Hundreds of people took over parts of downtown Victoria and Nanaimo to shine a spotlight on pipelines and indigenous rights.
In Victoria, the demonstration shut down Douglas Street with protesters waving signs and chanting things like “Hey Trudeau, Kinder Morgan’s got to go.”
The protest was billed as a global movement to support First Nations in North Dakota, who are trying to block construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Demonstrators said they were also standing up for First Nations rights everywhere, including those against the expanded Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline approved earlier this week by the Trudeau government.
Organizers of the protest said they want people to pressure banks that fund what they call destructive pipeline projects like Trans Mountain, so the protest route winded from the public library to the TD Bank.
“It’s not no to all pipelines. It’s the process that we go through,” one protester said. “It’s having a process that rigorous, that is transparent and that uses the best available information.”
In Nanaimo, demonstrators gathered at Terminal Avenue near Maffeo Sutton Park, causing traffic tie-ups as streets were blocked.
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project was approved Tuesday and will see a large increase in tanker traffic off the coast of Vancouver Island once it’s complete.
In both Victoria and Nanaimo, the demonstrations were loud – but peaceful.
