It's not radical to protect the land.
I mean, it is dangerous to crawl into a tar sands pipeline.
It is dangerous to chain yourself to a piece of heavy equipment.
Those machines could kill us easily.
Here, Indigenous activists and their allies
are setting up a prayer lodge on a pipeline construction site.
- I’m here taking these risks in this system that seems so hellbent on destroying itself
and destroying all life,
because it's time to do something different.
We’re not going to get that done comfortably or easily.
Somebody has to take a stand.
The oil pipeline is called Line 3,
and it is being built by Canadian oil company Enbridge.
Down, down, down with the pipeline!
This is just one of dozens of recent actions
activists have taken to try to stop its construction.
- I’m here because I believe we all deserve a just and livable future.
This pipeline infringes on Indigenous rights.
It infringes on our water and our air and our future.
Line 3 cuts through Indigenous land,
and crosses under the Mississippi River ... twice.
The Mississippi River system is one of the largest in the world,
and millions of people downriver rely on it for their water supply.
Enbridge is responsible for the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history,
and it happened right here in Minnesota.
This land has always been Anishinaabe and Dakota territory.
It’s an honor to be with my relatives here from different nations,
coming here with one spirit and one purpose,
to protect this land and protect sacred water.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested since construction began in the state,
but they have vowed to not stop until the pipeline is canceled.
- We’re asking this administration, just like we asked the administrations prior,
to do something different and stand with Indigenous people.
None of us are sacrifice zones, and it's time for change.
We said no.
And we're still saying no.
The entire planned route for Line 3 spans over 1,000 miles,
from Alberta, Canada to the shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin.
The 337-mile section in Minnesota
avoids tribal reservations,
but it passes through treaty land,
where Anishinaabe people were
guaranteed the right to fish,
hunt and harvest traditional foods like wild rice.
Most of the pipeline is completed, but Enbridge just began construction in Minnesota
in December 2020 after years of legal battles and resistance from activists.
Hey, good morning water protectors!
Tara Houska is Anishinaabe
from Couchiching First Nation near the Canadian border.
Line 3 has got to go! Hey hey!
Three years ago, she started Camp Namewag
along the proposed pipeline route with other Indigenous activists.
So, Anishinaabe people were told by Creator
to come where food grows on water.
And this is the only place in the world where wild rice grows.
Line 3 proposes to commit cultural genocide
through knowingly threatening our wild rice beds.
That’s why I’m here in the southern part of Anishinaabe territory
to protect the wild rice.
Just 20 minutes away from where she lives,
you can already see the pipeline construction in progress.
- Yeah, this is Line 3.
This is the proposed Line 3 project
waiting to be trenched into the ground.
These power lines weren’t here before. This is all new.
Tara started her career as a lawyer on Capitol Hill.
I saw a lot of inequities and misunderstandings
and disrespect of Indigenous nations on the Hill,
and so I started doing this other form of advocacy.
I saw it as another route to change.
I packed up the stuff that I had into a rental car and went out to Standing Rock.
In 2016, thousands of people camped at Standing Rock Reservation
in North Dakota to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline.
It was a historic gathering of Indigenous nations.
And people from all over the country
gathered in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Nation.
The protests gained international attention, especially after violent interventions by police.
It was the first time that I saw land defense work,
where people were actually putting their physical bodies in front of the machines.
I never came quite back from that.
After Standing Rock, Tara decided to move home and fight on the front lines of Line 3.
- Most people never see this part,
and I feel like it does compel people.
And people that are crawling into pipes when it's 40 below zero compels people.
I mean, they're not taking those risks lightly.
They're literally fighting for their futures.
It's not easy to see this.
It's quite hurtful actually.
Coming back for round two?
Around five minutes after we arrived at the pipeline,
we were passed by a local sheriff’s car, Enbridge security and an unidentified third vehicle.
- What’s happening?
- Good, just hanging out.
He hates Side-by-Sides.
I mean, we were there for, what, five minutes before
there was a police officer, a security person and another security person?
I mean, you could probably time that.
It might have been even less than five minutes.
That was pretty quick response time.
In June 2021,
there was an escalation of protests against Line 3.
Today is the biggest one yet.
Can’t stop, won’t stop! Can’t stop, won’t stop!
We’re currently sitting inside of an Enbridge Line 3 active pump station.
People have come together and use their agency and use their power
and use their protection to stand up for something more than themselves.
All of these people are here for the water.
It’s um ... it’s incredible.
Protect the sacred! Defend the water!
Among the protesters were people from other Indigenous nations from outside of Minnesota.
Big Wind is Northern Arapaho from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.
There are thousands of people in northern Minnesota today.
It feels really good to see dozens and dozens of people locked to machines
and to see crowds like this coming right towards me.
Big Wind joined Tara at Camp Namewag three years ago
after meeting Anishinaabe activists at Standing Rock.
You know, when we're talking about this camp, it is primarily young people,
30 and under. A lot of them are college students.
Because I'm able-bodied, because I am a young person,
I put myself in those situations for people who can't be there.
This pipeline goes through the Mississippi River twice.
Everyone should be worried about this.
So this morning, all these young folks scaled the fences.
There’s blockades out in the front.
Yeah, it’s ... this is wild.
Some protesters stayed locked to machinery into the night.
I’m a mother of three children. I trooped out here from Boston. I am a Mi’Kmaw woman.
All the kids out here deserve the future that we as parents promised our kids.
And if this is how I have to fulfill that promise,
then this is how I'm gonna fulfill that promise.
To every single one of you who is locked down right now
and who gave everything to give your agency, give your beauty and give your love
to the Earth and to those to come, you did a huge self-sacrifice.
This is what it takes for them to hear us.
A low-flying Customs and Border Protection helicopter
kicked up dust in the middle of the protest.
Police say nearly 250 people were arrested.
Enbridge says it is replacing the corroding Line 3 pipeline built in the ‘60s.
But the new pipeline is longer and can carry tar sands,
which is more environmentally destructive than regular crude oil.
In Minnesota alone, it crosses more than 200 bodies of water.
Further east along the pipeline route
is another encampment called Welcome Water Protectors Center.
Ojibwe organizer Winona LaDuke is one of the founders of the camp.
- You know, for seven years,
all the Ojibwes have tried to stop this project. We did everything.
I went to every court hearing. I went to every regulatory hearing.
Her organization, Honor the Earth, has helped pursue lawsuits to stop the pipeline.
For years, the pipeline was delayed by legal battles and environmental reviews.
Winona and another Ojibwe activist, Tania Aubid,
are continuing to spread awareness about Line 3 and Indigenous treaty rights.
The Declaration of Indigenous Rights needs to be binding by law,
because we see so many corporations out there and people
who want to take down what was given to us freely,
because our future generations deserve to have a playground like we do here
At this event, they invited visitors to row down the Mississippi River
and connect firsthand with the land and water they’re fighting to protect.
- You always offer your tobacco, your prayers when you go into the water,
because then it, then you ask permission to be there and then ask her to take care of you.
Because she does take care of us, right?
Yeah, I was arrested in January just up the road here,
so it’s really nice to be able to come back and be back at the river
and remember what we’ve sacrificed for.
Nearly 20 million people in more than 50 cities
rely on the Mississippi River for its water supply.
This river gave us all our life,
and this is the world's freshwater up here. And so we're going to protect it.
Millions of gallons of oil have been spilled by Enbridge pipelines,
including by the original Line 3.
- We’re just looking for the best of the best to be able to come here and join us
and protect what you see out here.
You know, this was our home. This is our home. And we’re protecting our home.
And to figure out how to do it peacefully, that’s another thing.
We have to appreciate what we have now or otherwise
at the stroke of a pen, they can take it away and sign it away and bam -
destruction happens.
I remember this one time when I was talking to the sheriff of Aitkin County, and,
you know, he said, “Well, this is the law.
And I'm going to have to, you know, abide by the law.”
I said, "So am I." I said, "You work for Aitkin County. I work for Mother Earth."
From the beginning, you go to a hearing, and there was a gauntlet of police
you had to walk through to go testify.
You know, I found that like crazy.
Like, why is this such a good idea if you need so many police?
Local police are being funded by Enbridge
by way of a public escrow account run by
the independent Minnesota Public Utilities commission.
The Commission has reimbursed over $1 million dollars
to local sheriff’s departments for expenses related to public safety
Public records show that this included riot gear.
The Commission confirmed with AJ+ that they’re permitted to reimburse equipment
if it qualifies as “personal protective gear for public safety personnel.”
And it really like confuses what the purpose of a police force is.
Is it a private security force for a Canadian multinational
or is it to serve the people of Minnesota?
Tara says that activists staying at Camp Namewag
are often pulled over by local police for minor infractions.
The Hubbard Country Sheriff Department
did not respond to our request for comment on the claims
- Mud on their license plates, things hanging behind their rearview,
things on the dashboard, plates from other places.
I mean, they're obviously engaging in targeted harassment of
people engaged in defending this territory and this land.
It's pretty clear state repression, and it's meant to scare us.
I've often had the experience of being told that I am idealistic,
that I don't understand the way of the world,
that it's not how things work.
I guess I just want to see.
I understand that I cannot live without water.
I cannot live without clean soil. I cannot live without clean air.
I can't. No one can.
Because I’m like in a situation personally where I am directly opposing these projects,
it means you have to be in proximity to them, right?
And like, this is what I am used to.
I grew up in places like this my whole life, you know, and it’s quiet.
So far, none of the court cases against Enbridge
have succeeded in canceling the construction of Line 3.
And now, the company says they will be finished with the pipeline by the end of the year.
Still, activists promise to keep putting pressure on Enbridge.
I think it's incredibly difficult not to find hope when you see human beings
engaging in something that's self-sacrifice for someone who's not even alive yet.