In Manitoba, a struggle to unite against Canada’s quiet pipeline.
![Crossing Lines](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/13875/281955/5b12914ce0172/Crossing-Lines.jpg)
On a thawing evening in early March, around a hundred people crowd into a high-ceilinged church hall in Morden, Manitoba, a town known for hardworking Mennonite farmers and fossilized aquatic reptiles. Even before the Mennonite pastor introduces the evening’s discussion topic with a note of nervous humour — “What could possibly go wrong?” — a current of tension eddies under the small talk as people pour themselves black coffee and file past a table stacked with handbills urging them to “STOP the LINE 3 PIPELINE!”
In rural Manitoba, an issue that’s been underground for fifty years is coming to the surface. Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. has embarked on a $9 billion project to replace nearly all of Line 3, a deteriorating 1,765-kilometre pipeline that carries crude Oil from the Alberta oil sands across the prairies to a terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. In 2017, Enbridge began laying new pipeline alongside the old, which is to be drained and sealed off. The weakening, fifty-year-old pipeline has been operating at just over half its original capacity of 760,000 barrels per day since 2010, and critics stress that the replacement will nearly double the amount of crude flowing through Line 3 to US refineries.
In Canada and the United States, pipelines have become arenas for conflict, pitting environmental groups and Indigenous peoples against the oil-and-gas industry, with politicians caught in the middle. Like Thermopylae — the rocky coastal pass where Greek forces held off ten times the number of invading Persians — a pipeline offers a strategic bottleneck where relatively small groups can do battle with powerful energy corporations to impede the extraction of fossil fuels. Their strategies can be effective.
Esta historia es de la edición July - August 2018 de The Walrus.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July - August 2018 de The Walrus.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
![MY GUILTY PLEASURE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/ZjBpzYG4o1719492279999/MY-GUILTY-PLEASURE.jpg)
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
I WAS AS SURPRISED as anyone when I became obsessed with comics again last year, at the advanced age of forty-five. As a kid, I loved reading G.I. Joe and The Amazing Spider-Man.
![The Upside-Down Book](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/69rONulnf1719492018954/THE-UPSIDEDOWN-BOOK.jpg)
The Upside-Down Book
In her new novel, Rachel Cusk makes the case for becoming a stranger to yourself
![Pick a Colour](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/gfjRqDBPR1719491028118/PICK-A-COLOUR.jpg)
Pick a Colour
BACK HERE, I can hear a group of women trickle in. Filling the floor with giggles and voices.
![Quebec's Crushing Immigration Policy](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/Va0q3epMo1719490712561/QUEBECS-CRUSHING-IMMIGRATION-POLICY.jpg)
Quebec's Crushing Immigration Policy
Familial separation can have devastating consequences on mental health and productivity
![The Briefcase](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/F9k8iWEzU1719490185232/THE-BRIEFCASE.jpg)
The Briefcase
What I learned about being a writer from trying to finish a dead man's book
![In the Footsteps of Migrants Who Never Made It](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/mgurf-_Dv1719487984600/IN-THE-FOOTSTEPS-OF-MIGRANTS-WHO-NEVER-MADE-IT.jpg)
In the Footsteps of Migrants Who Never Made It
Thousands have died trying to cross into the US from Mexico. Each year, activists follow their harrowing trek
![Blood Language](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/XYrsQ_vA81719486997059/BLOOD-LANGUAGE.jpg)
Blood Language
Menstruation ties us to the land in ways we've all but forgotten
![Dream Machines](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1721021/mpkA9pAuF1719486535433/DREAM-MACHINES.jpg)
Dream Machines
The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
![Invisible Lives](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1514951/2Hy-_fagA1707905048505/crp_INVISIBLE-LIVES.jpg)
Invisible Lives
Without immigration status, Canada's undocumented youth stay in the shadows
![My Guilty Pleasure](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/13875/1514951/290c5p7DA1707905886467/crp_MY-GUILTY-PLEASURE.jpg)
My Guilty Pleasure
"The late nights are mine alone, and I'll spend them however I damn well please"