The protest action at Burnaby Mountain is attracting the Tofino environmental groups.
Dan Lewis and Bonny Glambeck of Clayoquot Action were among the Tofitians headed for a protest opportunity at Burnaby Mountain on Monday.
Kinder Morgan has said the pipeline expansion will bring many benefits, including a more secure supply of oil for customers offshore as well as on the Lower Mainland, more jobs and job training, and more tax revenue for federal, provincial and local governments.
At least 60 people have been arrested for violating an RCMPenforced injunction on Burnaby Mountain.
Kinder Morgan is drilling bore holes and studying the feasibility of running the pipeline through the mountain instead of along residential streets in Burnaby, the Times Colonist reported.
The National Energy Board is conducting hearings to gather oral evidence from First Nations groups in Victoria until Thursday. The hearings, at the Victoria Conference
Centre, are open to the public. The board already has had hearings in Kamloops, Chilliwack and Edmonton.
Meanwhile, Tamo Campos, David Suzuki's grandson, will come to Tofino after following in his grandfather's footsteps while making his own tracks this week. He was arrested for challenging police lines at the Kinder Morgan drillsite.
Campos' work as a snowboarding environmentalist is showcased in the movie, "The Little Things," which will be shown on Dec. 3 at Clayoquot Sound Community Theatre
in Tofino. "Tamo himself is an amazing human being .. I really love that he is focusing on inspiring youth to get involved," Lewis said.
"The movie 'The Little Things' is about snowboarders who are making a difference in our world environmentally. For me as a kayaker that really resonates ..the idea that as outdoors people we experience the back country, we know what's at risk, what's at stake," Lewis said. "It's important to give back to that land that gives us so much adventure and challenge - that's what Tamo's doing."
Campos recently returned from a journey to the Red Chris mine site, where a blockade of Taltan First Nations and supporters are opposing an Imperial Metals mine in what they call the Sacred Headwaters. Imperial Metals is the same company with mining concerns at Fandora and Catface in the Clayoquot Sound area - and the same company operating at the recent Mount Polley tailings spill, Lewis said.
"They've really managed to pick a lot of hot spots for their mines," he said.
Files from the Times-Colonist.