Undertaken in the midst of a push to expand Canada’s oilsands production, the Northern Gateway pipeline project has attracted a groundswell of commentary and controversy. Line In The Sand is a multimedia project which invites candid and critical analysis from those who live along the pipeline’s proposed route, where it’s impacts would be most directly felt. A sampling of interviews conducted to date can be found below.
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The latest from the Line in the Sand team
A frostbitten paradise – Morice River, BC
Mid-November is not an ideal time to go fly-fishing. Wisps of steam rise from the water’s surface where it meets the frigid air, and icicles cling to branches along the shore. At rest, the air is still, but on the water, it quickly transforms into a piercing, frigid jet. Len describes it in the least dramatic terms as “the last weekend of the season”; my toes and I see it in more stark terms.
Out of sight, out of mind – Fort St. James, BC
At 84 years old, Del Hearn continues to live alone on a quarter section of land, roughly 10 kilometers outside of Fort St. James. To the north, his property is bounded by a dirt road; to the east and west, by other homesteads; and to the south, by a bluff of mixed aspen located square in the path of the Northern Gateway’s 85-metre right-of-way.
Pipeline prophecy – Burns Lake, BC
Referring to us as “the Enbridge boys”, Sam performs a prayer, and shares an Anishinaabe teaching. He tells us that the old ones used to speak of a giant white snake that would bring terror to the western tribes by spitting black poison over their lands. The snake was said to begin in the hills, travelling toward the ocean in order to quench its thirst.