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Grandma arrested at Trans Mountain terminal in Burnaby

70-year-old Laurie Embree says she "come from a long line of people who hate oil"

A 70-year-old grandmother arrested at an anti-pipeline protest in Burnaby says she comes from a “long line of people who hate oil.”

Laurie Embree was taken into custody Tuesday morning for violating an injunction against protesters at Trans Mountain’s Westridge Terminal. After being released by the RCMP on a promise to appear in court, she told the Now she came to Burnaby from 108 Mile Ranch to join the demonstration.

She was among roughly 50 protesters singing, chanting and holding banners outside Kinder Morgan’s facility near Burrard Inlet. Most of the protesters far enough away from Trans Mountain’s gate to not violate the injunction and two others moved from blocking the road when asked by police, avoiding arrest.

Embree was the only person arrested Tuesday and was the first to violate the injunction since it was beefed up by a B.C. Supreme Court judge earlier this month, according to Burnaby RCMP.

Asked why she chose to violate the injunction, Embree said: “It was my mother’s fault. She told me that when you see something that needs doing, it becomes your responsibility to do it.”

Embree said her great-grandfather also hated oil, as it seeped through the earth on his Saskatchewan farm. Embree said her mother told her that he would exclaim “Cows can’t drink goddamn oil!”

Embree is the latest in a series of people arrested for violating Kinder Morgan’s pipeline in recent months. Crown prosecutors have been seeking increasingly higher fines — up to $5,000 — for violators, as they try to increase deterrence.

“I am proud to say that I will be paying my fine out of my investments in renewable energy,” she said.