ELSIPOGTOG, NEW BRUNSWICK – With SWN Resources Canada’s seismic testing trucks only about 5 kilometres away, and with geo-testing equipment scattered for miles along highway 126, today was a day filled with variables at the sacred fire encampment that has sprung up at the junction of highways 126 and 116 west in Kent County, New Brunswick.

RCMP  - coming from across New Brunswick and beyond - have provided a heavy-handed escort for SWN’s equipment in the preceding days, and, given the previous arrests of numerous people opposed to SWN’s presence, there was the real potential for a stand-off today at the junction, where Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples had gathered.

A typical day of work has seen the seismic trucks, or ‘thumpers’, advance approximately 6-8 kilometres per day, and many expected the work crews and their trucks to reach the junction today. Many in today’s assembled crowd of approximately 150 people also noted their willingness to be peacefully arrested.

But today there was a conspicuous absence of RCMP guarding SWN’s equipment. Eyewitness reports vary between two and four cruisers along highway 126, a far cry from the 10 to 20 cruisers, paddy wagons and unmarked cars, along with the dozens of foot police that had descended upon the area earlier in the week.

There is a history of shale gas resistance in New Brunswick that includes blockades, seizures and destruction of gas exploration company equipment, and, without their RCMP escort, it would appear that SWN chose not to risk the potential of confrontation, even a peaceful one, at the junction. The thumpers stopped working for the day at approximately 1 p.m., long before they ever reached the sacred fire and the assembled crowd.

As of press time the four operational thumpers were parked approximately 15 kilometres north of the junction in a private field. SWN could not be reached for comment.

It may be that the RCMP’s sudden disappearance is related to a press release issued yesterday from the co-chairs of the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs New Brunswick. The release “call[s] for restraint by the police, government and SWN resources. They are requesting those groups respect the protesters and their concerns about the development and exploration of shale gas in the province, including seismic testing.”

Sources note, however, that the Irishtown, New Brunswick, community centre continues to act as a make-shift headquarters for a ballooned RCMP force that now includes about 30 vehicles.

For the moment though, those gathered at the sacred fire are counting today's SWN's stand-down as a victory, if only a temporary one. Drumming, dancing, food and good weather lent a calm and jovial mood to what might possibly have been a day of mass arrest.