Coastal GasLink has evacuated its work site near Houston following an eviction notice issued by the Wetsa国际传媒檚uwetsa国际传媒檈n hereditary chiefs Jan. 4 at around 4 p.m.

Hereditary Chief Nasa国际传媒橫oks (John Ridsdale) said company security guards at the site initially refused the notice, but later abided by it.

sa国际传媒淭hey sent notice out to us that first they werensa国际传媒檛 accepting it because they didnsa国际传媒檛 have authority, but I guess they talked to their higher ups and they were advised to vacate the camp and as they were the last people in camp we stayed there until they went past us and then we followed them out.sa国际传媒�

Following a B.C. Supreme Court ruling Dec. 31 to extend a temporary injunction allowing the company access to the site, the Wetsa国际传媒檚uwetsa国际传媒檈n hereditary chiefs decided to exercise Wetsa国际传媒檚uwetsa国际传媒檈n law, Nasa国际传媒檓oks said.

sa国际传媒淭he eviction is now in force,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淏ritish Columbia through their courts said that they were exercising their laws, well, we as hereditary chiefs, we exercised ours, we gave them an eviction.sa国际传媒�

READ MORE: Wetsa国际传媒檚uwetsa国际传媒檈n First Nation looks ahead as court sides with natural gas company

Last January following the arrests of 14 people who were denying access to the site on a bridge on the Morice River Forest Service Road, the chiefs agreed to abide by a temporary injunction allowing access to CGL contractors, which they have for almost a year.

He said there are now people monitoring the checkpoint to see if the company and the RCMP will respect the eviction.

READ MORE: RCMP arrest 14 in northern B.C. over anti-LNG pipeline protest

sa国际传媒淭here were caveats in [the access agreement] which CGL has broken numerous times, now with the ruling from Judge Churchsa国际传媒� where she said she would enforce the interlocutory injunction until a new trial, that left us the option of giving them an eviction notice and it is to see how far theysa国际传媒檙e willing to move in because there was no free, prior and informed consent from us at all.sa国际传媒�

He would not say whether they would try to enforce the eviction and block CGL workers from coming back.

This morning (Jan. 5) the company said it had been notified on Jan. 3, the day before the eviction notice, that the Unistsa国际传媒檕tsa国际传媒檈n (Dark House) was terminating an access agreement negotiated last year after the arrests.

We are disappointed that after nearly a year of successful joint implementation of the Access Agreement the Unistsa国际传媒檕tsa国际传媒檈n has decided to terminate it,sa国际传媒� CGL said in a Jan. 5 press release.

sa国际传媒淥ur preference has always been to find mutually agreeable solutions through productive and meaningful dialogue. We have reached out to better understand their reasons and are hopeful we can find a mutually agreeable path forward. To that end, we are requesting to meet with Unistsa国际传媒檕tsa国际传媒檈n and the hereditary chiefs as soon as possible.

sa国际传媒淥ver the past year, Coastal GasLink has repeatedly requested face-to-face meetings with the Unistsa国际传媒檕tsa国际传媒檈n and the Office of the Wetsa国际传媒檚uwetsa国际传媒檈n, but these requests have either been ignored or rejected by these groups.

sa国际传媒淥ur top priority is the safely of all users of the public roads in the Morice River area. We respect the rights of others to peacefully and lawfully express their point of view, as long as their activities do not disrupt or jeopardize the safety of the public, our employees and contractors, or the protesters themselves.sa国际传媒�

The company said it discovered Sunday morning trees had been felled across the Morice River Forest Service Road at Kilometre 39.

It is unknown who is responsible for blocking the road.

sa国际传媒淎ll we know is that access is shut down to the public,sa国际传媒� said a spokesperson for the Gidimtsa国际传媒檈n Clan.

The Interior News has reached out to the RCMP for comment.

Last week, Nasa国际传媒橫oks told the Canadian Press the hereditary chiefs are considering further action in the courts. He told The Interior News Jan. 4 they will consider all options up to and including a challenge in the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC).

sa国际传媒淭hat is one of the options, but currently we would prefer they would speak to the proper rights and title holders, who are ourselves,sa国际传媒� he said.

sa国际传媒淭hey keep on saying they had consultation, but theresa国际传媒檚 never been any with the hereditary chiefs. They go to elected forms of government and the elected forms have no jurisdiction on our lands.sa国际传媒�

He added the recent B.C. Supreme Court decision opens up the constitutional avenue because it contavenes the 1997 SCC ruling in Delgamuukw-Gisdaysa国际传媒檞ay. The landmark Delgamuukw-Gisdayway case was a challenge to the 1991 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that Indigenous rights and title were legally extinguished when British Columbia became part of Canada in 1871.

The Gitxsan and Wetsa国际传媒檚uwetsa国际传媒檈n appealed and eventually the SCC ruled treaty rights could not be extinguished, confirmed oral testimony is a legitimate form of evidence and stated Indigenous title rights include not only land, but the right to extract resources from the land.

That, Nasa国际传媒橫oks said, was ignored in the Dec. 31 decision.

sa国际传媒淚n the affadavits we had talked of history and [Justice Church] pretty much dismissed it, which issa国际传媒� against what Delgamuuk-Gisdaysa国际传媒檞ay said; [the SCC] accepted our oral history, our testimony and our form of governance and Judge Church did not really look into that at all. Basically from the very beginning it was Coastal GasLink and she accepted and stated that her priority was to accept the permits that were issued. Well, we never issued the permits, we never agreed to any of it.sa国际传媒�

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