One of Romilly Cavanaugh’s first jobs was an environmental engineering position at the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which carries crude and refined oil across western Canada.



Two decades later, Cavanaugh was arrested for blocking the entrance of a facility belonging to her former employer, as part of a wider protest against plans to expand a pipeline snaking from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast.

She was one of more than 115 people detained this week in the Canadian province of British Columbia as an indigenous-led protest against the Trans Mountain Expansion project heated up.

On Friday two federal MPs – Green party leader Elizabeth May and Kennedy Stewart of the New Democratic party – were arrested after they joined protesters attempting to block construction work related to the expansion. Elsewhere, more than 60 actions unfolded across Canada in a show of solidarity with the protests.

Spearheaded by Texas-based Kinder Morgan, the C$7.4bn ($5.7bn) project proposes expanding an existing pipeline to lay nearly 1,000km of new pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver’s coastline.

The project, which still needs to obtain numerous local permits and approvals, would nearly triple the flow of Alberta’s landlocked bitumen to the west coast and dramatically increase oil tanker traffic in the Pacific.

After Kinder Morgan launched preparatory work this month in Burnaby, near Vancouver, indigenous leaders called on people to raise their voices.

“Bold action is needed now,” said Will George, a member of Tsleil-Waututh Nation. “This is the moment to either stand with Indigenous Nations in the fight for a safe climate and clean water, or else watch as Kinder Morgan continues business as usual and destroys any chance for a safe and livable planet.”

An estimated 10,000 people heeded the call, marching through the streets of Burnaby two weeks ago. The protests have continued ever since, attracting between 50 and a few hundred protesters each day, from toddlers to octogenarians.

Others across Canada have spoken out in support of the project, which would allow Canadian oil to access new global markets.

After his government approved the plans in late 2016, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, described it as the right decision for Canadians. “Our duty is to permit infrastructure so Canada’s resources get to market in a more environmentally responsible way, creating jobs and a thriving economy,” he said.

Cavanaugh – who worked at Trans Mountain from 1991 to 1996 – was surprised to find herself in the spotlight.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Indigenous leaders, Coast Salish water protectors and others demonstrate in Burnaby against the expansion of the pipeline. Photograph: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images

She said that concerns over climate change, the risk of an oil spill and the several First Nations that have legally challenged federal approval of the project prompted her to turn up at the site on Tuesday and volunteer to join activists blocking the gates of the Kinder Morgan facility.

“I lived in fear when I worked for Trans Mountain, because the reality is that no amount of equipment or people is going to change the fact that in the event of a spill, they will be able to recover very little,” she said. “It’s not that the company doesn’t care. They do care. But the reality is, if there’s a spill into a river or the ocean, there’s very little they can do about it.”

Big oil v orcas: Canadians fight pipeline that threatens killer whales on the brink Read more

She acknowledged that things may have changed in the more than two decades since she left. “And I’m sure they have gotten better,” she said. Pointing to concerns about oil spills, particularly those involving diluted bitumen, she added: “But the laws of nature and physics have not changed since the 90s.”

She stressed that she was not anti-industry. “But what I’m opposed to is building more fossil fuel infrastructure in the midst of a climate crisis. We need to be scaling back, not moving in this direction,” she said. “It’s like Justin Trudeau is trying to promote Blockbuster video in a time of Netflix. What is he doing?”

The belief is what pushed her – at the age of 55 – to be arrested for the first time in her life. “It’s a scary thought,” she said. “I can go to jail, I can have a very stiff fine, I can be sued by Kinder Morgan for what they say is damages to their business.”

After vowing to appear in court in June and not block the facility again, she was discharged. On Friday, Cavanaugh returned to the site to protest but stayed away from the gates of her former employer’s facility. “For me it was just important to get out there and take a stand against something that I think is a huge mistake.”