Mi'kmaq Blockade Report

For over two weeks now, a coalition of people including local Mi'kmaq residents, and anglophone and Acadian settlers. SWN is a Texas-based energy company that has been attempting to conduct natural gas exploration in the area's shale formations. It is believed that if significant deposits of gas are found, SWN would then employ the controversial extraction method of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But since this past summer, protests, direct actions and sabotage have thwarted their work and have turned public opinion on the side of the protesters. Throughout the summer, police arrested dozens of people conducting non-violent civil disobedience. But since the arrival of members of the Mi'kmaq warrior society, the police have not been as keen to come near protesters. The blockade is preventing SWN from operating thumper trucks — massive vehicles that gather seismic data to determine the location of natural gas. During my short stay here, I've witnessed the co-operation between nat