Saskatoon pipeline protest extends into third day

The protest to the Coastal GasLink project that sprung up Saturday at railway tracks near 20th Street and Avenue I in Saskatoon has extended into its third day.

Things have cooled off after a heated scene on Saturday that saw counter-protesters show up to the tracks where the peaceful demonstration was happening.

“As you can hear, it is very peaceful. The fire is going, the people are just snacking and eating and laughing, sharing stories so there is no sort of anger or violent action that anybody is wanting to take right now,” said Daniel Fontaine.

According to Fontaine, organizers are keeping an eye on what is happening in the rest of the country before deciding the next steps of their protest.

He says after they hear what is happening elsewhere they will figure out “if there is anything we can do locally to raise awareness and say that the city of Saskatoon is not indifferent to what is happening in Ontario, to what’s happening in Quebec and obviously in Wet’suwet’en in B.C.”

One of those next steps might be to set up an actual blockade on the tracks to bring trains to a stop. But for now, Fontaine is proud of how the protest has gone.

“Just the fact of slowing down a train is something I think that locally we can be really proud of,” he said. “As a peaceful manifestation of solidarity and slowing down trains here in Saskatoon instead of doing anything to block a train is something that I am really proud of.”

Fontaine is also proud of how the city police have handled the situation, especially when tensions were rising on the weekend.

“The things I’ve witnessed and interactions I’ve seen have been very friendly, very peaceful. (There are) questions of curiosity coming from the police but no undue pressure or violent aggressive behaviour coming from any kind of authority,” he said.

“So that is another thing that I am happy to say that I am proud of.”

According to Fontaine, when the protest began it was only supposed to be for a day, but since then a more fluid approach to where it could go has been taken by the protesters.

“It just goes to show that it is kind of spontaneous. You know it’s living, it’s ever going, it’s breathing,” he said. “Right now it’s alive and it could be alive for a few more days and tonight could be the end of it for us. So there is an openness for both.”