METRO VANCOUVER — Several protesters including an 11-year-old girl have been taken into custody Sunday at a work site related to a proposed pipeline expansion near Vancouver. The RCMP have arrested dozens of people in the past week as officers enforce a court injunction ordering protesters to clear the way for Kinder Morgan workers. Civil disobedience continued Saturday on Burnaby Mountain, where 16 more protesters have been arrested after crossing the police line as activists rally against a proposed oil pipeline. Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Major John Buis said to date there have been 53 people arrested for interfering with Kinder Morgan’s survey work on the mountain. The arrests were peaceful with supporters shouting words of encouragement to those who crossed the line. Some shouted “thank-you” to those being handcuffed, while taunting the police officers standing guard in a cordoned off area, saying “you’re on the wrong side of history,” and “cross the line and join us.” The protesters, including some that have already been arrested, have vowed to continue to defy a court order that prohibits people from blocking Kinder Morgan’s geo-technical survey work for its proposed pipeline expansion. The company obtained the injunction on Nov. 14, but RCMP didn’t begin enforcing it until Thursday. A few people were still camping outside the injunction zone early Saturday. The demonstrators, muddy from days of heavy rainfall, dried their clothes on a makeshift clothesline above a campfire as the sun came out. === VIEW MORE PHOTOS HERE, or if you're using a mobile app, tap the story image and swipe. === The sound of drilling by Kinder Morgan crews at two sites muffled the crackling of the sacred fire, which police on Friday moved rather than extinguished so aboriginal elders could keep the blaze burning. The fire is considered sacred to aboriginal people because it symbolizes the fight to save the land. Mounties have allowed aboriginal people tending the fire to remain in the injunction zone without being arrested as long as they don’t try to block workers. They also brought in three aboriginal RCMP members early Saturday to provide support to those tending the fire. Around 11:30 a.m., scores of protesters marched up the road and stopped at the police tape. They chanted “no pipelines on stolen native land” and banged on drums. They carried placards, and blew horns. On man strummed on a guitar. After a protester announced to the crowd that he was going to cross the line, shouting, “I am here because climate change is the issue of our time," more from crowd quickly followed. They were arrested and loaded into a police van that was inside the injunction zone, and then taken to the RCMP detention centre in Burnaby.

Protest organizers said more people are expected to cross the police line Sunday at around 10.30 a.m. Valeen Jules, 18, of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation on Vancouver Island tended to the sacred fire overnight by herself for five hours. She said early Saturday that she was cold and exhausted but encouraged by the support she received on social media. She said she was joined in the early hours by some of her friends and three aboriginal RCMP officers, who were brought in as support for the aboriginal people inside the injunction zone. Jules said the officers were helping her stoke the fire. “It’s been somewhat controversial but l think it’s really important, what they are doing,” she said. “I definitely felt a lot safer with them here.” Jules, who comes from a small native community on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, said she was compelled to come and show support because she wants the land to stay as a conservation area. “It’s beautiful here. I don’t want to see this land destroyed. I’m here in solidarity with everybody.” Protester Carol Crabtree said was considering crossing the police line and was prepared to be arrested. “I’m a concerned citizen. This is a pretty poor legacy to leave for our children and grandchildren that we are going to be plowing through this mountain. I couldn’t let it happen.” Kinder Morgan president Ian Anderson said Friday that the Burnaby Mountain passage is still the preferred route for the pipeline’s expansion, and that the delays by protesters won’t force the company to ask the national Energy Board for an extension to complete the work. Among those arrested on Friday was Simon Fraser science professor Lynne Quarmby. She said dozens of people told her they would head to the site this weekend. At least 11 protesters were arrested on Burnaby Mountain Friday and 26 demonstrators on Thursday. An online fund was set up by Rising Tide environmental activists and had crowdsourced more than $2,000 to pay their legal fees. “This is just people reading the news and showing up,” Quarmby said of the diverse group of about 50 protesters Friday. “Every time I go there, there are new people. I knew a couple of the people I got arrested with today, but I did not know they were going to get arrested before it happened.” After getting arrested by Burnaby RCMP and taken to a nearby parking lot, Quarmby said she and seven others signed promises to appear in court in January to answer civil contempt charges. Before they were released, she said they also all signed a legal document stating that they would not violate the injunction by passing onto Kinder Morgan’s work site, which would mean facing a higher penalty than contempt of court. Quarmby has denounced the Harper government’s omnibus bill, passed in 2012, which stripped environmental regulations from National Energy Board Act. “The new NEB Act is as requested by the oil industry,” Quarmby said. “The process is a sham. There’s no meaningful environmental regulation and there’s no respect for the First Nations peoples. We have a process that does not allow consideration of climate change in the evaluation of a major fossil fuel project at a time when climate change is the biggest problem facing humanity. That’s unethical.”