News From the Front Lines
Line 9 Reportback: Occupation and Solidarity
O
n the morning of June 20th, sixty Enbridge successfully got an injunction folks from all over Southern that gave an order for the occupiers to leave Ontario walked down a long dirt the site Westover site. Folks blockading the road to the Enbridge Westover Terminal, site responded by building a barricade and part of a forty-year-old pipeline whose four individuals locked themselves to the flow Enbridge wants to reverse in order fence and gate that surrounds the site. to transport heavy crude oil and diluted "This isn’t Enbridge’s land to order bitumen – a corrosive and experimental us off of," said Trish Mills, who particitar sands product – at higher temperatures pated in the lockdown. "It’s stolen. Even and higher pressures from the Alberta Tar if it wasn’t, this company and this industry Sands, across Southern Ontario and into exploit and destroy land. It is our responQuébec. sibility to stop this exploitation. While Dubbed #SwampLine9, the block- a spill might not be on purpose, when ade and occupation shut down construc- it does happen — one every five days — tion at the Westover Terminal. According they look at it only as a monetary figure; to Enbridge, construction had not begun, I look at it as the irreversible massacre of however the forty-some Enbridge work- an ecosystem." ers that were evicted via the occupation The day the injunction order was (and the heavy-duty machinery they served, June 25th, was also the day that left behind) indicated construction had thirteen cities responded with solidarity begun. Once on the property blockaders actions. In Toronto, a busy downtown placed their own locks on the gate at the street was temporarily blocked by a mock front of the site as well as the gates to the oil spill; in Vancouver, a banner was compound further down the road, set up dropped proclaiming “Enbridge poisons a kitchen and many tents and prepared for communities.” In Sarnia, folks flyered the stay ahead of them. The occupation and picketed outside of Enbridge's Sarnia was held by thirty to fifty people success- Terminal. People gathered in downtown fully for five days, with many people show- Peterborough and dropped a banner ing their solidarity by stopping by with off at the central bus terminal that read food, supply donations and statements "#SwampLine9: No Tar Sands on Stolen of support. On the third day a musical Native Land." Info pickets were organized show as well as child-friendly activities in downtown Kitchener, Ottawa and took place to open up the occupation to Kingston. In all three cities, nearly a dozen newcomers. organizers handed out hundreds of flyers On the morning of day five to concerned and supportive residents.
72 The Peak Borders
In Edmonton, people gathered in front of Enbridge headquarters, deployed a banner and delivered Swamp Line9’s message directly to the Alberta head of the oil-sucking monster. Enbridge’s other office, in Thorold, also got a visit as protesters delivered Swamp Line9’s promise of continued resistance. In Guelph, a giant blue puppet, the ‘OcTARpus’ went for a walk with two dozen activists who flyered downtown streets. In Hamilton, people gathered and marched down busy King Street, shutting down traffic and handing out to passers-by. London saw a solidarity rally gather in a park, listening to speeches and spoken word before heading out to flyer passers by. In early the morning of June 26th, the Hamilton Police descended upon the occupation, arresting almost everyone onsite. Of the eighteen folks arrested thirteen received trespassing tickets; the four who locked down were charged with mischief under 5000 dollars; and another individual was charged with breaking and entering. As the press statement made the night of the injunction states to Enbridge“You are going to be swamped with resistance at every step of the way. This fight is just beginning." This action will be the beginning of a long, hot summer! Sources: www.swampline9.tumblr.com
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