West Coast Express to resume after pipeline protests block rail tracks overnight

The demonstration was in support of Wet’suwet’en members who oppose Coastal GasLink

The West Coast Express will be back running this afternoon after being cancelled due to demonstrators blocking the rail tracks in protest of a natural energy pipeline in northern B.C.

The group had been blocking the stretch of rail tracks in Port Coquitlam since Thursday afternoon, in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and clan members who oppose the Coastal GasLink project.

TransLink was forced to cancel West Coast Express trains Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, leaving thousands of commuters scrambling to get to and from work.

The demonstrators say they are ending the blockade in order to attend the Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver, an annual event set on bringing awareness to the lives of missing and murdered women, specifically Indigenous women and those on the Downtown Eastside.

“Our hearts are with Wet’suwet’en, with the next generations, with the climate, and to make sure all of our people are safe,” a pipeline opponent told media Friday morning. “That’s the reason we’re here, the reason we’re going downtown, and the reason we’ll be who knows where next until the RCMP leave the land.”

A number of protests are anticipated today across the province, with the lion’s share outside government buildings in Victoria.