Anti-pipeline protest draws Kelowna crowd

With every protest, Dixon Terbasket aims to change a few people’s minds.

Terbasket was one of roughly 60 people who gathered outside of the Kelowna Law Courts Saturday, Jan. 11, to show support for the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.

The Wet’suwet’en have been protesting the construction of the TransCanada Coastal GasLink pipeline in Northern B.C. that, once constructed, will run from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.

“I’m hopeful we can change one or two people's minds every time we do this. It took us 152 years and a few odd days to get this messed up, (with) 560 years (total) of occupation. It’s going to take us that long to get our language back, our culture back, we’ll never get this land back,” Terbasket said.

Organizer Caitlyn Donadt decided to make a stand when B.C. adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and said the protesters would like to see that this declaration is upheld.

“It’s not just what’s occurring with the Wet’suwet’en…. This is just one example where we should be paying attention,” she said.

She said residents should be listening to Indigenous communities and activists.

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