NWT resident protests Dakota Access Pipeline
Snookie Catholique travelled to North Dakota to stand with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Monday, September 12, 2016
HAY RIVER
Snookie Catholique still remembers the moment thousands of caribou crested a hill near her family's camp on the barren lands when she was a child.
Lutsel K'e resident Snookie Catholique displays the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation flag at the Dakota Access Pipeline protest in North Dakota, U.S. - photo courtesy of Snookie Catholique |
"All of a sudden it was like the hill just moved," she said. "There were thousand and thousands and thousands of caribou that just kind of swept over those rolling hills.
"I don't think in my lifetime I will ever see that again."
That's one of the reasons the Lutsel K'e woman decided to travel to North Dakota U.S. to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline alongside the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Catholique, the territory's former Languages Commissioner and a former CBC reporter, arrived at the protest encampment on Sept. 2.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is protesting the project, which would construct an oil pipeline from the Bakken region in North Dakota to Illinois, according to the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company's website. Enbridge Energy is also a partner on the project.
The pipeline would transport about 470,000 barrels of oil a day, but could increase to 570,000.
The project is taking place on land that contains burial sites and other important cultural areas, a news release from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stated. The tribe is also concerned about impacts on the Missouri River and the surrounding environment.
Catholique said the tribe's struggle brought to mind the days of the Berger Inquiry in the Northwest Territories in the '70s, which halted the construction of a natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley.
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"It's a similar fight down in Standing Rock where these people are fighting for what they could lose to the industry," she said.
Catholique and her friends arrived at the protest camping area the day before a private security company released attack dogs and pepper sprayed protesters.
She said the feeling at the front line of the protest was intense.
Using binoculars, Catholique could see security personnel in the distance, watching the protesters.
"They were keeping an eye to see what was going on there," she said.
It was also believed that security personnel were inside the nearby camp that had been set up to house the thousands of protesters.
"It was obvious they were sent there by these people to be spies," Catholique said. "They were always there, you didn't know who it was."
While the tone at the front line was solemn, the mood in the camping area was the opposite, she added.
Catholique said she wants to work to make sure industrial progress doesn't destroy the environment her grandchildren will inherit.
"I have two young grandchildren now," she said. "I want to protect and preserve as much as I can for them."
