Several hours of meetings between RCMP and the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have finally come to a close.
After coming to a tentative agreement yesterday, the chiefs have now reached a deal which will see them comply with a temporary injunction issued by the BC Supreme Court last month.
As part of the deal, the chiefs will open their gates at the Morice River Bridge and allow Coastal GasLink to perform pre-construction work.
However, the chiefs are making it clear that they are still adamantly opposed to the pipeline’s construction and that they only made the deal to ensure the safety of their people.
For their part of the agreement, RCMP will remove the temporary exclusion zone tomorrow morning, set up a temporary Community-Industry Safety Office on the Morice West Forest Service Road, ensure a continued police presence, and conduct roving patrols to ensure the safety of inhabitants.
On top of that, RCMP will undergo cultural awareness training on the Wet’suwet’en people, and, from now on, refer to the Unist’ot’en camp as the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre.
The Chiefs are also making it clear that their agreement is with RCMP, not CGL.
