A former resident of southeastern Manitoba has found himself at the heart of national protests over a pipeline project.

Kyle Bakx is now a news reporter in Calgary, but has been in northern BC for most of this week covering all angles of the controversial project. Bakx says it may seem like the Wet'suwet'en Nation is opposed to the pipeline project, but that is not the whole story.

Bakx says his assignment took him up north, mainly to cover a town meeting in the community of Houston, about 300 kilometres northwest of Prince George. That meeting took place inside a theatre on Wednesday afternoon. With seating for about 200, Bakx says the room was filled with people willing to give up three hours of their day to talk about the project.

"This wasn't a controversial event, there weren't any fireworks," says Bakx. "Instead, it was people sitting in these theatre seats and just having a deep conversation about the situation that's in their community."

The meeting included presenters from the Wet'suwet'en Nation, a hereditary chief, elected chief, several members of the nation and then people who work in the community, including business owners. Most of them were there to support the project.

"Some people want this project to get built because of the jobs, because of the economic impact, because it will help them put food on the table," shares Bakx.

He says some residents got very emotional talking about how they are finding it difficult to keep a job, yet want to see their community flourish and wish for the next generation to have a better life than the one they have.

It is the opinion of Bakx, that most Canadians do not understand the whole story. Earlier this week, there was a railway blockade south of Morris, Manitoba in support of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. Those same feelings are not being felt by everyone living in communities like Houston or Smithers. Yet, Bakx says the narrative that Canadians have been hearing is that so many people of the Wet'suwet'en Nation are opposed.

"Coming here and visiting some of the communities and talking with lots of people you really realize how different things are," he admits. "It's pretty divided up here between those who support this controversial natural gas pipeline that's getting built and those who oppose it."

In fact, Bakx says it is fracturing families where different members share opposing opinions.

When asked to describe the town meeting in Houston, Bakx says it was "interesting." Not only because he left the theatre on Wednesday with a better understanding of what is really going on, but also because of the unexpected way he suddenly became the topic of conversation. He notes near the end of the meeting was a question and answer period. One of the questions had to do with media coverage of the pipeline project. Recognizing he was a reporter, Bakx was asked why most of the news surrounding this project suggest the locals are in opposition.

"Even though that's not really a situation that I want to be in, because I'm there trying to cover the story, I think especially in this day and age, it's important for journalists to try to be as open and transparent as we can," says Bakx. "When we do produce news stories and people have questions about it, I think it's good to explain what we do and why we do it."

The response Bakx gave to those inside the theatre was that most news agencies are telling stories of the pipeline project, without having a reporter on the ground there. And, that could be one reason why the news coverage of this event is not all positive.

And, with multiple sides to the same story, Bakx says that is why he is in northern BC. He says it is no different from when he was a reporter in Steinbach.

"There's a lot of parallels really to covering a story like this," he suggests. "Because you're in a community and you're just really trying to connect with people, gain their trust and then try to tell their story in the best way."

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