Two Secwépemc chiefs are asking the Tiny House Warriors to take down their protest camp near Blue River.

Simpcw First Nation chief Shelly Loring and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc chief Rosanne Casimir have released a joint statement today, saying the protesters need to stand down.

The Tiny House Warriors have been occupying two sites near Blue River to protest the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

“In 2017, we gave our free, prior and informed consent to Trans Mountain to build and operate the new pipeline here,” Loring says. “I share their concern for the safety of women and girls, but they won’t talk to us about the work we’re doing… For example, we currently have 19 women working at Trans Mountain. They report positive experience, and no serious incidents.”

Simpcw councillor Martha Matthew says the protesters “don’t speak for us.”

“The Tiny House Warriors are not from Simpcw, nor are they our guests in our territory.”

In their statement, Loring and Casimir say the protesters are often disrespectful, and their presence “constitutes an intrusion into Simpcwul’ecw and a threat to our people, and the public.”

The statement says Trans Mountain respects the role as a caretaker that the Indigenous bands have on the lands.

Their call for the Tiny House Warriors to stand down comes after Blue River area director Stephen Quinn wrote a letter last month, to Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod, Kamloops North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar and Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone, asking for the less-than-peaceful protests to be forced to end.