Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took time from his African jaunt Wednesday to tell reporters the growing lawless protests in Canada over the building of the Global GasLink pipeline are “concerning.”.Road blocks, train blockades, port, buildings and bridge shutdowns have been growing across Canada since last Thursday when the RCMP raided and tore down an Indigenous camp near Smithers..“Obviously it’s extremely important to respect the right to freely demonstrate peacefully, but we need to make sure the laws are respected. That’s why I’m going to be engaging with our ministers and looking at what possible next steps there are,” Trudeau told reporters in Senegal..Trudeau said he would be talking to cabinet ministers later Wednesday..• EDITORIAL: What the Western Standard is saying about the protests..“I am encouraging all parties to dialogue, to resolve this as quickly as possible,” said Trudeau..On Tuesday, CN Rail said it would be forced to shut down large swaths of track if the protests continue. It said Canada’s international reputation as a supplier was being damaged.. BlockadeBlockade .And VIA Rail has now cancelled dozens of trips in high traffic areas of Eastern Canada. They have cancelled all trips through Thursday..The Prince George Citizen said the RCMP had found a bridge damaged near the standoff site..RCMP said officers noticed on Friday the support beams had been cut and some bolts loosened on Lamprey Creek Bridge, making it unsafe to support any kind of traffic. By Saturday, repairs had been complete, and a criminal investigation launched, RCMP said..The pipeline has the support of all First Nations along the route, but hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en Nation, through which 28% of the 670-km route passes, oppose it..A group of unelected hereditary chiefs had set up a camp near Smithers and have kicked out Coastal GasLink workers.. Trudeau says spreading pipeline blockades a ‘concern’Courtesy Twitter .The RCMP said they have found traps like felled trees and three stacks of tires along with flammables along the access road..On Jan. 7, 2019, RCMP arrested 14 protesters along the B.C. logging road. .International attention was drawn to the issue when a British newspaper reported RCMP were ready to shoot protesters when they broke up the camp. The RCMP denied the story..On Dec. 31, the B.C. Supreme Court granted CGL an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation from blocking the pipeline route near Smithers, B.C..But the situation has been further complicated after a Jan. 3 indict by the Unist’ot’en, a smaller group within the First Nation, that they intend to terminate an agreement that had granted the company access to the land..The RCMP checkpoint had been set up at the 27-km mark of the forest service road “to mitigate safety concerns related to the hazardous items of fallen trees and tire piles with incendiary fluids along the roadway.”.The $6.6 billion pipeline, to be operated by TC Energy Corp, would transport gas from near Dawson Creek in northeast B.C. to Kitimat on the coast and supply Canada’s largest liquefied natural gas export terminal, called LNG Canada, which is under construction..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Nobby7694
