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Mar 30, 2012-2012

Canada

Enbridge Northern Pipelines Protest

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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP

Bella Bella Community School

TARGET

Northern Gateway Pipeline Project

WIDELY HELD BELIEF

That indigenous people have the right to food security and the power to decide how territories under their jurisdiction are to be used.

CASE NARRATIVE

Issue and Opponent: The opponent was Enbridge Incorporated, which intended to construct an oil pipeline nearby the Bella Bella indigenous community. The pipeline would have immense health and environmental consequences on the community if a spill or leakage were to occur. Widely Held Belief: Indigenous people have the right to food security and the power to decide how territories under their jurisdiction are to be used.
Dilemma Action: A 48-hour hunger strike was initiated by the Bella Bella Community School schoolchildren to demonstrate the impacts that the pipelines would pose on food security and their way of life.
Outcomes: As a result of the protests and public outcry, the Northern Gateway Pipeline project was quietly shelved in 2014. The project was rejected altogether in 2016 under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Part of a Larger Campaign: No. Consideration may be made as part of the overall protests against the Keystone XL protests.

PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL

Environment

DA TACTICS USED

Hunger strike

CASE NARRATIVE WRITER

SUCCESS METRICS

8 / 12

(CONC) Concessions were made

(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements

(MC) Media Coverage

(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists

(OR) Opponent response

(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public

(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent

(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists

PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN

0 / 3

RESOURCES

Project documentation

Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook

Case study documentation

Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset

CC BY 4.0 Deed, Attribution 4.0 International

SOURCES

Hunter. Justine. 2012. “Pipeline review set to resume in Bella Bella after first nations protest,” The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/pipeline-review-set-to-resume-in-bella-bella-after-first-nations-protest/article4097420/).

Lin, Sacha. 2019. “Canadians demonstrate against Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines, 2010-2014,” Global Nonviolent Action Database. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/canadians-demonstrate-against-enbridge-northern-gateway-pipelines-project-2010-2014).

Stoymenoff, Alexis. 2012. “Fearing destruction of local resources by Enbridge pipeline, Northern BC community prepares hunger strike,” Vancouver Observer. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/03/31/bc-student-hunger-strike-opposing-enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline-begin.html).

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