dgkfgkdjdgkhyffa
it's sort of confusing. the company got an injunction. twice. all the media from the activists over the last few weeks has been centered around the idea of the rcmp not wanting to enforce it, and wanting to let the sides negotiate. they've stated repeatedly that they didn't want to use force because they "respect the right to protest". then, they come down with snipers...

guess somebody somewhere made a phone call.

there's pictures and videos out there. looks like waco. hope it turns out better.

aptn.ca/pages/news/2013/10/17/rcmp-officers-enforce-injunction-against-mikmaq-led-anti-fracking-blockade/

actually, maybe the waco comparison is not good. these protestors are not armed with anything.

dave
They should have armed themselves.

dgkfgkdjdgkhyffa
....then we would have had waco. martyrdom aside, i don't think getting slaughtered is really useful.

dave
Had they been armed, it would probably be more like Oka or Ipperwash

dgkfgkdjdgkhyffa
ignoring the historical incompatibilities in that comparison regarding the legalities of the land claims, neither of those circumstances were about oil, and they were happening in a period where the state was more lenient on indigenous issues than it has been historically, or is likely to be in the foreseeable future.

those were about land claims. there was a legal question about whether the land had been ceded or stolen. in new brunswick, we're talking about 'crown land' that everybody agrees belongs to the indigenous group in question (but not radically). there's not any legal ambiguity in the state's authority to slow down it's use of force.

dgkfgkdjdgkhyffa
obviously.

Palmater believes that it's no coincidence that police only decided to enforce SWN's injunction within days of the departure of UN Indigenous envoy James Anaya, and the Conservative government's Throne Speech outlining its aggressive resource extraction priorities.