A dancer performing at the Kamloops Brigade climate protest on Monday, Oct. 7, 2019.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - A small group of protesters dressed in red costume and white face makeup gathered outside a storage area for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to protest climate change in Kamloops today.

The group is called the Kamloops Red Brigade led by organizer Katie Welch and part of the Extinction Rebellion movement taking place in cities across the world today, Oct. 7. The group was founded in the U.K. and are known for blocking bridges and slowing down traffic to protest climate change.

In Kamloops, approximately a dozen people gathered to watch the silent and slow-moving performance on Mission Flats Road.

“Today we are hoping to raise public consciousness about the Trans Mountain pipeline,” Welch said to media personnel after the performance. “We decided to organize and do something in the Kamloops area because the Kamloops area is a key trigger spot for the Trans Mountain pipeline.”

Welch explained how the red costume signifies blood and the passion for the planet.

“We (want to) stop species destruction and mitigate climate change,” she said. “No we can’t change it entirely but if we could mitigate it, that’s our best hope and this pipeline is not mitigating climate change.”

The movement of the dance was slow to symbolize the fast-paced world, Welch said.

“It is supposed to be a statement about the speed of our society from texts, emails, everything is happening really fast. Information is coming at you and what if we slow down and think about what we are doing,” she said.

Welch said the performance today was not tied to any political group but mentioned the Green Party is the only party that has promised to stop the pipeline.

“I don’t know anybody else's politics (here). We are primarily dancers,” she said. “I put the word out to the dance community and we didn’t have many dancers out here today but for two weeks it's actually pretty good.”

Welch hopes in the future there will be more performances by the Red Brigade.

For more information on the group visit their Facebook page here. 

A group of dancers called the Red Brigade organized by Katie Welch on Monday, Oct. 7, 2019.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

The group met outside a storage area for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to protest climate change on Monday, Oct. 7, 2019.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

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