The increased police presence in Prince George during the Canada Winter Games has divided the population. Some residents love seeing the officers conducting foot patrols on downtown streets and the police dogs doing a quick sweep of venues. Other residents recoil at the sight, as if police visibility is somehow an intrusion on peaceful sportsmanship.
A similar reaction greeted the revelation of an internal RCMP report portraying northern B.C. as a region susceptible to violent attacks and infrastructure sabotage by environmental extremists opposed to any kind of natural resource development. When asked what he thought about the police report, Stewart Phillip, the head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, dismissed it as "misguided hysteria."
"Every day when you turn on the television, you witness insane acts on the part of disturbed people," he added. "But to suggest there's a very well-organized jihadist-style network out there that's a threat to the Canadian public -- in my experience this is absolutely not the case. I hate to say this, but this is Canada. Excuse me?"
Phillip's Canada seems to be the land of peaceful protests, like the ones he was arrested at on Burnaby Mountain last fall and the various anti-Northern Gateway rallies seen in Prince George and elsewhere in the region. Yet it's folly to just brush off the burning of six police cars at an anti-fracking protest in New Brunswick in 2013 or the natural gas pipeline bombings in the Dawson Creek area in 2008 and 2009.
Phillip's response to the reporter's questions should have been a few questions of his own: Why are you calling me about this RCMP report? What connection do I, or anyone I associate with, have with violent and criminal activity? Are you suggesting that because the New Brunswick protests were by First Nations people and there have been violent First Nations protests regarding land-use in the past in B.C. and elsewhere that, because I'm aboriginal, I can speak to those matters?
If the reporter was still on the line, Phillip should have gone on to state the obvious. He and Carrier Sekani tribal chief Terry Teegee and other aboriginal leaders and groups have everything in common with the federal and provincial NDP, the Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance, the Sierra Club of B.C., the David Suzuki Foundation and other law-abiding opponents of pipeline projects. He and all of those other groups have nothing in common with individuals who think burning police cars and bombing pipelines is a lawful and democratic way to protest.
It would have also been helpful if Phillip had actually praised the RCMP's vigilance on this file since any action by environmental extremists would actually be detrimental to his cause. Heaven forbid but if employees are ever killed by a pipeline bombing or an act of sabotage or construction workers were attacked by an angry protest mob in view of TV cameras in Canada, public sentiment could turn quickly and harshly turn against Phillip and the environmental opposition.
Moderate Muslims around the world have been rightly criticized for not speaking out early enough and loud enough against the extremists that have twisted the Islamic religion for their own evil purposes. The extremists of the Islamic State have tarnished the good name and peaceful traditions of Muslims everywhere.
First Nations and environmentalists across Canada should fear being painted by the same brush, thanks to the damage a handful of zealots could do to their noble cause. Along with that fear should come with honest vigilance of their own. The leaders in the movement opposing pipelines and other natural resource developments should be watchful for those in their midst who make violent threats or show anti-social tendencies, as well as those who are complaining that peaceful protest isn't enough and direct action is needed. They should immediately challenge such comments. If that behaviour continues, either in person or online, or those individuals suddenly disappear off the radar, police should be notified, for the safety of everyone.
If a radical extremist conducted a violent action and was later linked to the environmental opposition, who stood by and said and did nothing when that extremist made his or her views and plans known prior to acting on them, the guilt by association would devastate the environmental movement.
Police oversight might make First Nations and environmental leaders as nervous as residents taking in competition during the Canada Winter Games but the alternative is much, much worse.
