North Shore activists and members of the Squamish Nation took centre stage at Burnaby Mountain this week as protesters continued to oppose preliminary test drilling by Kinder Morgan in the conservation area.
Tamo Campos, a 24-yearold North Vancouver native and founder of the activist group Beyond Boarding was one of the protesters arrested on the mountain Thursday.
Campos said in media interviews he didn't go to the mountain intending to be arrested, but found himself in the front of a crowd of protesters facing down a line of police that afternoon.
"They were just pulling people over and arresting them. I happened to be one of the people who was pulled over," he said in a later interview with CBC Radio.
Campos was taken to the Burnaby RCMP detachment and was eventually released at about 9 p.m. after signing agreements to appear in court in January and stay away from the site of the protests. By the next day, however, Campos was back on Burnaby Mountain speaking to reporters.
"The issue is just too important right now," to stay away, he said. "When oppressed with unjust laws it's important to stand up to them."
Campos got support for his actions from his famous grandfather, environmentalist David Suzuki, who wrote a letter saying Campos was "doing what I would have done myself" if it didn't risk his job as the host of CBC's The Nature of Things. "Tamo is fighting for the world that will be left to his generation in the future," wrote Suzuki, adding that his grandson is "not a criminal."
Sut-Lut, a Squamish Nation woman, was also arrested Thursday after refusing to move from a totem pole that Kinder Morgan crews wanted to move. She was held overnight in RCMP cells after refusing to sign papers promising she wouldn't go back to Burnaby Mountain.
Sut-Lut was back on the mountain this week, tending a "sacred fire" she started inside the injunction zone, along with her sister Clarissa Antone and other First Nations women.
Sut-lut said she has stressed the need for peaceful protest, adding as long as the protest remains that way she will stay on the mountain "until we win this thing."
Antone said she is hoping to organize a peaceful protest of women and children on Saturday.
On Friday, Squamish Chief Ian Campbell also spoke on Burnaby Mountain, praising citizens for "standing up for what is right." Campbell called on the province to insist on its own environmental review of the project. "We must open the door for citizen engagement to allow all voices to be heard," he said.
The National Energy Board is still reviewing Kinder Morgan's plan to increase capacity on the Trans Mountain pipeline from 300,000 barrels of oil a day to 890,000. Kinder Morgan is drilling two six-inch holes roughly 250 metres into the ground in two locations on the mountain.
Kinder Morgan released a statement Saturday saying crews were starting to retrieve core samples, and that the company would restore the park once the work is completed.
The company issued a statement saying "Trans Mountain supports the right of protesters to lawfully assemble and respectfully demonstrate their interests" but added "we will continue to put the safety of our workers and everyone on Burnaby Mountain as our first priority."
