Canadian pipeline groups spend big to pose as Indigenous champions

Supporters of Wet'suwet'en Nation's hereditary chiefs march as part of protests against British Columbia's Coastal GasLink pipeline. Photograph: Andrej Ivanov/Reuters

Oil and gas companies and lobby groups in Canada are heavily investing in campaigns to present themselves as defenders of Indigenous interests in the face of high-profile protests against a controversial natural gas pipeline on First Nation land, a new investigation by Eco-Bot.Net and the Guardian has found.

“I’m being a steward to my land and I’m being a defender,” read one of 21 ads targeting British Columbia in November 2021, quoting a Coastal GasLink worker from Nak’azdli Whut’en’ First Nation.