Judge dismisses charges against three Enbridge Line 3 pipeline protestors

WHITE EARTH NATION (KVRR) – A White Earth Tribal judge dismisses charges against three Indigenous people involved in Enbridge line three pipeline protests.

Nancy Beaulieu, Justin Keezer and Todd Thompson were charged with criminal trespassing at an eight day ceremonial camp at Fire Light camp. It is on land above where Enbridge Energy built the pipeline.

White Earth Court Judge David DeGroat says the protestors’ actions “were lawful exercises of sovereign Indigenous rights reserved in an 1855 Treaty and protected nonviolent direct action pursuant to the White Earth Tribal Code.”

“Anything that we do to protect the water and all that is sacred, that’s an inherent right. My original instruction to protect all that is sacred. It is not illegal to defend our treaties, to protect all that is sacred. What is illegal? When the courts and the state deny us our treaty rights,” Nancy Beaulieu of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe of Leech Lake said.

The protestors are calling this a landmark victory for Natives and express hope this victory will inspire others to know their rights and take action in the future.