FORT ELLIS, N.S.—Three water protectors arrested for refusing to leave the long-established resistance camp near the gate of the Alton Gas site north of Halifax said they have no intention of quitting.

“It’s not over,” said Madonna Bernard around 3 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after being released from several hours of custody at the Enfield RCMP detachment.

Bernard and two other “grassroots grandmothers,” Darlene Gilbert and Paula Isaac, said they were getting dressed, making breakfast and had just lit a ceremonial fire when they were confronted by RCMP officers around 9 a.m.

“We knew something was going to happen because our grandma here said it was too quiet this morning,” said Bernard, referring to Gilbert.

The women said they spent around three hours drinking tea with the RCMP’s Division Liaison team — officers trained to build relationships with communities and mitigate conflict — before being brought to the station for “civil contempt of an injunction order.”

“It was done respectfully,” Gilbert said about their treatment by police.

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All three water protectors were released without charges.

They left the station with feathers held high, while a dozen supporters gathered to cheer them on with chants and cheers of “Where are we? Mi’kma’ki!” and “Coastal Gas, Alton Gas, both these projects shall not pass!” referring to a similar controversial pipeline in British Columbia.

Earlier in the day, RCMP were gathered at a blockade several kilometres from the Alton Gas site gates, preventing other water protectors from approaching the camp.

“The RCMP is absolutely impartial in this,” Cpl. Jennifer Clarke told reporters at the blockade.

“We respect Indigenous culture and we also respect the company’s right to conduct their business.”

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Water protectors are worried the nearby Shubenacadie River will be polluted if the company carries out its plan to create underground caverns to store natural gas. The company intends to use river water to flush out salt deposits and then dump the leftover brine into the river.

“That’s our prerogative as Indigenous Mi’kmaq people,” said water protector and organizer Dorene Bernard. “We’re going to be there to stop them from harming our water.”

Last month, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia issued a temporary injunction against the demonstrators, saying they had to move to a nearby fenced-in area along Riverside Rd.

Just hours after being released from custody, the three grandmothers joined a rally at Province House to call for the attention of Environment Minister Margaret Miller.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, Miller stood by her ruling that the province had done enough to consult with members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation.

“We made the best decision based on science and evidence,” said Miller. “Certainly I sympathize, I know people are concerned, but you know any ruling I make as minister of environment is based on science and evidence, and that will be our path forward.”

Gilbert and Madonna Bernard told media after their release that no consultation was done with members of the band.

“This is my consultation. I say no,” said Gilbert, joined by an emphatic chorus of “no” from supporters gathered outside the RCMP detachment.

According to Miller, a “broad consultation” with the Sipekne’katik First Nation has been underway for “many, many years.”

The $130-million Alton Gas project has been largely on hold since 2014 when Mi’kmaq activists started a series of protests that culminated two years later in the creation of a year-round protest camp at the work site northwest of Stewiacke.

The water protectors arrested on Wednesday did not comment on whether they would return to the site — but are certainly not planning to give up their fight.

“We’ll argue with it in court,” said Madonna Bernard.

Dorene Bernard said seeing grandmothers being arrested for standing up for their cultural and spiritual rights as Indigenous people in this land is wrong.

“People need to know that this is for everyone,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press

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