B.C. activist who wore T-rex costume at TMX site prepares for jail time

Twenty-four years old and going to jail.

Climate activist Emily Kelsall says she’ll be sentenced Friday at the B.C. Supreme court for entering an off-limits construction site for the Trans Mountain expansion (TMX) donning a T-rex costume.

But there are no regrets for the young woman who played a game of badminton while wearing the prehistoric outfit.

“I feel happy,” Kelsall told CityNews. “I am glad that I can be among the activists that is doing what they believe in to such an extent that they are going to jail for.”

Emily Kelsall (pictured in costume) was arrested in 2022 for entering an off-limits Trans Mountain expansion site wearing a t-rex costume. She says she’s ready to serve time in jail for standing up for what she believes in. (CityNews Image)

Kelsall and a fellow activist were convicted of criminal contempt after they jumped a fence on May 11, 2022, for the protest that was meant to draw attention.

“We played badminton for about 20, 25 minutes when one of the workers came up to us and said ‘you’re in an injunction zone and if you try to escape, you will be met with force because the police are coming’. So we had to stay where we are,” she said.

Climate activist and retired UBC Professor, Bill Winder says he too was arrested and served jail time in 2020 for protesting against the TMX. He says youth activists who get convicted and sentenced for fighting for change is not fair.

“I just find that it is kind of exaggerated to put two young people in jail for a minute protest,” he said. “I would rather that people in my position get involved rather than young people.”

Despite her expected sentence, Kelsall says she’s happy to have stood up for what she believed in.

“The fact that the Canadian Government bought this pipeline and is spending billions of dollars on it- in ordered to build it in order for oil to go overseas and be burnt and into the atmosphere is completely ridiculous- that is why I am fighting for what I am fighting for,” she said.

In a statement to CityNews, Trans Mountain says it respects people’s rights to peacefully protest.

“… in the future, renewable and clean energy will make up a greater mix of our energy supply, but the reality today is that we still rely on fossil fuels for the majority of the world’s energy needs. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t looking at ways to minimize, reduce and offset impacts,” the company said.

Even though the pipeline project is still being built, Kelsall says she has hope it still can be stopped.

“The people in power want us to believe…that there is nothing we can do, but this is very much our fight to win,” she said. “The more people we have, the more likely it is that this pipeline will be stopped.”