In an eleventh-hour attempt to stave off eviction, Camp Cloud members moved a trailer from the corner of Shellmont Street and Underhill Avenue Sunday afternoon.
“It’s more safe for the drivers, so they can see. It’s not a blind corner … That’s a big step of respect to the city for them speaking against Kinder Morgan,” said protester Xenoa Skinteh. “That was a concern from day one, so we can now address those.”
He said the move was a compromise in response to the City of Burnaby’s demands that the entire camp leave the area and snuff out its ceremonial fire that burns continuously at the site outside the gates of Kinder Morgan’s tank farm.
On Friday, a B.C. Supreme Court granted the city an order to enforce its eviction notice given to the camp. The order comes into force 48 hours after it was served to the protesters Friday evening.
That means the RCMP could forcibly remove the camp as early as Sunday evening.
Skinteh, however, said he was confident a last-minute compromise could be reached between the two parties.
Protesters are moving part of Camp Cloud in an eleventh-hour attempt to compromise with the City of Burnaby. The court order to evict them is only hours away from coming into force. #bcpoli #cdnpoli #TransMountain #vanpoli pic.twitter.com/CZfpJTN16j
— KelvinGawley (@KelvinGawley) August 12, 2018
“We know it’s unceded land, but we know they also can sometimes break laws. We don’t want to see them breaking laws and using police violence again.”While the camp was willing to move the trailer, he said some issues are non-negotiable."
“We just really need the city to respect the sacred fire because there was already a court order to protect it,” Skinteh said, referring to an earlier court injunction that barred protesters from interfering with work on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion but allowed their camp to remain.
Asked why the camp has been unwilling to compromise in the past, Skinteh said there were too many people trying to speak for the camp during past dialogues with officials. Some people have been asked to leave Camp Cloud, he said.
“Things can get out of hand when it’s too many people trying to talk for the group,” he said.
Just hours before a potential standoff with police, Skinteh said spirits were high in camp.
“It’s really high vibes, sacred vibes keeping this still in good form,” he said. “We’re all just how we always are: doing work, protecting water, talking about protecting the future. That’s why we’re here.”
Representatives from the city could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday afternoon, but city manager Lambert Chu recently told the NOW that the time for compromise with Camp Cloud had already passed.
Another man was on Burnaby Mountain Sunday afternoon, sending a different message.
Elliot Adam stood near the gate to the tank farm wearing a t-shirt reading “I [love Canadian] oil & gas.”
Adam said he went to the site to counter the narrative that all First Nations people oppose the pipeline project. He said he was a Treaty 8 First Nations man who grew up in Edmonton but now lives in the Lower Mainland.
“I’m here because I wanted to show them that there is a voice; There’s an aboriginal voice out there and that there is many of us that support the oil and gas. I love the oil sands.”
Adam said that he wasn’t there to interfere or even interact with the protesters, some of whom told the NOW they felt threatened by the presence of Adam and his three male companions.
Adam said he was not associate with pro-pipeline group Suits and Boots or members of a Facebook group that have previously threatened Camp Cloud with a vigilante eviction.
