March 23, 2018
(BURNABY) — Elizabeth May, arrested this morning at the Burnaby Mountain worksite of the Kinder Morgan pipeline project, is promising to stand firm with the Tsleil-waututh, Squamish and Musqueum First Nations and their supporters across Canada in opposing the “disastrous, climate-destroying Trans Mountain pipeline expansion”.
“I am keeping my word,” said Ms. May after she was released. “I said I would stand in solidarity with the First Nations opposing Kinder Morgan and I am keeping my word.
“Non-violent civil disobedience is legitimate as a means of expression but it is a step I have not taken before. Even standing on the logging roads of Clayoquot Sound in 1993, I stepped aside when asked to do so. I can no longer step aside.”
Ms. May said that she respects our courts and does not take violating an injunction lightly. “I await the court ruling on the legitimacy of the permit issued to Kinder Morgan. Unfortunately, the federal government and the Texas corporation are not awaiting the ruling of the Federal Court. Kinder Morgan is committed to acts constituting irreparable harm ‒ to the environment and to indigenous rights.
“I will continue to stand in solidarity with the First Nations on whose land these acts of vandalism are now being committed. Non-violent civil disobedience is the moral obligation of the climate-aware, responsible citizen.”
