VANCOUVER—Though the Trans Mountain expansion project was approved for the second time last week, two self-described “sinister seniors” in B.C. say the fight to stop the pipeline is far from over.

Both women were arrested — and served several days of jail time for criminal contempt of court — last year for defying a court injunction that set limits on how close protesters could be to the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain tank farm.

Jean Swanson, 75, and Susan Lambert, 68, stood right in front of the gates — and were among more than 220 people arrested, a third of whom were over the age of 60, according to the Crown prosecutor.

For Swanson, last Tuesday’s federal government decision was met with “disgust, anger and a determination to keep fighting.”

“We have to stop the pipeline in order to preserve the coast and in order not to build the infrastructure that’s going to take even more and more oil out of the tarsands — when there should be less there,” she told Star Vancouver. “We just have to keep working on this.”

Neither woman had been arrested before.

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Swanson sat in court last July when the Crown prosecutor argued conditional sentences were not enough to deter these older protesters, saying the activists made a “particularly sinister challenge to the court’s authority.” She subsequently posted a photo captioned “sinister seniors” on Facebook, which was shared thousands of times.

Since then, things have changed.

When she was arrested, Swanson was vying for a position on Vancouver’s city council. She was successful and now represents the left-wing Coalition Of Progressive Electors.

“I have a job now; I didn’t have a job then,” Swanson explained. “It’s easier to do things when you don’t have a job. To do things like go and block the pipeline, knowing that you’re going to be in jail for a while.”

Still, Swanson added, she has no plans to back down — whether that means continued demonstrations or enacting stronger climate policy. She quipped that if she goes to jail again, she will have to try to organize it for August when council isn’t in session.

At the heart of the pipeline debate, which pit Western provinces against one another, is worry over climate change clashing with concern over economic prosperity. Opponents argue the expansion project will only lead to more harmful emissions; proponents say it will bring a much-needed injection of jobs and diversify the list of available markets for Canada’s petroleum products.

High-profile West Coast politicians were also arrested last year, including Kennedy Stewart, a former NDP MP for Burnaby South who is now Vancouver’s mayor, and federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. Unlike Lambert and Swanson, they did not serve time.

On Monday, Swanson told Star Vancouver she is using her new role “as best” as she can to work on climate and Indigenous issues.

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For instance, she’s put forward a motion for Tuesday’s city council meeting to write a letter to fossil fuel companies asking them to “pay their share” of the impacts of climate change. And she hopes the city will take a “strong stand” on the pipeline.

So does her long-time friend Lambert, who was locked up with her at a women’s correctional facility last year.

The retired teacher, an outspoken critic of the former BC Liberal government led by Premier Christy Clark, also wants the province to refuse to back down — even if there are political consequences.

Lambert acknowledged that halting the pipeline expansion is going to take “much more effort” than it did before. She’s prepared to continue demonstrating, despite her fear of the “heavy-handed use of the courts.”

“It frightens me; absolutely it does,” Lambert said. “I didn’t realize how long the effect of the jail time would take on me. It took me a long time to wrap my head around it and get back on my feet.”

Last Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t unexpected, she added, but it was depressing nonetheless. She lambasted the federal government’s decision, citing the “hypocrisy” of adopting a climate-crisis resolution while approving a project that will extract more fossil fuels.

“It’s so contradictory, the responses. It’s hard to make sense of it all right now,” she said. “There’s a real danger of the government itself losing so much of the respect that it needs to have … It must be very difficult for young people to retain a measure of trust in our system.”

And that, Lambert said, is incredibly worrisome because “disaffection” can be turned into nationalist and populist sentiment.

Lambert is hyper aware of her personal contribution to the climate crisis and remains optimistic there is a public will to change. Since being arrested last year, she’s made small changes in her life, including the recent purchase of an electric vehicle.

Both Swanson and Lambert highlighted the youth and student movements fighting for action on climate change as a beacon of hope.

“There is a rapid change in terms of both awareness of the effects of fossil fuel emissions and individual responsibilities,” Lambert said.

“It’s a race against time. The industry could collapse, or the planet could collapse. Which comes first? I don’t know, but this is a battle of epic proportions.”

Correction - June 25, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Elizabeth May as a former NDP MP for Burnaby South.

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