Government officials are clearly shook over the recent article published by Vancouver’s Georgia Straight concerning potential sabotage against the Enbridge pipeline. That article, reposted on Warrior Publications, was entitled “Activists plot how to block new pipelines in BC.” Although there have been many calls made for civil disobedience, this is one of the first major public discussions about the potential for sabotage actions against pipeline construction.
MacKay warns would-be oil saboteurs
DANIEL PROUSSALIDIS, QMI AGENCY/The Toronto Sun, January 10th, 2014
OTTAWA – Canada’s justice minister is warning activists who muse about sabotaging oil pipelines and “war” against energy companies to watch their steps.
“Anything that promotes sabotage, which is mischief, which is damage to property, which is in many cases dangerous, is illegal,” Peter MacKay said Thursday in Halifax. “And there are limits obviously placed on protests and on a person’s efforts to express their disdain and their opposition to certain issues.”
MacKay’s comments come in response to a report this week in the leftist, Vancouver-based Georgia Straight newspaper about how environmental and aboriginal activists will oppose Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline if the feds approve the project and construction begins.
The Dishonourable Peter Mackay, federal Minister of Injustice, looking very concerned.
Activist Ambrose Williams is quoted as saying he doesn’t condone sabotage or destruction of property, but still holds that “anything like that is acceptable if the cause is just.”
“And stopping the pipeline is a just cause,” he said in the report.
The same report quotes Williams’ fellow activist Shannon Hecker as saying opposition to oil and gas pipelines “is just like another sort of front on that same war” to defend Mother Nature.
That’s the kind of talk that could attract the attention of CSIS or other security agencies in Canada.
CSIS declined QMI Agency’s request for comment, but a spokesman noted the issue of environmental extremism has been on the agency’s radar for years.
“Eco-extremists, aboriginal extremists and other issue-motivated groups in Canada, though very small in number, can encourage, threaten and support serious acts of violence,” CSIS said in its 2009-2010 annual report.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2014/01/20140109-162511.html
Industry minister speaks out against anti-pipeline threats
By Daniel Proussalidis , Toronto Sun, Friday, January 10, 2014
OTTAWA — Another federal minister has jumped into the fray following a report this week about possible eco-extremist violence to stop any future construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline project in B.C.
“I think certainly those who speculate or engage in really aggressive kinds of protests that is not just about sharing their opinion, but denying other people the ability to express their opinion, is not something that I think people welcome,” Industry Minister James Moore said Friday in Vancouver.
James Moore, federal minister of Industry.
His comments come a day after Justice Minister Peter MacKay warned activists they risk criminal charges if they go too far.
Concerns bubbled up this week following a Georgia Straight newspaper report.
In it, B.C.-based activist Ambrose Williams appeared to suggest property destruction would be alright for a “just cause” like stopping a pipeline, while fellow activist Shannon Hecker spoke of “war” to defend Mother Nature.
Both activists toned down their comments in a Friday interview with Sun News Network.
“It’s not that we plan to become violent,” said Williams. “I was merely citing … points in history where this has happened.”
Hecker said she doesn’t condone violence, but she also didn’t condemn it.
“I’m not going to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do,” Hecker said.
Meanwhile, a former CSIS operative said the intelligence agency is paying attention to eco-extremists.
“They will definitely assign some investigators that will use various techniques, including occasionally recruiting sources and maybe double-agents to infiltrate those groups in order to understand what’s going on,” Michel Juneau-Katsuya, president of Northgate Group, said.
EXPLAINED: Eco-terrorism
CSIS Definition of extremists: Activists who “encourage, threaten and support serious acts of violence.”
Major past events:
October 2013: Activists riot and torch police cars in an effort to stop natural gas development in New Brunswick.
October 2013: Canadian eco-extremist Rebecca Rubin pleads guilty to setting a series of fires across the western U.S. that torched a ski resort and other buildings.
October 2008 – July 2009; Six bombs detonated on Encana natural gas pipelines in British Columbia
Threat to the energy projects:
“Attacks on the Western Canadian oil industry, ranging from vandalism to bombings, during the nineties and more recently in 2008-2009, serve as a reminder that opposition to the oil and gas industry in Alberta and British Columbia can at times become violent.” (Source: 2012 CSIS Intelligence Assessment)
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/01/10/industry-minister-speaks-out-against-anti-pipeline-threats
