HARTLEY BAY, B.C. – The women of the Gitga’at Nation of British Columbia will erect a symbolic blockade made of yarn across the Douglas Channel today to protest the federal government’s approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline.
The crochet chain will stretch 2.5 nautical miles across the opening of the narrow channel tankers will have to navigate to a marine export terminal to be built in Kitimat, on the north coast.
Seventy-year-old Lynne Hill says the protest began in the community and spread, with supporters sending in crochet links from all over Canada.
On Tuesday, the federal government granted final approval to the pipeline that will bring oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast for export, with 209 conditions.
Hill says the crochet chain is a warning that the Gitga’at will do what it takes to stop the pipeline.
Members of the community — best known for rescuing passengers from the Queen of the North ferry as it sank in 2006 — will set out at 6:30 am to string the crochet chain across the water.