Though, for some who want to see less oil dependence, these changes tend to the symptom and not the problem.
It was reported Monday, the protesters had won an initial victory, as construction of the pipeline has been called off, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issuing a statement they would not be granting permission for the Dakota Access pipeline to burrow beneath Lake Oahe in North Dakota, the final section of a four-state, $3.8 billion project.
The protesters are vowing to remain at the camp, however.
