Hundreds of people protested Enbridge's $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline at the northern B.C. municipalities convention in Prince Rupert.
The rally and March on Thursday in Prince Rupert took place just a day after a northern B.C. First Nation protest in downtown Calgary to coincide with Enbridge's annual general meeting.
Some environmentalists had objected to Enbridge as a sponsor of the municipal convention. The company was among more than a dozen sponsors of the three-day convention, also including companies and others such as Imperial Metals, Rio Tinto Alcan, Conifex, Pacific Northern Gas and UNBC.
Members of several First Nations participated in the Prince Rupert protest.
"I made a promise to our youth that if Enbridge gets to the point at which it is bringing in the bulldozers, I will put my body in front of it," said Gerald Amos, a councillor with the Haisla Nation.
Joy Thorkelson of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union noted that northern alliances have stopped three previous proposals to bring oil development to B.C.'s North Coast, and told the crowd that they would win against Enbridge too.
Critics of the 1,170-kilometre pipeline are opposed to the project because of the risk of an oil spill on the pipeline or from tanker traffic on the coast.
The pipeline is meant to open up new markets for crude in Asia from the Alberta oil sands.
Enbridge has touted the economic benefits of the project, stressing the project will be built and operated to the highest safety standards.
In response to the First Nation protest, Enbridge said while it's true that some First Nations are expressing firm opposition, it is not unanimous.
Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway said Enbridge had entered into more than a dozen commercial agreements with aboriginal groups related to the construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline. "We continue to be in active negotiations with dozens more," he said Friday.
Stanway would not reveal which First Nations it had signed construction agreements with, but said the majority were in British Columbia.
