Temporary RCMP detachment being set up near Smithers, as part of deal reached with B.C. First Nation

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Mounties are setting up a temporary detachment near Smithers where a tense standoff led to the arrests of 14 people last week.

It’s part of a deal reached last week to allow prep work for a natural gas pipeline.

RELATED: ‘Get off of our land’: protesters march in Vancouver supporting Wet’suwet’en anti-LNG camp

A formal review is also underway, which Assistant Commissioner Eric Stubbs says will take some time.

“We are getting all the video together and all the material we have to conduct that review. Certainly, in terms of the actual document being available versus us doing perhaps a press release or press conference to discuss some of the results … that’s yet to be determined.”

Stubbs says video evidence includes that from body-worn cameras, drone and helicopter footage, as well as video that has already been publicly shared.

Stubbs says the temporary detachment is being set up with support from Wet’suwet’en hereditary elders protesting the construction of a pipeline through their territory.

He says since the pipeline project was approved, “the RCMP has been engaged with the Hereditary Chiefs and other individuals and stakeholders directly and indirectly impacted by the blockade.”

Last week’s arrests came as the RCMP enforced a court-ordered injunction.

On Jan. 7, 2019, Mounties approached the Gidimt’en Camp.

“Initially, the primary role of those officers deployed over the barricade was to make the situation safe so the gate could be safely removed by the company, as per the order,” Stubbs said.

He added the situation as “challenging.”

“The protesters reaction to the police ranged from passive resistance, to active resistance to actual assaultive behaviour. One person secured themselves to the barricade making climbing over the gate necessary. Two others attached themselves to the underside of a bus that was blocking access to the bridge. Another was suspended in a hammock off the side of the bridge.”

RELATED: Wet’suwet’en strike tentative deal with RCMP allowing access to prevent raid

Last week, hereditary leaders with the First Nation reached a tenative deal with the RCMP. The chiefs said members would abide by a court injunction granting the Coastal GasLink pipeline company access to a bridge that had been blocked, if RCMP agree not to raid the nearby Unist’ot’en healing camp.

 – With files from the Canadian Press

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