Protestors at the intersection of Summit Drive and McGill Road were met with angry drivers, who were held up for minutes due to blockades on Friday during the lunch hour (Image Credit: Derek Rodgers / DigitalRearranged Photography)

By Chad Klassen

KAMLOOPS BLOCKADE

Protesters in support of First Nations members in northern B.C. cause traffic disturbances in Kamloops

Feb 7, 2020 | 4:28 PM

KAMLOOPS — The impact of protests by Wet’suwet’en First Nation members in northern B.C. have resonated with Indigenous peoples in the Thompson region.

On Friday, a group from Thompson Rivers University set up a miniature blockade during the lunch hour. The blockade, at the intersection of Summit Drive and McGill Road involving about 30 people, caused traffic delays for motorists for minutes at a time.

The group protested the actions of the RCMP, who arrested six people on Thursday at the Unist’ot’en protest camp. Some members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation are protesting a natural gas pipeline near Houston, B.C.

“CGL needs to get out of Unist’ot’en and the RCMP need to get out of Unist’ot’en,” said one of the protest’s organizers Stone Healey. “They need to recognize that they don’t have any jurisdiction on those lands. These are unceded lands and they don’t have any right to be there. They’re there harassing people, breaking their personal property, which is against their own laws.”

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Police arrived on scene at Summit and McGill a few minutes later to break up the mini blockade. Organizers wanted motorists to get a small taste of the inconvenience that some Wet’suwet’en members are going through.

“A lot of people are really angry when they have to be held up for two minutes, and that is exactly why we’re out there today — to show people how frustrating, how aggravating it is,” said Healey. “You’re trying to live your life, you’re trying to eat, go to work, do everything you need to do to be human in your life. Then someone comes up and gets in your way and disrupts you. That’s why we came here.”