When is a "community meeting" not really for the community? We suspect it's something like the one central to a recent episode in Bemidji.
At the Bemidji Pioneer, Grace Pastoor reports in You couldn't hear, you couldn't sit': Activists asked to leave Enbridge meeting Tuesday night (W/ VIDEO):
A community meeting hosted by energy company Enbridge quickly dissolved Tuesday after a Bemidji police officer asked environmental activist Winona LaDuke to leave.
The meeting, held at the DoubleTree hotel in Bemidji, was meant to give community members and landowners information about the proposed replacement of Line 3, an Enbridge oil pipeline that runs from Alberta, Canada, through northern Minnesota to Superior, Wis.
LaDuke, who founded the Native-led environmentalist group Honor the Earth, and other activists hoped to ask Enbridge questions regarding the maintenance of the old pipeline if it is replaced with a new one. A Bemidji police officer asked LaDuke to leave after she and other activists tried to quiet the tightly-packed room about 15 minutes after the meeting began.
"They held an informational meeting — and a lot of people attended — and they didn't seem willing to answer questions," LaDuke told the Pioneer as multiple officers told attendees to leave the room. "They were not prepared to give answers."
As the officer repeatedly told LaDuke to leave, saying he had been asked to do so by Enbridge, others in the crowd took video, telling the officer that it was a public meeting and that LaDuke should be allowed to stay and speak. . . .
Some who attended the meeting were disappointed with the format. The room was crowded, with no chairs. Audrey Thayer, a citizen who attended the meeting, said she had hoped for a more formal presentation.
"You couldn't hear, you couldn't sit," Thayer said. "It was a well-planned event to not hear us; that's what it was." . . .
Enbridge personnel left the room as the officer asked LaDuke to leave. . . .
Bemidji, Minnesota, is located near major Anishinaabe nation reservations, so it's fairly sketchy of Enbridge to kick LaDuke and other community members out.
Enbridge doubled down the next day. The Pioneer reported in Line 3 meeting in Clearbrook cancelled:
An Enbridge-hosted meeting in Clearbrook, Minn., set for Wednesday has been cancelled after a similar meeting in Bemidji Tuesday ended early when police told an activist to leave.
Both meetings were scheduled to allow landowners and community members to ask questions and voice concerns regarding the replacement of Line 3, an Enbridge oil pipeline that runs from Alberta, Canada, through northern Minnesota to Superior, Wis.
During Tuesday’s meeting activist Winona LaDuke attempted to quiet the room and ask questions regarding the maintenance of the old Line 3. A Bemidji police officer told LaDuke to leave as Enbridge personnel left the room. . . .
In a Facebook post, Honor The Earth shared the December 13 article along with this headnote:
Yesterday in Bemidji, MN, 150 concerned community members showed up at an Enbridge meeting to get information about the proposed Line 3 pipeline. Most of the attendees were Anishinaabe. There was no formal presentation, just scattered tables for "meet and greet" style questions. But we have questions we want publicly answered, so Winona asked them publicly. Why did Enbridge allow human rights violations and police violence against water protectors at Standing Rock? Is their pipeline more important than 21-year old Sophia Wilansky's arm? Are they planning to bring tanks and riot cops to Northern Minnesota to build Line 3?
Unfortunately, these questions were not answered and have never been answered. Winona was intimidated by Bemidji police officers who attempted to unlawfully remove her from the building. At no time did the property owner, DoubleTree Inn, ask her to leave. This is yet another example of police serving the desires of corporations INSTEAD of the law and public safety...and the people standing up and protecting our own. Enbridge walked away from the meeting. At the end of this article, their media specialist Shannon Gustafson says that the meeting was shut down because it became "unsafe." Why is Winona asking questions dangerous? Why is a room full of Anishinaabe dangerous? If a group of white people had shown up and asked questions, would the meeting have been shut down for lack of safety?
We will not allow Enbridge to do business in our communities without accountability. We have seen the destruction they cause. They owe Minnesota some answers. How is this project going to be any different?
Earlier in December, the Duluth News Tribune published Native View: Enbridge must be held accountable in northern Minnesota, LaDuke's commentary about the company's activity in Northern Minnesota. Author of five books, LaDuke, who graduated from Harvard University and Antioch, is program director of Honor the Earth. She lives on the White Earth Reservation.
Photo: At the request of Enbridge corporation staff, a Bemidji police officer asks Winona LaDuke to leave a meeting at an area hotel. The Enbridge staffers left the room. Photo by Jillian Gandsey | Bemidji Pioneer.
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