OTTAWA - As protests go, it was the antithesis of the G20 in Toronto.
Several hundred people showed up on Parliament Hill on Monday to protest the Keystone XL pipeline and the expansion of the oilsands.
There were drums, chanting, loud speeches and many detentions by police.
But unlike last summer's demonstrations in Toronto, where destruction and violent confrontation were the order of the day, this event was downright sedate.
"It's a peaceful and serious tone that we created on the Hill here today, and a peaceful and serious message regarding the impacts that the tarsands are having, that we're seeking to deliver to the prime minister," said Greenpeace organizer Mike Hudema.
After an hour or so of speeches, more than 100 of the protesters organized themselves in small groups and gingerly climbed over a police barricade in front of the Peace Tower.
After each one had some quiet words with one of the dozens of police officers waiting for them, they sat down in straight rows in the sunshine, waiting to be processed.
The first wave was detained without incident, taken away in plastic handcuffs to a tent behind the Parliament buildings. They were then released about 90 minutes later. They were fined $65 for trespassing and told to keep off Parliament Hill for a year.
The rest of the protesters -- many of them with bail money in their pocket, just in case -- expected similar treatment. At one point, police went to escort some protesters into the queue, but stopped when they saw the protesters were helping a man in a wheelchair climb over the barriers.
"I guess there's some kind of mutual understanding" with police, said Steven Guilbeault of Equiterre. "We worked really hard to make sure it would be dignified."
RCMP said later that a total of 117 protesters were arrested for obstructing police, but not held. No criminal charges were laid.
Police estimated about 400 people participated in the protest.
Among the first to be cuffed with plastic ties were Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and veteran activist Maude Barlow.
The demonstration was organized by Greenpeace and other groups who say the 2,700-kilometre pipeline from Alberta to Texas is harmful to the environment in both Canada and the United States.
Protesters waved signs condemning the oilsands: "Ethical oil? That's snake oil. Guaranteed," said one. "Think outside the barrel. Stop the tarsands," read another.
The demonstration was inspired by two weeks of protests at the White House in August, where more than 1,000 people were arrested, including movie star Daryl Hannah.
The Canadian version claimed celebrity support as well, although there were no household names among those who were actually detained.
Despite the lack of ruckus, politicians seemed to take note. Even before the demonstration began, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver were pushing back, defending the oilsands and the pipeline as beneficial for the Canadian economy.
"Our government will continue to promote Canada, and the oil sands, as a stable and secure source of energy to the world, and will defend Canadian jobs and interests," Oliver said in a news release issued during the demonstration.
He said the pipeline would create more than 140,000 jobs in Canada in the next 25 years, and generate $600 billion in economic activity. His officials did not immediately explain how those numbers were reached.
"Our government firmly believes that it is in our collective national interest for the pipeline to proceed," Oliver said.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was far more blunt.
"Sad 2 see about 200 extremists on the Hill today who want to kill livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Cdns," Kenney tweeted.
Ottawa has already approved the Canadian portion of the massive pipeline, and officials are lobbying hard for American approval.
The pipeline will pass through six different states and state governments are holding hearings this week into the safety of the pipeline. The U.S. State Department says it will give the final say by year's end.
During hearings Monday in Topeka, Kan., environmentalists told State Department officials that the pipeline will be used to move "dirtier" oil through Kansas and other states to the Texas coast.
"Exploring tar sands will keep us hooked on this form of oil for another 50 years," said Rabbi Moti Rieber, co-ordinator of the Kansas Interfaith Power & Light environmental coalition.
"The Keystone XL pipeline represents not energy independence, but a new dependence on an even dirtier, environmentally devastating form of energy."
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback told the hearings he supports building the US$7-billion Keystone pipeline because, "for the foreseeable future, we're going to need oil."
Getting it "from a friendly nation that's next door, rather than shipping oil in tankers from halfway around the world in a many times unstable environment, is a good thing for us," Brownback said.
"It's a good thing for America, a good thing for Kansas."
About 40 protesters organized by the National Wildlife Federation marched outside the hall during the hearings, chanted and brandishing placards. About a dozen supporters of the pipeline also gathered with signs reading, "We support Keystone XL."
The Canadian and U.S. governments are also facing stiff opposition from First Nations groups in the affected states, who have allied with Canada's Assembly of First Nations in opposition to the project.
At the Ottawa protest, Clayton Thomas-Muller, an aboriginal organizer, said they are upset about the lack of consultation and government monitoring as well as the destruction of hunting and fishing areas, water, air, sacred lands and tribal sovereignty. They want oilsands development to slow down until government regulation can catch up.
They see higher cancer rates in communities near oilsands, as well as tumours in the moose, inedible fish and oily beaver dams.
"It's a really tragic situation," Thomas-Muller said.
Protester Ken Billings said the demonstrators have to risk arrest to get the attention of industry and government.
"We have to take it up a notch," he said.
In response, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers enlisted the support of Patrick Moore, a co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace, in a campaign in support of the oilsands.
Moore said the oil companies are doing a good job in restoring lands once the oilsands have been mined.
"Evidence shows the land will be reclaimed as thriving ecosystems after oil sands are developed to help meet the world's growing energy needs," he said in an association news release.
