Documentary Reflection

July 22, 2022 By: Zoë

In 2018, the Tiny House Warriors, located in Blue River, British Columbia, built ten tiny homes and posted up near the start of the trans-Canada pipeline route and in other building zones to protest the pipeline that is to be built through Secwepemc territory and elsewhere. A CBC article I found that was published in April of 2020 talked about how four outsiders entered the Tiny House Warriors encampment, vandalizing their vehicles and buildings, threatening the protestors, and physically injuring one of the men. These events have made protestors worry that “as pipeline construction comes closer and as temporary workers move into the area, incidents like this will increase”[1]. This pipeline poses one of the biggest threats to their traditional territory that the Secwepemc people have had to deal with since their land was stolen.

It is difficult for me to understand why time and time again we see peaceful protestors being physically and mentally abused by others, including and most often, the RCMP. I stand by people who put nature over economy, and I stand by Indigenous land sovereignty.

After watching If a Tree Falls: a Story of E.L.F, it made me realize that protests like trans-Canada pipeline protest and Fairy Creek protests have been going on for a very long time. The role of these protests, which at times lead to civil disobedience are extremely effective and leave marks on the overall population on environmentalism. Some people call protestors radical, but the reason they must go to such extremes is because these big industries that are trying log old-growth or build pipelines have already done the extreme. They were the radicals before any of the protesters got radical.

An example of civil disobedience bringing on change that could one day be positive is the actions of Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience, the Fairy Creek blockade, that has slowed down the old-growth logging planned a few years ago. I read a recent article by Chek News that the third year of the Fairy Creek blockades is in full force now. Although the fight is not over changes have been made to the original plan and many trees still stand.

 

[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/tiny-house-village-rcmp-investigate-incident-1.5541726

 

Media 1: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/tiny-house-village-rcmp-investigate-incident-1.5541726

Media 2: https://www.cheknews.ca/fairy-creek-logging-blockades-returns-for-third-year-of-protests-992198/