BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  The land defenders are ready for their mission. They’ve been tasked with dropping tobacco into one of the pipeline boring holes inside the construction site. We follow them into the darkness of the early morning hour. 

Just outside of Kamloops, BC, Secwépemc ancestors whisper through the trees, and the land itself pulses with sacred energy. Pípsell is the center of a Secwépemc creation story. It’s a place that hasn’t yet been ravaged by wildfire or development. But now, construction on one of the last stretches of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline, or TMX, plows forward here, driven by profit and power. 

[MUSIC]

MIKE MCKENZIE:  It’s hurtful. It feels like if I was alive during some of the most miserable things our people went through, this might be a percentage of what it feels like. I feel like they shouldn’t be here at all. We’ve done incredible work to make sure they never would be.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Mike McKenzie has been leading a grassroots fight to protect Pípsell and other sacred Secwépemc territory for years. He was raised on his traditional territories here and taught Secwépemc customs by his father.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  And this is happening not just to the land, it’s happening to me, and it’s happening to our elders. When our grandmothers say, you wanna take a finger? You wanna take a toe? You want an arm? What do you want? Because that’s what you’re doing. You’re chopping us into pieces and asking us to remain whole. 

Like, there’s reconciliation here. There’s no reconciliation here. This isn’t reconciliation. There’s no, there’s no… lawful rule of law here. It is all invasion, illegal occupation on unceded land. And we’ve been very nice about it as a nation. And this is what happened to us.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Mike co-founded the Unceded Law Response Group to help address violations of Secwépemc rights and implement Secwépemc law when it comes to developments like the TMX pipeline. Many here feel betrayed by the government-owned project. 

Initially, the Secwépemc Nation only consented to the construction of the TMX pipeline through Pípsell under the condition that the company agreed to minimize surface disturbances. In September 2023, the company petitioned the Canada Energy Regulator for permission to switch the route after it ran into engineering problems. That meant microdrilling tunnels through the landscape to build the pipeline. Despite Secwépemc opposition to the route change, the CER approved TMX’s application, citing support for the project. This avoided a nine-month delay and potentially billions in extra costs. 

TMX bankrolls the Canadian oil economy. It’s the only pipeline carrying crude from Alberta to the West Coast. The expansion will catapult capacity on the current TMX pipeline, built in 1951, from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day. It will also improve access to export markets.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Do you see that dust right there? They say they’re mitigating that dust. Look at, all night, every night. They’re not mitigating it. They’re violating the law right there in front of your eyes. This is a… you can’t see it, but somewhere in here is a massive hole. It’s like, whoosh, straight into the ground. And there are aquifers and everything is all through here. And then it ends up in our water people and our water nation that is in Jacko Lake. And, we’ve got a lot of responsibilities around protecting them. That’s our ancestors in the lake. You’re like, you know…

BRANDI MORIN:  If this is security, let’s…

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Oh yeah, that’s security

BRANDI MORIN:  …Have a little chitchat if they’re up for it.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Yeah. Yeah. So…

BRANDI MORIN:  Oh my God, he’s gonna check my vehicle out.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  You want to go over there?

BRANDI MORIN:  I don’t care. If he wants to talk to us, he can disturb us. What the hell. [Indistinct]. If he wants to talk to us, let him.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Hello.

SECURITY GUARD:  What’s going on?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m just taking a look at my land.

SECURITY GUARD:  I understand.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  My name’s Mike McKenzie.

SECURITY GUARD:  Hi, Mike.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’ve let the BC Environmental Assessment Office know I’ll be here. And the police.

SECURITY GUARD:  Do you have your ID?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I don’t have to give you ID.

SECURITY GUARD:  You need to, because we’re in a restricted area.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  We’re not in a restricted area. We’re just on the road in the public access zone.

SECURITY GUARD:  All right.

One male is definitely Indigenous, I think.

BRANDI MORIN:  Do you really know that? Which male is it?

SECURITY GUARD:  Well, it’s the one beside you.

BRANDI MORIN:  Because he’s from another country.

SECURITY GUARD:  Are you sure?

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah.

SECURITY GUARD:  He looks like one [laughs]. He looks like…

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I don’t think we’re supposed to do that.

If we go down the road, nobody’s gonna do anything. You have a multimillion-dollar system over there watching me. Just leave me alone. You’re on my land. You’re invading my people. You have no idea. And I’m really getting sick of this orange light sitting around me.

SECURITY GUARD:  It’s a public road, right?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  It’s unceded land. This is — Canada is an illegal occupation on stolen land. And I’m getting really frustrated that you think it’s OK to just sit here around me.

SECURITY GUARD:  I’m gonna wait here.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  For what? For me.

SECURITY GUARD:  No, it’s my job.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  How much money do you get paid to wait here?

SECURITY GUARD:  It’s my job.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Hey.

BRANDI MORIN:  …Because we are not doing anything illegal right now.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Nope, nope.

SPEAKER 1:  OK.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I don’t know why. Do you want us in the car now?

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah. Are we good?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Yeah. I’m good here. They’re unnerving me. It seems like he’s trying to provoke us and then get the police called. They’ll do stuff like this where they try to make it seem like we’re causing a confrontation, and then the police will come and be, like, read us the injunction, and then they’ll arrest us. So, [laughs].

BRANDI MORIN:  …It’s all good.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Sorry. 

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Since 2018, more than 250 people have been detained across BC protesting the TMX expansion. Environmental and Indigenous groups concerned about environmental impacts and climate change have led massive protests and acts of civil disobedience, mostly in the Vancouver area. Here in Pípsell, It’s the end of the line for those fighting to protect it, and the toll it takes can be devastating. Mike says he’s experienced harassment and surveillance from authorities. 

The area is home to over 20% of the province’s at-risk plant species, migratory birds, amphibians, and rare vegetation are abundant. Skeetchestn Elder Barb Larson explains what Pípsell means to the Secwépemc.

BARB LARSON:  But it’s a sacred site in the fact that there are medicines there, the special trout there. And that’s where the birds come and they migrate. It’s a stopping place where they mate, and then it’s a stop on their journey north. And then there was two species of frogs that are Red Listed, I guess they call ’em, they’re endangered to the point of extinction. And our hunters used to go up there and what they’d do is they’d run the game down towards the blind and then the hunters would come out from the blinds and they would get the game.

So these are all reasons that we fought for this area, because those are special parts of the way our people lived. Our hunting, our fishing, gathering of the different types of roots and the medicines. We’re caretakers of the land, and this is our duty. And it’s too bad that we have to fight you to protect the land and do the duty that the Creator gave us. But I will, until the day I die, I will be standing up for our land.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  The pattern of colonial authorities exercising veto power over the rights of the Secwépemc is longstanding. Just a 10-minute drive from Pípsell sits the former Indian residential school located at Tk’emlúps, next to Kamloops. In the field next to it lie the remains of 215 Indigenous children who died while attending the residential school here. When those bodies were discovered in 2021, it sent shockwaves of disbelief around the world. 

We had to request permission from the Tk’emlúps leadership to visit and film here. It’s considered a holy place now. Not even planes are permitted to fly above the grounds.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Well, this is the residential school here. I grew up attending events in this building. So for me it was more like, this is where stick games happen, this is where our meetings happen, funeral services, wakes, meetings for elders, youth language. 

And then as kids, we’d run up and down the hallways playing in it. It was actually quite a creepy place, though. And I remember we would play down on the far end over there, and I would always see this pregnant nun. And I didn’t really see her, I just knew she was there. And it was really creepy. And years of this, it was like knowing she’s there, and she’s coming down the stairs. My elder said to me one day, well, there’s a nun that was killed in the stairs, and she haunts that stairway. She haunted me when I was in residential school. 

Some of the elders have come here to release their souls, and some people have come here to release their ghosts while they’re alive. So this is… I don’t know, this isn’t a place that makes me happy. None of us actually want it to be here. I don’t know why it’s still here to this day. Some think it’s should still stay here. But so many of our people feel that hurt all day, every day. This is their torture chamber. This is their Auschwitz.

BRANDI MORIN:  So you are a survivor, you’re a residential school survivor.

BARB LARSON:  Yes. What I’ve got to say is there will be no reconciliation as long as there is no truth. And we’re still waiting for some truth. And they seem to think that our laws are all outdated, our traditional cultural laws are all outdated. 

But excuse me, that’s what we stand up for. We go by those laws and those traditions to this very day. We live by those laws. And that’s what makes us the nation that we are. Because we believe in what our ancestors stood up for. And if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here today. But the truth and reconciliation is a bit of a joke in my books.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Miranda Dick waits outside the Kamloops courthouse for her father, Secwépemc Hereditary Chief Saw-ses. Both were arrested for blocking access to the TMX construction site in Kamloops in 2020. Wielding an injunction, the police moved in and arrested Saw-ses, Miranda, and six other land protectors. They were charged with civil contempt. Miranda served 19 days in jail, and was released a couple of days before her father, who served 21 days. 

[Phone ringing]

SPEAKER 2:  Corrections branch.

MIRANDA DICK:  Hi, I’m looking for Henry Sauls. He is to be released today out of KRCC. This is Miranda Dick, his daughter.

SPEAKER 2:  I can’t talk to you about anything about this person. If he is gonna be released, it’ll be sometime later on today.

MIRANDA DICK:  Later on today?

SPEAKER 2:  Yeah. He’ll have to notify you.

MIRANDA DICK:  Oh.

SPEAKER 2:  Yeah.

MIRANDA DICK:  OK. He is an elder. He is 72 years old. He doesn’t have any way of contact, though. How could this be arranged? I just need an arrangement with you.

SPEAKER 2:  Yeah, see that’s the problem. Because if he is here, because he’s in jail, it’s private. I can’t give any information in regards to this person whatsoever.

MIRANDA DICK:  OK. I’ll have our lawyer contact you. Thank you.

SPEAKER 2:  OK. Bye.

MIRANDA DICK:  Fucking asshole.

BRANDI MORIN:  Holy. They’re just…

MIRANDA DICK:  OK. Ben was trying to call me [phone ringing].

BEN:  The plan that Saw-ses and I made is if he didn’t see you guys out front, he’d go to Denny’s.

MIRANDA DICK:  OK. OK. I…

BEN:  He might be sitting in there right now.

MIRANDA DICK:  OK. I’m gonna go over there or send someone over right now.

BEN:  Yeah, and I’ll call…

MIRANDA DICK:  …Could be at Denny’s. 

Hi, Dad.

SPEAKER 3:  Oh, wonderful. Oh my God.

MIRANDA DICK:  Hi, Dad.

SPEAKER 3:  Where’s my duke?

SAW-SES:  Good to see you.

MIRANDA DICK:  Yes. Good to see you too, Dad.

SAW-SES:  [Indistinct] Jailbird.

MIRANDA DICK:  [Laughing] Jailbird. [Laughing].

SAW-SES:  The food in there was terrible.

MIRANDA DICK:  I know. It was horrible. Did you lose any weight in there?

SAW-SES:  30 pounds.

MIRANDA DICK:  [Laughing] 30 pounds?

SAW-SES:  You?

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah, I only lost six pounds. [Laughs] It’s not that much.

SAW-SES:  Yeah, 30 pounds.

MIRANDA DICK:  Holy. 

SAW-SES:  It was bad. Thinking, eh?

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah.

SAW-SES:  Stuck in my head.

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah.

SAW-SES:  Just on the floor.

MIRANDA DICK:  I know, Dad.

SAW-SES:  Can’t go to the bathroom anytime I want to.

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah.

SAW-SES:  Can’t flush the toilet.

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah.

SAW-SES:  I always get up at 6:00 and…

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah.

SAW-SES:  Up until 8 or 9, they say I can’t.

MIRANDA DICK:  Yeah. Can’t go swimming? Yeah. He swims every day in the river. Every day.

SAW-SES:  Yeah. 

[MUSIC]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  One of the first things Saw-ses did after his release was swim in the Fraser River. Only steps away from his house, it’s an ancestral healing ritual. He does it every day, even in freezing temperatures.

SAW-SES:  That one, non-Native RCMP had told to stand in front of me when the doors open. And then, they said we’re gonna go around, open the other side door there. And I said, “OK.” 

And then they told that woman to push him back. My hands were cuffed. My feet were cuffed. To it. 

But the white one pushed my head like that. Pushed me back. I fell back… Fell back in the seat. One RCMP was on this side, another on this side. Pulled me across the seat. Put like the seat belt there. It went right across my back. 

So, it was bringing me to jail. They were bringing me to jail. White RCMP said, “You better sit up! You better sit up!” And I said, “I can’t. I can’t.” So, I just forced myself to do it, to sit up. And I said, “Blah.” I couldn’t. Couldn’t.

I don’t wanna let them see me suffer because it makes it over me. It’s not over me. It’s for the… It’s stressful, too. Like when I first got done in the jail, they put this pressure test on me, and they said my pressure was 170.

BRANDI MORIN:  You know, this reminds me of something. And it reminds me of what our people went through in residential school.

SAW-SES:  My grandmother went to residential school. So it’s one generation there. My mom and dad went to residential school. So did I, eh? Three generations.

BRANDI MORIN:  Did it feel like you were in jail as a kid?

SAW-SES:  Prison, yeah. It’s the same thing. Real bad. 

[MUSIC]

MIRANDA DICK:  Yes, I was arrested, and it was very traumatic. For one, I have children, and I also have a duty to the land, and care for it. Given time, to be forcibly removed by a corporation, and a corporation such as Canada, then you kind of think, how is this possible? They have no deed, they have no jurisdiction, and so forth. So, to forcibly remove me from the territory. Yeah. Canada is the problem. So it is very much so.

And so, that’s the hardcore truth of it is they have to equate that they’re causing genocide against Indigenous people on our own land. 

[MUSIC]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Mike’s been working to rally elders in a last-ditch effort to convince them of the threat to Pípsell. There’s been division within the nation on how to go about protecting Pípsell. Some, like Mike and other community members, see no other option but to take frontline action. Other Secwépemc see things differently. 

APRIL:  Is the meeting right now? 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  No, we’re in the hallway and I’m cornered by four of them. 

WOMAN:  You’re not cornered. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I am cornered. 

WOMAN:  The door is there, you have an exit — 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m not leaving. This is my building as much as it’s yours. 

WOMAN:  It’s everybody’s building… 

APRIL:  And they’re stopping you? 

WOMAN:  …But that doesn’t mean we have to allow this kind of energy. 

APRIL:  I think you should put your camera on and go live on them. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Brandi, can you put your camera on? This is serious, and this is a public space. April’s my chief. She wants the cameras on this because we’re being kept out because of Tk’emlúps laws, not because of anything else.

HANK GOTT:  April?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  April, Hank Gott wants to talk. He’s the one keeping me out.

HANK GOTT:  April?

APRIL:  Well, I think Hank Gott better put this before the elders and not be making decisions for the elders because the elders are getting tired of that.

HANK GOTT:  I’m not… the agenda is full for this day. We have some special guests coming in and this is totally unprecedented —

MIKE MCKENZIE:  You’re doing this on purpose.

HANK GOTT:  …For you guys to come in here and demand —

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Nobody’s demanding anything.

APRIL:  …We’re in unprecedented times in which we [crosstalk] —

HANK GOTT:  Mike came in here saying that he’s representing BC.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  No, I didn’t, not once. I said BC wants misrepresentation.

HANK GOTT:  You’re not listening, April.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Did you listen?

HANK GOTT:  April, you’re not listening. I said our agenda is full for this day. We have some special guests coming in. If Mike wants to get on the agenda, he’s gotta put in a request to the chairpersons to give his presentation.

APRIL:  …The elders wanna put it on the agenda, it’s up to the elders.

HANK GOTT:  That’s right. And no request was made to be put on the agenda by Mike here.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Yes it was, and you guys stopped it. You told him not to allow me to speak.

APRIL:  …Let him in, and let him be a witness. He’s not doing any harm.

HANK GOTT:  Well, he can’t speak at the agenda. He cannot speak at the meeting then if he’s gonna come in.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  That’s not our way. The elders let me speak for 10 years.

APRIL:  …Is there to be a witness. You either let him in or you call the cops so we can get this all on record.

HANK GOTT:  Well, if you wanna call the police services then go right ahead.

APRIL:  No, you go ahead and call them about your agenda, because he is there to witness and he is there to support the elders.

HANK GOTT:  Well he can —

APRIL:  You can’t stop him

BARB LARSON:  OK. Stop. Stop. This is getting heated, OK? Can we not give him five minutes to come in and make a small presentation?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  To all of them, right? I know.

BARB LARSON:  I’ll give you five minutes, OK, Mike?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I know, I know.

BARB LARSON:  I just want to keep the peace here. The elders do need to know about what’s going on on our land, yes, they do.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Mike got his five minutes with the elders, but little seems to have come of his impassioned speech to them. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  You’re not welcome on this territory. 

BARB LARSON:  Mike! Don’t do that. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Fuck this building. Why do I fight for any of us? 

BARB LARSON:  Do not do —

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Do you know what’s gonna happen? I’ll be sitting all by myself —

BARB LARSON:  Don’t undo what we’ve done. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m not gonna undo anything we’ve done, but they’re undoing all of it by doing nothing. 

BARB LARSON:  OK. Hey, stop.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  You seen it.

BARB LARSON:  Stop being confrontational. And this is what —

MIKE MCKENZIE:  No, I want to talk about this with you.

BARB LARSON:  Talk is one thing.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  How is this confrontational? I wanna know why —

BARB LARSON:  Why did you just tell that young man in there?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  He’s not welcome in this territory.

BARB LARSON:  Don’t do that.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  He’s not.

BARB LARSON:  Don’t do that.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  He’s not. Barb, he’s not. You know damn well Terry wouldn’t have let him here.

BARB LARSON:  Stop it.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Terry wouldn’t let somebody stand here and talk like that.

BARB LARSON:  Mike.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  No, I am having a hard time with this because I was raised by the spiritual leader, not by you.

BARB LARSON:  I’m ready for the battle again. I was getting kind of rundown, but you know, because, like Mike, when you don’t get the support, but to go there with all those people from clean across Canada and the two territories to say this was an awakening, our people are coming together, we’re taking on this battle, and we’re gonna win. 

But we have to get our young people involved too. The elders now, we’ve lost so many elders this year that were strong, powerful fighters. And there’s not that many of us left. I call myself a warrior woman because I like to fight. Don’t get lippy with me again, or I’ll have to turn you over my knee and spank you.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  As long as we get lippy with each other [laughs].

BARB LARSON:  We’ll see you tomorrow.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Have a good day.

BARB LARSON:  You get working on that.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  They’re really good. They’re always really big on our relationship, so this shouldn’t be a difficult… These aren’t C-IRG. And they don’t like C-IRG, I don’t think, because it messes with everything they’re doing. 

[MUSIC]

Hi there. I’m wondering if staff sergeant’s in?

RECEPTIONIST:  Pardon?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Staff sergeant?

RECEPTIONIST:  Sir, do you have a meeting?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m looking to speak with him. I’m a knowledge keeper from Skeetchestn.

RECEPTIONIST:  Does he know you’re coming?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  He doesn’t know I’m coming, but we’ve talked extensively.

RECEPTIONIST:  Oh, OK. What’s your name?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Mike McKenzie.

STAFF SERGEANT:  Good morning there.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Good morning. How are you?

STAFF SERGEANT:  Good.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m Mike.

STAFF SERGEANT:  Mike.

I talked to you before on the phone, Mike?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Yes, we’ve talked on the phone before. Would you have some time today to talk about Pípsell? We just want to talk about the impacts on the land, and my dad, and our elders.

STAFF SERGEANT:  Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with the RCMP. Those types of requests or inquiries probably should be going through either Trans Mountain or through that process that took place.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Yeah, I’m more concerned about the injunction that applies across BC without… I know [you’ve] not been here a long time, but this work that we did was extensive. We spent millions of dollars as a community to protect that site. And actually, I think that what’s happening with SSN is I think fraud is being committed because they’re misrepresenting our people. They’ve told the government that they’re at the table with our people and that Trans Mountain is negotiating with our people, and our elders have said no.

BRANDI MORIN:  There are some elders here that I’ve seen that have said that they would like to go up to the site and have a sacred fire because of their concern that their territory is being desecrated. And they said, we want to do this, but we are so afraid, we don’t want to go to jail. Would it be your job to go up there and arrest them, should they go and conduct that ceremony that they want to do?

STAFF SERGEANT:  It depends on the circumstances I would imagine, right? So, I don’t quite understand how that all works, OK?

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Thank you.

STAFF SERGEANT:  All right, Mike.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I appreciate your time.

Me, I come up as a passage of rite ceremony to come here and be on the land and to find my spirit. And so this is… My [Indigenous language] was just up on the hill over there. And I would walk down to the water over there. And my sweat lodge is right over there on the lake shore. And we fast for four days. We reflect on our lives and why we’re doing what we’re doing. 

[MUSIC]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  While stopping for gas, Mike unexpectedly runs into his father, Terry Deneault. They haven’t spoken in three years. As a knowledge keeper, Terry has faced many similar battles and has since passed the torch to Mike. However, due to the controversial nature of TMX and the pipeline, Terry keeps his distance, fearing community retribution if he associates with his son

TERRY DENEAULT:  Everything about this land, everything about this land, I teach it to all the young kids. Everything about it. Including you as a young man. Taking you up and teaching you everything that we know about how to conduct ourselves within our territory, especially our land, how to look after it. 

It’s going to be gone one day, and we’re going to be gone. But the land will always be there. That land, without it, we’re nobody. I’m not a kúkwpi7, I’m an elder now. I won’t be a kúkwpi7 if I didn’t have this land to look at. It offers everything to me and to you. 

And so, you grew up like that. You grew up respecting this. I taught you everything I could as an elder, as your dad. And I’m proud of you, what you’re doing for us. 

Like I said, we’re getting old now. It’s time for someone else to carry that. I’ve fought it for 40, 42 years. I will take a rest now, and you take that flag for me, and do good with it. And I will honor you with that one day. If not me, the elders will honor you, and that honor will be priceless. I gotta get going. Good to see you, son.

MIKE MCKENZIE:  The thing is, is I just know he doesn’t want to be in the middle of this right now. I can’t wait until this tension is gone. 

[DRUM BEATS AND SINGING]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Allies from the Vancouver-based environmental group Protect the Planet begin assembling near Pípsell. They’re preparing to blockade the construction site. Khursten and her comrade, Chrissy, an alias name, asked Elder Barb Larson if they could light a sacred fire at Pípsell.

CASSIE FOX:  So, the sacred fire came at the very end. And when we got to that question, and she totally surprised us. She’s like, why don’t you guys just do a fire? And we were like, we couldn’t possibly do a fire. What are you talking about? She’s like, why not? Do a fire on my behalf ’cause I can’t be there. 

[DRUM BEATS AND SINGING]

CASSIE FOX:  She just…

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  She wishes she could do it, honestly, you know? But she can’t.

CASSIE FOX:  Yeah, she’s afraid.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  So some other people [crosstalk].

CASSIE FOX:  She’s afraid because she doesn’t want be thrown to jail.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  She has her livelihood. Yeah. 

[MUSIC]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  The fire signifies the spiritual element of praying for the land and opening the way for ceremonial healing.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  My fear is that there’s gonna be no planet left for my grandchildren. That’s my biggest fear. That’s what keeps me awake at night. Going to jail for the cause, doing these things, this doesn’t scare me at all. Leaving this planet a mess for my grandkids, that’s what really scares me.

BRANDI MORIN:  [Phone ringing] Hi, sorry to bother you. I don’t know, I should just believe in prayer and just believe that I’ll be protected, but I am experiencing some anxiety.

AMBER BRACKEN:  So, here’s what I think you need to think about. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go ahead, but what I’m saying is you need to think about the fact that police are likely to see you as trespassers.

BRANDI MORIN:  Well, I talked to Ethan about it, and he said that legal precedent has determined that reporters, journalists can follow protestors into an injunction zone. I trust that no charges or nothing would stick. I don’t believe that anything would be valid, so.

AMBER BRACKEN:  I mean, I don’t think it would either. But also just remember, Ethan’s not a lawyer, and neither am I.

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah, well, I’ll text you later tomorrow, and if you don’t hear from me, something’s up [laughs].

AMBER BRACKEN:  OK, I’ll be watching.

BRANDI MORIN:  OK. Love you. Thank you. Bye.

AMBER BRACKEN:  Love you too. Bye.

BRANDI MORIN:  Why did this just come now, at the last minute?

CAMERAMAN:  The anxiety?

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah. Like, stupid.

CAMERAMAN:  I don’t know. I kind of agree with Amber, though.

BRANDI MORIN:  No, I know, but…

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  Are you ready? [Coyotes howling].

Coyotes are cheering us on. 

[MUSIC]

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  It was all sitting there [Indistinct].

CASSIE FOX:  OK. So, let’s catch our breath. Whew, I’m sweaty now.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Tobacco, in many Native communities, is considered a sacred medicine. It signifies a prayer to halt production.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  We’ve chained ourselves to the scaffolding at the TMX pipeline. No more pipelines. So now we’re just waiting for the cops. Security finally got here after like 20 minutes of us just lollygagging around they finally got here. He’s here. So now we just wait for the cops to get here.

You’re too slow, you fat fuck.

Just a scare tactic [indistinct] the media.

BRANDI MORIN:  We’re following the protesters.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  You’re all breaching the injunction, though. You’re all gonna be arrested.

BRANDI MORIN:  Not as media. There’s legal precedent…

Indigenous Ricochet Media and The Real News, and we’re documenting their action. Brandi Morin. Internationally renowned, award-winning journalists.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  Yep.

BRANDI MORIN:  [Indistinct].

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  You’re on Trans Mountain property. We have an injunction, a 5-meter injunction.

BRANDI MORIN:  Yep. Journalists are allowed to follow protestors —

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  No, they’re not.

BRANDI MORIN:  …Into an injunction zone. It has been set by legal precedent.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  The police have been called and you will be arrested.

BRANDI MORIN:  Well, the police [crosstalk]. We’ll talk to them.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  Yeah, yeah.

BRANDI MORIN:  They don’t wanna arrest the media again. Don’t worry. They don’t want to.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  Yeah. OK. I’m sure you’ll find out very soon here. What’s your name?

BRANDI MORIN:  Brandi Morin.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  Brandi Morin.

BRANDI MORIN:  We’re with Ricochet Media Indigenous and The Real News.

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  Yes, I’m aware of that.

BRANDI MORIN:  We’re all [indistinct].

CONSTRUCTION WORKER:  The three of you are here?

BRANDI MORIN:  Yes.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  It doesn’t intimidate me. It doesn’t scare me. Telling me the police are coming, did you not think that we knew that the police were gonna come?

I’m protecting the climate for our kids, so I don’t have any shame. 

[Phone ringing] 

MIKE MCKENZIE: Hi, Brandi.

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah. So they’re continually threatening, saying we’re being arrested and… is there any way Sean could get on the phone when the cops get here? Or do we just go and like… 

MAN:  You just go. The cops aren’t gonna talk to a lawyer on the phone.

BRANDI MORIN:  OK. 

MAN:  That’s not how they do things. And just be cooperative.

BRANDI MORIN:  No, I’m gonna be. 

MAN:  The main thing is not getting arrested [crosstalk].

BRANDI MORIN:  But I do wanna tell them, I just do wanna say we’re journalists, this is what we’re here to do, and I do wanna get that out of the way.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  And we’re awesome. We are chained in, we’re ready to sit here all day if we have to. Or a week, you know, however long. 

[MUSIC]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Two hours pass by. No RCMP have showed up. The two decide to unchain themselves and walk back to the sacred fire.

CASSIE FOX:  Right. So we dropped the tobacco in the hole. We feel pretty good about that. That was our prime motive. Second motive was to stop work. We’re not stopping work. They’re really busy on the hill there, so yeah. We don’t need to just sit here. Yeah. So we’re good. We’ve unchained ourselves. Gonna move out to camp.

CORPORAL CHUNG:  Hi, folks.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  The man can count.

CORPORAL CHUNG:  So, I’m Corporal Chung with the Kamloops RCMP. I’m just coming over to have a discussion with you. We got a call of some possible people on the property of the Trans Mountain Expansion line over here earlier. I just wanted to give you guys a copy of the injunction so you’re aware that there’s an injunction in place. OK. Would you like a copy of it 

SPEAKER 4:  For here?

CORPORAL CHUNG:  Nope, for the Trans Mountain property over next to you there.

SPEAKER 4:  Yeah, sure. Thank you. Appreciate it.

CORPORAL CHUNG:  I’ll provide you with a copy so that you are aware of what’s taking place here. And does this lady want a copy as well?

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  No, I’m good, I can read his.

CORPORAL CHUNG:  You don’t want a copy? I’ll just provide you one copy there. Just so you’re aware, the area is fenced off and should you go inside that property and impede, you could be in breach of that court order. That’s from the Supreme Court of British Columbia. 

Thanks for your time.

SPEAKER 4:  You have a good one.

KHURSTEN BULLOCK:  You’re a joke.

So I guess we got away with it, we’re assuming because they didn’t read us the injunction when we were down there, and then we left before the cops came, that they couldn’t charge us. So, they came and served us with a copy of the injunction, and that’s it. Just told us to stay out.

Oh, stay together.

Creator was really working with us today, hey? 

[MUSIC]

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  After the land defender action, I get a call from Mike at 3:00 AM. Police are at his house for a wellness check. And for Indigenous people in Canada, these checks too often end in violence or death. Mike is hiding in the woods. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m on the hillside now and I’m just looking at the stars, praying that I am going to be OK. 

BRANDI MORIN:  Honey. No, seriously, honey. I wanna make sure you’re OK. I wanna make — 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I’m really scared right now. I’ve never been so scared in my life. 

BRANDI MORIN:  Honey. Because you’re just — 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  And I have nobody with me and I can’t get off the phone with you and I’m scared. It got so real when I called you. I’m scared now. 

BRANDI MORIN:  It’s OK. It’s OK to be scared. So you’re scared that they want to arrest you for being… 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Or make me look mentally ill or something for just like having… I’ll be a severed link. This pipeline is so… this is the third, maybe fourth time they’ve come at me now with a wellness check in the past four years or something. 

BRANDI MORIN:  Where can you go from here? Can you walk somewhere, keep walking somewhere? Or do you have to like, where… 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Guess I should stop sitting here, I just, I was so scared. 

BRANDI MORIN:  I just — 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  It helped calm me down. 

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah. I just don’t want [crosstalk]. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  …About being alone and that nobody’s here and that they can do anything they want. And I’m literally in the middle of the night, and I’m… 

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah, I know. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  And I know when they come to me I get so scared, like — 

BRANDI MORIN:  I know. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  …Panic scared, like… 

BRANDI MORIN:  OK, so for the now, what are you gonna do that you’re gonna stay safe somewhere? 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I might find my way downtown somehow, then find my way to Vancouver. 

BRANDI MORIN:  OK, well why don’t you do that, and if there is an emergency, try to call me. And if not, I’ll touch base with you this afternoon. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  OK. Sounds good. 

BRANDI MORIN:  And see how you are. OK? 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Thank you for your time today. 

BRANDI MORIN:  No, thank you. It’s OK. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Agreeing with me and… 

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  This has really calmed my heart. And I was feeling really dumb after, but —

BRANDI MORIN:  Don’t worry about it. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  I know it was big for the time that it happened, so. 

BRANDI MORIN:  Yeah, it’s all good. Don’t worry about it. It’s good. The thing is you’re safe. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Yeah. Thank you. 

BRANDI MORIN:  OK. Hay hay. You take care. 

MIKE MCKENZIE:  Bye. 

BRANDI MORIN:  Holy. Oh, man.

BRANDI MORIN [NARRATION]:  Just weeks later, construction on the TMX Expansion here would be completed. And in May 2024, the oil began flowing. 

In an emailed statement, Trans Mountain media relations said it’s committed to meaningful engagement and building relationships with Indigenous communities, adding that they’ve entered into 69 mutual benefit agreements with 81 Indigenous communities. Saw-ses still has hope. He’s determined to keep his traditions alive despite the possibility that the oil may leak and desecrate his territory one day.

SAW-SES:  Yeah. We have to stop them from digging up Mother Earth. Killing Mother Earth and killing us. Even killing the whole mankind of thing. Not only the Shuswap. So when they pollute the waters and the pipeline ever busts, it’s gonna be very bad. And we’re gonna say, we told you guys not to do it.

BARB LARSON:  We are, and I’ve always felt this, that we’re second-class citizens in our own country. And what upsets me, this is our homeland. Our homeland, our blood is in this land. We were born here, we were raised here for centuries. We have no other country to go to. And yet, we’re treated like we’re less than the other people that have come here. That really hurts. That hurts in a big way.