RCMP Shares New Details on Pipeline Attacks by ‘Anarchist’ Protesters

The terminus for the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline is seen at the LNG Canada export terminal under construction in Kitimat, B.C., on Sept. 28, 2022. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

The RCMP has shared new information regarding axe-wielding masked protesters who wreaked havoc on a Coastal GasLink pipeline worksite in Houston, British Columbia, in February last year.

The RCMP has not made any arrests—and has said little about the investigation since—but Chief Supt. John Brewer told The Epoch Times that they have suspects, against whom police have been building strong evidence for more than a year in hopes of presenting “the best investigative package” to ensure a likely conviction.

He recalled how it all went after officers arrived on the scene Feb. 17, 2022, and how they were occupied keeping everyone safe as the perpetrators got away.

Not only did the attackers use axes on the vehicles and equipment, they also used an excavator to damage the large office trailer on site, Brewer said. “We were sifting through that to look for survivors, because at the time we didn’t know if someone was dead or severely injured inside.”

The instinct of the workers onsite would have been to run into that building for protection, Brewer said. That the attackers destroyed the building not knowing who was in there shows “a wanton disregard for human life,” he said. As it turned out, no one was severely injured or killed.

Photo showing some of the widespread damage done to the Coastal GasLink construction site in Houston, B.C., on the night of Feb. 17, 2022. Courtesy Coastal GasLink

While one group of officers sought to secure the site and locate survivors, another group pursued the assailants.

But an officer in the latter group fell victim to a “man-trap,” Brewer said.  A board with nails sticking up from it had been placed strategically to injure any pursuing officers, and it served its purpose. The team withdrew, not knowing what other traps may lay in wait.

The assailants escaped on snowmobiles, following a path cleared through the forest for the pipeline. They met up with waiting vehicles and headed down the access road to the Yellowhead Highway.

Brewer believes the attack was carefully planned in advance and that the same people were behind a more minor attack at the site a couple of weeks earlier. “That earlier event ... was certainly a test of the company’s response and our response,” he said.

Coastal Gaslink said millions of dollars in damage was done to the construction site that night.

Damage to heavy equipment at the Coastal GasLink site inflicted during the attack on Feb. 17, 2022. Courtesy of Coastal GasLink

Other Attacks

The Feb. 4 incident involved eight masked intruders in camouflage who set off smoke bombs and fire extinguishers and banged on vehicles at the site. The RCMP went to the site, but did not take action as there was no “assaultive behaviour,” Brewer said.

Fast-forward to Oct. 26, when vehicles belonging to the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) division responsible for protecting the pipeline parked outside a hotel in Smithers were set on fire. C-IRG officers were spending the night at the hotel.

The fire spread from four C-IRG vehicles to several other vehicles in the parking lot.

A self-described “anarchist” group called Montreal Counter-Information took responsibility for the arson in a post on its website.

“The burnt-out CGL [Coastal GasLink] and BC Hydro trucks are hardly regrettable. The damaged ambulance is unfortunate and unintentional. No one was harmed in this action because steps were taken to ensure that no one would be,” the group said in French.

The group said that “Coastal GasLink is drilling below the sacred springs of the Wedzin Kwa. The ground is shaking in Wet’suwet’en territories.” It blamed C-IRG for defending Coastal GasLink and said “a wide range of tactics” are necessary to defend the indigenous land.

The 670-kilometre pipeline cuts across Wet’suwet’en First Nation traditional territory in northwestern B.C. Twenty indigenous groups along the pipeline’s route have officially endorsed it, but some Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs oppose it.

Brewer said that in his time with C-IRG, since 2018 he has seen the protests go from peaceful to violent.

“I have seen the numbers and type of people at the protest camps change,” he said. It started with more local protesters who would block roads and obstruct progress on the pipeline, but did so in a fairly peaceful manner. “Now, there has been certainly a more radicalized, even an anarchist element, that has been invited in by protest leaders.”

He said the invitations from local protesters have been clear, with social media posts specifically welcoming “anarchists” to join.

The RCMP has not made any arrests in the Oct. 26 arson and Brewer said the investigation is ongoing. He said it is separate from the Feb. 17 attack, “although it’s entirely possible that there may be people linked to both.”

Recent Swarming Attack

On March 26 this year, a Coastal GasLink worker was swarmed by people wearing masks and camouflage on the Morice West Forest Service Road not far from the site of last year’s attack. The group fired flares and allegedly stole a chainsaw. The worker fled, uninjured.

Brewer said he can’t say at this time that the same people behind last year’s Feb. 17 attack are connected to this one, but “it’s all related to the same protest action,” he said.

The RCMP got a search warrant for local protester camps following the incident and arrested five people for obstruction of a peace officer when they tried to block officers from investigating.

Regarding the evidence the RCMP is putting together before making arrests for the Feb. 17 attack, Brewer said he couldn’t reveal much. But officers did collect DNA samples on site that night, and they have partial facial recognition and voice recognition.

The RCMP has not said much about its investigation since the attack, and Brewer first revealed some details to the CBC earlier this month.

In March, the RCMP’s federal watchdog agency opened a probe into C-IRG operations. The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission said it will look at whether C-IRG’s policies and procedures are consistent with the charter and whether its operations are carried out in accordance with legal standards and leading practices.

Brewer said he is happy about the probe.

He said there have been “hundreds and hundreds of spurious allegations, unfounded allegations against my members.”

The best way to clear it up, he said, is to have the commission investigate. “If it was within my powers as a police officer to call for it, I would have called for it well before [now].”