Kinder Morgan protest: Derek Corrigan urges protesters to stay calm
Derek Corrigan is against pipeline expansion, but says protesters need to take a step back
Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan has been a longtime opponent of the proposed Kinder Morgan TransMountain Pipeline expansion, but he's urging protesters on Burnaby mountain to stand down.
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"I don't want people to be arrested. I think that that is a last resort, and we're still in the middle of a process that is going to take, probably, years to settle out, " he told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.
Corrigan is looking to the courts to block the proposal. The City of Burnaby has applied to appeal Kinder Morgan's right to do survey work on Burnaby Mountain in Canada's top court.
"We have taken every action we had within the legal remedies available to us in order to stop the project from proceeding," said Corrigan, who is trained as a lawyer.
"I still have faith in the courts."
Corrigan called for patience as the City of Burnaby's fight works its way through the court system.
"It is a frustrating process, but we continue to work within that process to get a result."
Activists say risk of arrest worthwhile
Longtime environmental activist Betty Krawcyzk disagrees with Corrigan, saying it's worth it for protesters to risk arrest.
"It's something to be done now, immediately, not years down the road, not as it wrangles its way through a court that's stacked against protesters," the now 86-year old told Rick Cluff.
Krawcyzk has been in jail herself for defying court orders, including a 10-month stint for protesting against the Sea-to-Sky highway expansion.
"There is a power to being a political prisoner in a country that's not supposed to have any."
Author J.B. MacKinnon was among the protesters arrested over the weekend.
"I wanted to cross the line, because I wanted to be a part of what was happening," he told Rick Cluff.
"I had drawn the conclusion that civil disobedience was likely to be necessary to take the climate change movement to the next step, and then I thought, if that's the case, what justification do I have for not being a part of it."