Critical infrastructure protection or persuasion? The hegemonic and repressive function of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the Coastal Gaslink flashpoint
| dc.contributor.author | Francis, Caitlin | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Carroll, William K. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-09-25T18:52:45Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-09-25T18:52:45Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Sociology | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts MA | |
| dc.description.abstract | Throughout the Canadian settler-colonial project, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been a dominant police force within critical infrastructure protection (CIP). CIP, often focused on the securitization of resource extraction projects, repeatedly confronts Indigenous dissent and Indigenous assertion of sovereignty. In adherence with the RCMP’s historical role, a division of the British Columbia RCMP, Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), was specifically created to police pipeline projects. This project looks at the function C-IRG performed during the Coastal Gaslink (CGL) pipeline project (constructed by TC Energy), which trespasses through unceded Wet’suwet’en land without consent. In order to better understand C-IRG’s role within CIP, Freedom of Information (FOI) and Access to Information (ATI) requests were submitted to multiple government organizations. The key findings from this research underline that C-IRG operates as both an ideological and repressive force. The force, shifting towards a more intelligence-led approach, can result in greater coercion, as enforcements are informed by risk assessments. At the same time, C-IRG assessed land defenders as illegal and occupying protesters, which allowed C-IRG to position themselves as a neutral peacekeeping force, adhering to the “benevolent Mountie” myth, which the force reproduced within legacy media. The CGL flashpoint revealed C-IRG's coercion on Wet'suwet'en territory and confronted the RCMP's benevolent image. Thus, C-IRG used the reach of legacy media to attempt to restore its ideological image, which was simultaneously supported by other fossil fuel allies within the media during the flashpoint. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20453 | |
| dc.language | English | eng |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.subject | Critical Infrastructure Protections | |
| dc.subject | RCMP | |
| dc.subject | C-IRG | |
| dc.subject | Coastal Gaslkink Pipeline | |
| dc.subject | Wet'suwet'en | |
| dc.title | Critical infrastructure protection or persuasion? The hegemonic and repressive function of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the Coastal Gaslink flashpoint | |
| dc.type | Thesis |