VANCOUVER -- The RCMP is monitoring the rising tensions between members of the Haida Nation and employees of a luxury fishing lodge that recently reopened.
Those tensions led to a confrontation that was caught on video last Friday in the waters off Haida Gwaii, where boats from the Queen Charlotte Lodge apparently crossed paths with some vessels from the Haida Nation.
The video, which was posted on Facebook by the group Gaandlee Guu Jaalang, or "Daughters of the Rivers," shows people shouting "Slow down!" as the larger fishing boats zoom past.
Later, a man can be heard telling members of the Haida to stay out of their way: "The RCMP aren't comin', the Coast Guard's not comin', if you guys get hurt, it's gonna be a real problem," he says.
When someone off-camera asks, "Who's going to hurt us?" the man responds by accusing Haida members of "running in front of our boats."
When the Haida members say they're on their own territory, the man replies: "You know what, when you're a sovereign state, and you can run your island properly…" before being cut off.
Cpl. Madonna Saunderson of the North District RCMP said the force is watching the ongoing Haida protests against the lodge and is taking part in ongoing talks between the parties involved.
"The RCMP respects the rights of individuals to peacefully protest and we are committed to facilitating a dialogue," Saunderson said in a statement. "We are impartial in this dispute and our hope is that this can be resolved peacefully. The primary concerns of the police are public safety, police officer safety, and the preservation of the rights of demonstrators to their freedoms of expression, association and mobility."
Friday's confrontation happened on the same day Haida Nation council announced a community member had tested positive for COVID-19, marking the first infection on Haida Gwaii since the start of the pandemic.
The First Nation has made a concerted effort to prevent the virus from taking hold on the islands, limiting non-essential travel and restricting visits from non-residents who aren't essential workers.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix have noted the Haida Nation is well within its right to do so.
"This is part, of course, of our relationship with First Nations communities and their self-governance and self-determination, and they have the ability and the authority to make those decisions for their communities," Henry said back in April.
Queen Charlotte Lodge has said that it's making an effort not to endanger communities on Haida Gwaii by bringing customers in by helicopter from the mainland. The lodge also promised no guests from the U.S., where COVID-19 has been spreading at an alarming rate for months, would be visiting before the end of the season on Aug. 31.
With files from The Canadian Press