Makeda Martin stands in the middle of a plywood shack on the side of the road making a meal fit for the most finicky of foodies.

On the menu: Buffalo meatballs, spinach and cilantro salad, and salmon risotto. All made from ingredients she says were supplied by nearby residents in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, B.C.

“We feel so safe and welcome here,” says the tall, lanky 55-year-old, hand on her hip.

The shack is part of a larger installment called Camp Cloud, which is home to up to 20 protesters. The camp sits across the street from a Kinder Morgan facility — the battleground of dozens of protests against the Trans Mountain expansion project.





Makeda Martin says most of the Forest Grove residents support Camp Cloud. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)

Makeda Martin says most of the Forest Grove residents support Camp Cloud. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)

Hundreds of people, including Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, have been arrested here.



Camp Cloud sits across the street from Forest Grove — a quiet, tree-lined suburban neighbourhood where gangly-limbed children in shorts roam cul-de-sacs, playing after school.

Many residents oppose the pipeline project, but that doesn’t mean they support the camp and the protesters.

Some are concerned about the growing number of protesters living by the side of the road. They say there have already been skirmishes between residents and protesters and they worry about sanitation issues and fires.

Hundreds of people say they want the city to disband the camp. But those who live there say they have no intention of leaving.

“We are humble, but we are many. And we believe in this fight,” Martin said from inside a plywood shack at the camp on Thursday.

Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr., centre, of the Dakota and Chickasaw Nations, speaks with RCMP officers as protesters opposed to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline extension defy a court order and block an entrance to the company's property, in Burnaby, B.C. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr., centre, of the Dakota and Chickasaw Nations, speaks with RCMP officers as protesters opposed to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline extension defy a court order and block an entrance to the company's property, in Burnaby, B.C. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

May Chu, 38, lives a five minutes drive from Camp Cloud, and has participated in some of the anti-pipeline protests that have taken place in Burnaby and Vancouver, often taking her two kids along with her.

But Chu’s concerns about the camp have grown as the site has gotten bigger.

“It’s just, in my opinion, an accident waiting to happen."





May Chu is opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, but does not condone Camp Cloud. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)

May Chu is opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, but does not condone Camp Cloud. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)

The camp, which began as just a trailer on the side of the road, has become a small shanty town of assorted semi-permanent structures adorned with anti-pipeline slogans.

Chu said she’s worried campfires and cigarette butts could ignite a brush fire that could quickly spread. She also points out that the camp hugs the blind corner of a hairpin turn, with protesters often milling about on the road.

Some residents on a neighbourhood Facebook group have complained about verbal altercations between residents and the protesters.

Forest Grove is a quiet residential community in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)

Forest Grove is a quiet residential community in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)

Chu said Camp Cloud is getting too big and doesn't want it to grow.

She prefers how things are run at the nearby Watch House — another protest camp down the road that’s organized by members of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation.



Unlike Camp Cloud, the Watch House is a single structure nestled in the woods. Nearby, a support camp with a few large tents and an RV sit in a neat row in a sports field, powered by solar panels.

The contentious nature of the pipeline debate keeps Chu and others like her from speaking out too loudly about her opinions.

“We’ve been viewed as pro-pipeline, which is completely not the case. We’re just concerned about safety,” she said.

The Watch House, run by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, is another protest camp in Forest Grove. A support camp is in a nearby sports field. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)