NDP BC invades sovereign Wet'suwet'en territory, RCMP arrest defenders

The theft of indigenous land continues unabated in Canada. Canadian settler society is every bit as brutal towards indigenous people asserting their rights as our government's friends in Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras,  Venezuela etc.  UNDRIP is meaningless drivel given it has no enforcement mechanism. Here is the face of corporate friendly law in Canada. Tort injunction law trumps unceded aboriginal title. The RCMP is still fulfilling the mandate that it was founded on as the NWMP; passive the natives so settler capitalists can exploit the resources.

Breaking: Pre-Dawn RCMP Arrests on Wet’suwet’en Territories

4:57 am, Feb 6, 2020: The gate at 39 km has been breached. 13 RCMP vehicles past 39 km. Road is being cleared, 1 to 4 arrests made. Story developing.

4:55am – It’s not yet 5am – still totally dark out – and we’ve just heard RCMP made their first arrest at the #Wetsuweten monitoring post at 39KM. Cops are surrounding people there and beginning to clear the road to the Gidimt’en checkpoint.

5:05am – We’ve heard 13 RCMP vehicles headed up the road earlier this morning. Up to 4 arrests have been made now, and RCMP are taking down tents. Our understanding is these tents were NOT blocking the road and are not part of the injunction area.

5:30am – We’re hearing reports from the front line that some RCMP had their guns out – not pointed at people – but guns in hand.

We’re told that even with more than a dozen vehicles out on the territory, the Houston community hall is still full of cops waiting to invade our lands.

5:43am – We estimate more than a dozen cops on site, with six cops surrounding the person communicating updates over radio.

5:56am – The person on radio at 39km reports RCMP have broken in the windows of their vehicle.

6:22am: We have lost all communication with the Gidimt’en watch post at 39KM after RCMP smashed the window of the radio vehicle. It’s still pitch black out.

6:43am: We have reports that RCMP are now blocking the forest service road at 4KM.

6:59 am: We have reports RCMP have headed up from town in an approximately 20+ vehicle convoy. #Wetsuweten #WetsuwetenStrong

7:22am: 36 vehicles, 1 ambulance and heavy machinery went up from 4 KM. At least 2 bulldozers and excavator.

7:48 am: RCMP are transporting the 4 arrested supporters to Houston. BC. Everyone at 39KM was arrested except media. Media that were at 39km are being driven out in a police van.

Six Land Defenders Violently Arrested on Wet’suwet’en Territories

[Breaking story, info incoming] February 6, 2020:

Six people have been arrested and several others, including members of the press, have been detained and removed from Wet’suwet’en territories in an aggressive pre-dawn raid by RCMP on behalf of Coastal GasLink (TC Energy). Reports and footage are coming in from the siege. Dogs were used, media was banned from filming arrests. Militarized police with night vision and automatic weapons raided the camp in the dead of night.

http://unistoten.camp/six-land-defenders-violently-arrested-on-wetsuwete...

 

  UNDRIP is meaningless drivel given it has no enforcement mechanism.....

I believe it was yourself that suggested that UN General Assembly sanctions is wrong!

The General Assembly has the right to back up its approved Conventions such as UNDRIP with force, which has been done many times.

An action by the General assembly vs. Canada would be the deathknell to any fuuture Canadian expectations at the UN.

The Canadian Government must be threatened with the potential for a UN action, by the Wetsuweten Nation preferably backed by its National and Provincial Federations.

Tomorrow, before the Assembly of La Coordinadora of the Maya Kakchiquel, I will request the implementation of some international action.....in preparation...

It was the seriousness of the Korean crisis that finally impelled the General Assembly to take steps to break through its constitutional straitjacket. Following a deadlock in the council in 1950, when the USSR vetoed a United States-sponsored resolution in connection with the entry of the People's Republic of China into the Korean conflict on the side of North Korea, the General Assembly adopted a resolution that enabled it to circumvent the restrictions imposed by Article 12. This act, which came to be known as the "Uniting for Peace Resolution," provides that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity among its permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility in the maintenance of peace, in a case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to members for collective measures, including if necessary the use of armed force. Although the Uniting for Peace Resolution thus considerably extends the General Assembly's powers with respect to maintenance of international peace and security, it in no way represents an attempt to usurp the Security Council's prerogatives. Nor does it attempt to arrogate to the General Assembly the enforcement powers that the charter accorded to the Security Council alone. Even under the Uniting for Peace Resolution, the General Assembly can only recommend that members undertake collective peacekeeping measures; it cannot oblige them to do so. Nor can it impose peacekeeping action against the will of the parties to a dispute. It must obtain their explicit consent to the presence of UN personnel—observer commissions, mediators, troops—in their territories.

The Uniting for Peace Resolution has been invoked in several major crises: the Middle East (1958, 1967), Hungary (1956), Suez (1956), the Congo (1960), Afghanistan (1980), Palestine (1980, 1982), Namibia (1981), the occupied Arab territories (1982) and illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian Territory (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002). In all cases, the emergency special sessions addressed situations in which the Security Council found itself deadlocked. (See the discussion of peacekeeping operations in the chapter on International Peace and Security.)

Read more: https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/United-Nations/The-General-Assembly-FUNCTIONS-AND-POWERS.html#ixzz6DDchd8N0

...I am of course not a constitutional nor international lawyer...I would recommend advice from such distinguished lawyers as Christopher Black of Toronto, or Dr. Francis Boyle!

You guys are judging the RCMP way too harshly here. The fact is, the gas company has an injunction against the protestors. The law is the law, and all the RCMP are doing is enforcing the laws as written. I'm sure if the shoe was on the other foot the RCMP would respond the same way.

NDPP wrote:

[email protected]

John Horgan: [email protected]

This might have more of an effect:

https://www.bcgreens.ca/caucus

..from an email

MORE PEOPLE NEEDED AT PORT OF VANCOUVER

For the last three days people have held the Port of Vancouver in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en! People held it overnight last night and are in need of support! If you're in the Vancouver area get your friends together and join them at Clark and Hastings today!

"There is a call for supporters to come to Clark and Hastings throughout the day. We are here. Not moving. Please come to this site first and check in if you are not an indigenous person called to another action. Things have never felt so strong and we are purposeful and together and we need you."

PRESS RELEASE: Unist'ot'en Responds to Illegal Raid of Gidemt'en Camps and Calls for Protection of Healing Centre 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Unist’ot’en Responds to Illegal Raid of Gidimt’en Camps & Calls for Protection of Healing Centre

Unist’ot’en Territory, Feb 8 - Unist’ot’en condemns the violations of Wet’suwet’en law, Canadian law, and of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) committed by the RCMP on February 6th, 7th, and 8th 2020 on Gidimt’en Clan territory against camps located at 27, 39, and 44 kilometers on the Morice Forest Service Road.

These violations were committed by the RCMP on behalf of Coastal GasLink’s (TC Energy) interlocutory injunction and the existence of an ever-expanding and undefined exclusion zone. Coastal GasLink’s injunction does not prohibit travel on the Morice Forest Service Road nor does it prohibit residence at the Unist’ot’en village or any other Wet’suwet’en homesites on our land.

Unist’ot’en demands the RCMP will not evict the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre. The RCMP has no jurisdiction to enter the Healing Centre without our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Even under colonial law, the RCMP cannot enter or search our Healing Centre without a warrant.

International public support is called for to ensure the safety of the Healing Centre. People living and receiving treatment there are not in violation of CGL’s injunction, nor is the Healing Centre itself in violation of the injunction. The Healing Centre exists to support the self-determination and healing of our people and is unrelated to CGL’s work and the injunction.

Unist’ot’en is outraged over the use of excessive force by the RCMP, including the unnecessary use of heavily armed tactical teams deployed by helicopters to surround Gidimt’en camp at 44 km, use of snipers, and deployment of K9 units. We know that in January 2019, RCMP were authorized to use genocidal lethal force, arrest children and grandparents, and apprehend Wet’suwet’en children in response to our peaceful presence on our lands.

Throughout the enforcement of CGL’s injunction, media and legal observers were illegally corralled and threatened with detention and arrest for doing their jobs. Freedom of the press is protected under Canadian law but journalists were prevented from documenting the RCMP militarized raids on Gidimt’en territories. The RCMP attempted to evict residents from Chief Woos’s cabin. The RCMP and Coastal GasLink also partially dismantled Gidimt’en camp infrastructure and property. This property belongs to the Gidimt’en Clan and the RCMP has no legal authority to destroy it.

On February 8, the exclusion zone was illegally expanded from the 27 KM to the 4 KM mark, and now encompasses the majority of Gidimt’en territory. As a result, eleven people including legal observers were illegally arrested from the 27 km cabin. The exclusion zone has been created by the RCMP to force Wet’suwet’en land defenders off ourland. It is a colonial and criminalizing tool to illegally and arbitrarily extend RCMP authority onto our lands. The massive exclusion zone, completely under RCMP authoritarian discretion, falls outside the injunction area. Chiefs and Wet’suwet’en people are illegally being denied access to their own territories.

We urge Canada to adhere to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) directives and to halt the Coastal Gaslink project, seek Free, Prior, and Informed Consent from the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, withdraw RCMP from our territories and ensure that no lethal weapons or force be used to forcibly evict Wet’suwet’en people from our lands.

..again from an email

On Monday the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs launched a legal challenge to a proposed Coastal Gas Link (CGL) pipeline that would carry fracked gas through Wet’suwet’en Yintah (territory) in north-west B.C. to a liquefied natural gas  (LNG) facility in Kitimat.

There has been a groundswell of support from across the country and around the world, as peaceful Indigenous land protectors face mounting threats from police and industry. Now, we have a chance to support a case that challenges the legitimacy of a fracked gas project that will bring climate impacts, man-camps and rights violations to a people who have not consented to the project.

The legal action argues that the B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office failed to properly assess the Coastal Gas Link project’s potential harms, including the risk of increased gender-based violence caused by transient workers and industrial camps, in accordance with the findings and calls to action of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. This is based on the Inquiry’s final report of June 2019 which found that resource extraction is linked to spikes in violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, and called on governments to conduct a gender-based harms analysis prior to approving projects.
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RCMP arrest 11 more pipeline opponents on third day of Wet’suwet’en raids

Using an ever-changing set of rules, RCMP in British Columbia arrested 11 opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline Saturday, the third day of raids on Wet’suwet’en Nation territory.

RCMP also continued to obstruct journalists on the remote forest road in northern B.C. where the conflict is playing out, drawing international criticism. A spokesperson for one of the nation’s five clans, Molly Wickham of Gidimt’en, said the police broke a promise not to make more arrests until after a meeting with the nation’s hereditary chiefs.

“The RCMP have come in with their guns,” said Wickham, also known as Sleydo. “They’re doing this all while we are waiting… to talk to the RCMP.”

quote:

The raids began Thursday. With Saturday’s total included, police have made 21 arrests over three days, also temporarily detaining two journalists on Thursday and one journalist on Friday.

Saturday’s raid happened at the first camp along the road, a gathering place for supporters which is located at the 27-kilometre mark of the snowy road.

Originally, the RCMP said people were welcome to gather there, as it was outside the zone affected by the court injunction. But police extended the restricted area ⁠— known as an exclusion zone ⁠⁠— to include the 27-kilometre camp late Friday. It happened after Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their supporters used their vehicles to block RCMP officers from leaving the area to process four pipeline opponents who were arrested that day.

In a statement, the RCMP said commanders decided to expand the exclusion zone because metal spikes on the road made several police vehicles “inoperative.”

Police were eventually able to clear the vehicles and asked everyone at the 27-kilometre camp to leave. “People can’t leave because police towed their vehicles away,” said a statement from Unist’ot’en Camp, the settlement furthest along the forest road.

Eventually, Sleydo said in a live video posted to Facebook, police agreed to meet with the hereditary chiefs at 10 a.m. and not arrest anyone at the camp until 11 a.m. But the RCMP didn’t show ⁠— instead, she added, officers surrounded the camps and made arrests at about 1:30 p.m. and blocked the chiefs from going past the four-kilometre checkpoint.

In the live video, two RCMP officers from a specialized liaison team can be seen approaching a vehicle where hereditary chiefs and Wet’suwet’en supporters are assembled.

“We’re supposed to be meeting before anything happens at 27,” Sleydo says to a male officer.

“People there have been asked to leave,” says the officer, adding that he needs to get up to the camp.

“Why?” asks Sleydo. The officer walks away without answering the question, and both liaison officers hop into an RCMP truck and drive away.

Several people were also allowed to leave the camp voluntarily. They declined rides from police, choosing to walk to the four-kilometre checkpoint. Others were arrested after they barricaded themselves inside a cabin.

I am hoping that soon the Invisible Hand will save the day. I am only half joking since I think that if oil and gas prices plummet the two planet destroying pipelines our elite are planning for BC will collapse because the numbers don't add up and when the stocks in the pipeline companies tank the marketplace is supposed to kill them off.

For anyone who's following oil and gas markets, it's a bit surreal watching what's unfolding on traditional Wet'suwet'en territory in northern B.C.

Hordes of heavily armed RCMP officers are engaged in a quasi-military operation. It's intended to thwart an Indigenous-led action to prevent a pipeline from running through unceded traditional Indigenous territory.

Leading this resistance are hereditary chiefs who won a landmark ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997 establishing the existence of Aboriginal title in Canada.

And it's happening as a worldwide glut of liquefied natural gas is making the object of this fearsome exercise in state power—completion of the Coastal GasLink pipeline—appear increasingly remote.

...

Here in Canada, we often look with dismay upon the intellect of the president of the United States. But the reality is we're not exactly dealing with the sharpest blades in the drawer in Canada's highest political offices, either.

Compared to articulate Wet'suwet'en spokeswomen like Molly Wickham and Karla Tait, Horgan and Trudeau come off as D students, at best, in their comprehension of Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Doctrine of Discovery, and what it means to be an Indigenous person living on unceded territory on Turtle Island.

That's to say nothing of the premier and the prime minister's misguided call on global energy markets.

https://www.straight.com/news/1357801/premier-john-horgan-and-prime-mini...