Photo courtesy of HighBarFirstNations.com

Along the Fraser River in the B.C. Interior is the High Bar First Nation reserve, a vast, rocky piece of land 120 kilometres northwest of Kamloops, population one. The sole resident, an elderly woman, doesn’t live there year-round. “She’s too old to go down there and live permanently,” says Angie Kane, High Bar general manager. “Her daughter takes her down and they’ll stay for a weekend.”

The federal government allocated the land to the High Bar nation in 1881, but in the 1920s, Canada deemed the land unlivable due to its lack of water access. It has remained empty and unserviced by the government ever since, forcing High Bar’s 164 members to disperse elsewhere, from Washington to Kamloops, Kelowna, and Vancouver.

With almost every member of the community living off of their reserve land, it occupies a grey area in the Trans Mountain Pipeline project consultation process with First Nations whose land or territories will be directly impacted by the project, or lie within 50 kilometres of its path.

While the boundaries of the High Bar reserve technically lie outside of the 50-kilometre radius, Kane argues that the project infringes on many areas where High Bar members are living, specifically Kamloops, where the pipeline will pass directly through. Some nations in the Kamloops area, such as the Whispering Pines First Nation and Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc have signed an agreement of some kind, which might include an amount of money that would help the community in the case of a spill.

In 2016, in the midst of the project’s consultation process, High Bar hired a lawyer and forced then-owners Kinder Morgan (the federal government has since purchased the project) to consult with them. According to Kane, her community spent nearly $20,000 in legal fees—most of which was eventually reimbursed—only, Kane says, to be brushed off.

“They just sat across the table and said, ‘Well, you’re not within our 50-kilometre radius, we really don’t need to talk to you, but we’re here because we’re supposed to be,’” Kane recalls. According to documents, High Bar’s concerns extended from access to hunting grounds and medicinal plants, to environmental impacts from spills or leaks. After two meetings, the Crown found the impacts of the project on High Bar to be “negligible.”

“They should have had more talks with us, but they cut us off,” says Larry Fletcher, High Bar’s Chief. “We have band members that will be affected [by the pipeline] because they never got us a piece of land that is suitable for housing.”

There might be new possibility for members of the nation who feel they have so far slipped through the cracks. On August 30, the Federal Court of Appeal rejected the Liberals’ planned expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, citing a failure to engage in meaningful dialogue with B.C.’s Indigenous communities; they were ordered to conduct a second round of consultations.

Still, Kane isn’t hopeful. “It’s been so many years of not being recognized,” she says. “Until we actually have somebody sitting in front of us having a discussion, we don’t hold our hope out for it.”

In Burnaby, B.C., this past July, more than 70 activists and members of First Nations took to the water in boats, canoes, and kayaks to protest in front of the Trans Mountain Terminal. The protesters formed a flotilla to express their upset with the Trans Mountain pipeline extension project, which the federal government announced it would acquire. Photo courtesy of Protect the Inlet.

The Trans Mountain Pipeline saga has been ongoing for years, but tensions peaked this May when Justin Trudeau announced his government’s plans to acquire the project for $4.5 billion. In 2013, energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan proposed building a new pipeline to run parallel to the existing one, built in 1952. The proposal reignited ongoing disputes around environmental ethics, considerations for traditional Indigenous territories, and the economic benefits of the oil industry. Here’s a look at the different ways news outlets across the country have covered the controversy:

CBC

The national broadcaster’s reporting on the pipeline’s recent developments has focused on response to events and moves by the federal government. It has played a key role in breaking news to the public, and its quick takes have been largely centred on the fears and arguments of environmentalists and First Nations leaders.

“Trans Mountain protesters decry ‘Justin Trudeau memorial pipeline’ in Burnaby, B.C.” | JULY 02, 2018
“Pipeline protesters predict number of arrests over Trans Mountain will eclipse War in the Woods” | JULY 16, 2018

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

The Globe and Mail has largely covered the economic impacts of the pipeline as well as the political sagas that have played out since the Liberals decided to buy out the project. The reporting looks at environmental debates surrounding the expansion, yet these issues are often presented as opposition to the fight for access to land and sea. Another major theme in their coverage is the fear of the pipeline’s demise and the question of what’s next.

“Trans Mountain, Trudeau and the B.C.-Alberta feud: A guide to the political saga so far” | APRIL 18, 2018
“Ottawa is buying Trans Mountain. What does that mean? A guide” | MAY 29, 2018
“Burnaby residents call for pipeline protest camps to be dismantled” | JUNE 17, 2018

APTN

The Indigenous news outlet’s coverage has been focused on those protesting the expansion, such as Indigenous people and non-for-profits like Greenpeace. APTN will often refer to protesters as “land” and “water” protectors, usually residents of remote areas who have been left out of the prevailing conversation in mainstream news coverage.

“City of Burnaby serves eviction notice to anti-Trans Mountain pipeline activists” | JULY 19, 2018
“Anti-pipeline aerial activists hang from Vancouver bridge, block oil tanker” | JULY 4, 2018

THE TYEE

Coverage by the B.C.-focused independent online news source has challenged the truth of what Canadians are hearing about the Trans Mountain Pipeline. They’ve published a number of deep-dives on the data and history around the expansion project, focusing on educating readers rather than providing updates.

“Trudeau, Notley and Trans Mountain Claims: A Tyee Fact Check” | MARCH 21, 2018
“Pipeline Expansion: U.S. Refineries Win, Canadians Lose” | APRIL 19, 2018
“Canada’s Dirty $20-Billion Pipeline Bailout” | MAY 29, 2018

Photo by Rogue Collective.

Since the Trans Mountain Pipeline extension project was approved by the Trudeau government in 2016, the west coast’s Indigenous communities have fought to cease potential damages on their land. The project, which would extend the pipeline from Edmonton to the Vancouver area, runs through several First Nations communities in B.C. and Alberta—and protests have been abundant. In March, a group of students and youth blockaded the front gates of the construction site of U.S.-based Kinder Morgan on Burnaby Mountain, spending days showing their solidarity against the project’s movement onto sacred land. Even still, the feds seem unmoved: In May, the Liberals purchased the pipeline for $4.5 billion from Kinder Morgan to ensure it will be built.