Pipelines, blockades, and sovereignty

Much to journalists’ chagrin, progress doesn’t come in satisfying narrative arcs. It is unsteady, disjointed, unpredictable, and ongoing in a way that frustrates the limits of news coverage. The indigenous protests at Standing Rock captured the world’s attention for weeks in early 2016, but few reporters were on the scene when the constructed pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil of oil on Apr. 4 and 6 the following year. This familiar narrative is playing out in Canada, and the eyes of the nation are on the indigenous Wet’suwet’en Nation, where the Unist’ot’en Camp is blocking a pipeline route. It is only the latest flashpoint in the ongoing struggle for indigenous land ownership, but media attention has brought this protest to the front of Canadian consciousness.