Our second case study examines resistance to the Northern Gateway Pipeline. We show these vast policing resources being permeated and redirected towards a broader movement comprised of multiple Indigenous communities in alliance with the environmental movement. An immense project, colonial authorities were determined to see the pipeline through despite widespread opposition and lack of legal jurisdiction over Indigenous territories. Our chapter details how the security state embraced an unprecedented function of aligning with the petroleum industry in a concerted effort to delegitimize and criminalize opponents of greenhouse gas emissions, the tar sands, and related pipeline ambitions. Those communities – such as the Unist’ot’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation – who invoked and practiced Indigenous law to prevent industry access to the land were labelled as criminal and framed as a threat to national security. Although the pipeline proposal was defeated, the surveillance regime established to monitor Indigenous resistance in British Columbia became permanent, with monthly RCMP reports compiled by B.C.’s “E” Division dedicated to monitoring and reporting on active resistance to the dozen or so ongoing energy projects and proposals.
Files used in this chapter include:
CSIS 2012-27
Number of Pages: 44
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain presentation notes and PowerPoint slides related to meetings between the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) in 2007. Contains presentation notes from CSIS that speak to the agencies history and mandate. As well as reference to potential security threats posed against critical infrastructure from terrorism or domestic extremism. Details that CSIS maintains that it is important to reach out to the private sector through the Liaison Awareness Program that facilitates information sharing and education on security awareness.
CSIS 2015-54
Number of Pages: 30
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain memos and reports from the Government Operations Centre (GOC) on the risk factors associated with social movement protests and critical infrastructure. Notably, two memos describe a meeting of the Deputy Ministers’ Committee on Resources and Energy concerning risks posed by activists to critical infrastructure projects. And a report from the GOC titled “Government of Canada Risk Forecast 2014 Protests & Demonstrations Season”.
INAC 2011-1387
Number of Pages: 8
Summary of File: The disclosed documents contain a memo to the minister, from 2011, titled “Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project – update on First Nations Positions of the Proposed Project. This memo details the controversies emerging from the Northern Gateway project crossing over First Nations land. It is followed up by a Globe and Mail article titled “First nations dig in against Enbridge pipeline”.
INAC 2012-88
Number of Pages: 43
Summary of File: Disclosed documents include a memo to the Deputy Minister of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) and two PowerPoint Presentations. The Memo is concerning a “Meeting with Ms. Sonya Savage and Mr. Andrew Popko Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines” in 2011. The first PowerPoint is a presentation from Enbridge titled “Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business” from 2010. It outlines Enbridge history of pipeline development, the use of “equity partnerships”, and concern about Indigenous and environmental activism. The second PowerPoint is a presentation from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) titled “DM Meeting with Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines (NGP): Lands and Environmental Management” from 2011. It concerns the proposed Northern Gateway Pipelines passage through Indigenous communities.
PCO 2013-898
Number of Pages: 90
Summary of File: Disclosed documents include Memorandums for the Prime Minister concerning a joint report published by the National Energy Board (NEB) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) through the Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project titled “Connections: Report of the Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project. The report is also included, which concludes that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project should be approved dependent on 209 conditions.
RCMP 2013-5745
Number of Pages:447
Summary of File: Disclosed documents include email threads from the National Energy Board (NEB), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) through the Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Team (CIIT) concerning the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project (NGP) consultation process. The emails detail concerns of a criminal element associated with Indigenous and Environmentalist protesters opposing the NGP. Furthermore, a RCMP “Facsimile/Message Transmittal” on a National Security Criminal Intelligence (NSCI) working group concerning risks associated with the NGP consultation process. An Emergency/Issue management Weekly Summary that includes a “Hot Spot Summary” on Indigenous protest. And a series of Aboriginal Issues Bulletin published by the E-Division Aboriginal Policing Services (Monthly Intelligence Report) detailing Aboriginal protests against the NGP.
RCMP 2013-6936
Number of Pages: 16
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain a file called SPROS file 2010-3467 published by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This file was opened in order to monitor protests and demonstrations opposed to the Northern Gateway Pipeline.
RCMP 2015-9616
Number of Pages: 4283
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain briefing notes, reports, and email threads concerning internal communications of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in relation to the activities of the commissioner’s office in response to Indigenous protests, demonstrations, and blockades associated with Idle No More. This document also contains communications related to intelligence sharing nationwide concerning organized events that are by-and-large filed into charts detailing event descriptions and locations. Some notable files include RCMP daily and weekly Situation Reports titled “Protests: Aboriginal-based Issues” and E Division’s Aboriginal Policing Services “Idle No More” Public Order Event Timeline and Strategic Outlook Reports.
RCMP 2016-1140
Number of Pages: 620
Summary of File: Disclosed documents contain briefing notes to the commissioner, intelligence reports and assessments, and strategic outlook reports concerning Indigenous protest and demonstrations largely concerning the oil and gas industry. Some notable documents include a Strategic Analysis Occasional Paper titled “Natural Gas Pipelines and Liquified Natural Gas Terminals: Law Enforcement Implications for British Columbia’s Emerging Industry” in 2013. A Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Assessment titled “Criminal Threats to the Canadian Petroleum Industry” published by the Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Team (CIIT) that followed the anti-shale gas protest organized by the Elsipogtog First Nations. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) National Tactical Intelligence Priority published by the National Intelligence Coordination Center in 2015 concerning the need to police Indigenous protests and demonstrations “to maintain public order while ensuring public safety”. And Strategic Outlook Reports largely concerning Idle No More published by the Aboriginal Policing Services.
Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State 