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

As I understand it there is a conflict between the elected council and the Hereditary Chiefs. This is explained in this article:

https://aptnnews.ca/2020/01/27/weve-got-a-real-divide-in-the-community-wetsuweten-nation-in-turmoil/

I understand some of the issues but not a solution. There seems to be a real paradox.

I understand that the Hereditary system of government was not given up so it necessarily speaks for the community -- but the people keep electing band governments that are not on the same page and they too represent the community. How can you ignore either the Hereditary Chief system of government and their decisions or how can you ignore the results of elections for the Band Council?

This is not a unique problem in the world when "democracy" is forced on to a community that has an existing system of government. The act of forcing a system is illegitinate but when you consider the result of a vote in the community, you cannot wish it away or ignore it despite the process. The act of voting is an expression of the will of the people.

Setting aside whatever we (on this site) want, feel or support when it comes to the pipeline from an environmental point of view, the decision rests with the community. Both the Hereditay Chiefs traditional government and the elected band council represent the community and they disagree fundamentally over this pipeline.

To complicate matters the elected council represents a direct voice from the community in an obviously democratic way, but the existence of this democratic decision is the product of colonial enforcment over a traditional goverance. This democratic institution was forced on this nation which did not willingly give up its traditional government. But having had elections in which the people voted, there is a result that cannot be swept aside either with respect to the individuals who voted.

A problem is that legitimate or not the elected council has an obvious authority from the people who have voted more than once for a council that supports the project and so this council has some legitimacy. The electoral result is difficult to ignore even if you wish to say the vote should not have happened and the traditional governance whould not have been disturbed.

While we have participation in the elections and a council making decisions we also do not have a clear will from the people to abandon the traditional governance model. Both exist side by side. The people did speak through the election even if this is something that represents a colonial intrusion. 

Apart from the obvious lessons regarding imposed governing models through colonialism which created this problem you do not have a path to a real consensus. 

As well behind these community deicions you have the position the community is in. Those supporting a project like this are often doing so out of impossible positions where they are in economic difficulty due to injustice. Support for this project comes from people saying that they need the economic benefits. Of course we would prefer to see them make decisions like this without the context of economic injustice and desperation forced on the community. But wher that exists and we admit it is wrong -- how is an elected decision making body not able to make decisons in the interests of the community to mitigate this situation? 

I am hoping to hear some ideas on this problem from others rather than just a blast from people supporting one side or the other. I do not think that we outside the community have the authority to ignore either the elected voice of the community or the traditional governance of it. How do we make and express an opinion without taking any of this into account?

How is commentary taking a side here about a community that is divided not in itself an interference? And how can people comment wihtout a conflict of interest as all Canadians have?

It is very simple. The band counsels have no jurisdiction over the land that the pipeline is being built on. The SCC has already acknowledged these particular traditional clans as the rightful holders of the rights inherent to indigenous title over this very unceded territory. The term hereditary is misleading since it is the title that is inherited so it is not a bloodline designation but a designation that the community bestows on individuals according to its laws and traditions. The title and authority to speak as the hereditary chief can and has been revoked by the Haida when a hereditary chief supported a pipeline project. The traditional chiefs claim no jurisdiction over the municipal affairs of the postage stamp reserves, some of which are not even on the pipeline route, it is for them to make their own deals and accept the gifts/bribes that the pipeline companies come bearing.

So think of it as two different spheres of responsibility. A band counsels job has always been to try and get housing and clean water and other services out of the Indian Act agents. That is what they run for office to do and that is their role so if a company comes knocking on the doors of a small band with $10,000,000 for doing nothing why would they not say sure we'll take your money. Now the hereditary chiefs have a far, far different role that they laid out to the courts and was accepted as the proper legal tradition governing the vast territories that have not been ceded. Those Chiefs are sworn into positions that have been passed down for millennia and those positions are all about protecting the land and allocation of harvesting areas among clan members.

The traditional Supreme Court of Canada recognized legal system has a mechanism for removing the anti-pipeline chiefs if they did not speak for their clans . Since they have the regalia and the clan names to make claim to speak as Land Defenders then I respect their law and traditions until their own people say no they do not speak for us by removing them from their leadership roles.

If anyone really wants to understand I suggest they you go back to this thread and read some Arthur Manuel. This book is the best primer on indigneous rights. The fight for UNDRIP started in Port Alberni BC over fifty years ago.

https://rabble.ca/babble/babble-book-lounge/unsettling-canada-arthur-man...

..victoria

..includes a short video

Youth have just walked out of meeting with Bennett after she failed to offer anything but the same colonial and capitalist agenda, refusing to remove RCMP from Wet’suwet’en Territory. She draws blinds to her office as youth yell “RCMP: Racist Corporate Money Protectors!”

Link

For Immediate Release

Monday, February 10, 2020

Reporters Without Borders

Canada: RCMP Must Respect the Rights of Journalists to Cover Indigenous Protests

WASHINGTON - Beginning on February 6, journalists have reported that police were detaining and threatening to arrest those covering the RCMP's activity toward environmental and indigenous rights protesters in the Wet'suwet'en territory of British Columbia, where police were attempting to enforce the injunction a court granted at the end of 2019 to allow pipeline company workers access to the territory unhindered. At least one journalist was detained by police, put in a police car and driven off the territory, while police told another reporter he would be arrested if he didn't leave the injunction zone. Protesters have gathered to support members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation who oppose the construction of a gas pipeline through their territory.

The RCMP's actions are in contravention of a March 2019 landmark court decision that reaffirmed special considerations apply to journalists covering protests even in injunction zones, with considerations including whether the person is engaged in “good faith” journalistic coverage, is not interfering with law enforcement or actively assisting protesters, and if the information is of the public interest. The justice who made this decision noted the importance of media coverage of indigenous issues, stating that “particular consideration should be given to protests involving Aboriginal issues.” Last year, RSF voiced similar concerns about the RCMP's attempts to block press access to environmental protests led by members of Wet'suwet'en First Nation.

“Canadian journalists have a right to be present during indigenous rights protests, and the RCMP has shown a blatant disregard to the constitutionally guaranteed free press,” said Dokhi Fassihian, Executive Director of RSF's North America bureau. “The protests happening in the Wet'suwet'en territory are critically important to the public interest, and court precedent acknowledges the importance of media coverage of issues related to Canada's indigenous population.”.......

..feb 9

ILWU Local 502 approached our barricade with a message of solidarity and told us they will not cross our picket line. There would normally be 300 workers at the Deltaport, but not today – the port is closed!

..also from the heu from jan 28, 2019

Path forward with Wet’suwet’en must respect established rights and obligations

The 49,000-member Hospital Employees’ Union is committed to the application of social justice principles in our workplaces and communities, and stands strongly opposed to the violation of human rights.

HEU joins with other unions and civil society organizations in expressing our deep concern at the situation that unfolded earlier this month at the Gidimt’en gate in the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en people in northern British Columbia.

The gate had been maintained in support of the long-standing Unist’ot’en Camp and Healing Centre where hereditary chiefs are opposing the development of Coastal Gaslink’s pipeline project in their territory.

As a rights’ seeking organization, we are alarmed that peaceful protests by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs against pipeline development, along with the freedom of the press to cover those events, were impeded through the actions of the RCMP.

The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU)

Independent, Non-hierarchical, Directly Democratic and Feminist Since 1978

RAMA is a grassroots migrant justice group that strives to support the approximately 5,000 Latin American and Caribbean “temporary” migrant farmworkers in the Okanagan Valley in their ongoing struggle for dignity, community, and humanity. Our aim is to be worker-led and to respond to the needs identified by migrant workers as they arise. Ultimately, our intention is for migrant workers themselves to name and direct our priorities.

In Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Peoples

We are writing to express our solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Peoples’ defense of traditional territories and resistance against Coastal Gaslink, who have encroached on sovereign lands without authorization or consent.

In our work with migrant farm workers, we recognize that most of the people we work with also come from colonized contexts, and we seek to address systemic racism, colonialism, and capitalism which are the foundations of all of our common struggles.

We urge the colonial government of British Columbia to honour and enforce the rights recognized in the 1997 Delgamuukw ruling regarding rights and title to unceded ancestral territories, and to honour the principles laid out by UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the BC Government was one of the first to sign in affirmation of the rights and titles of Indigenous nations in BC.

We condemn the violent invasion of Wet’suwet’en lands by RCMP, and any attempts by Coastal Gaslink to usurp the rights and authority of the protectors at Unist’ot’en.

Wet’suwet’en land defenders are on the front lines of the struggle against colonial violence and capitalist oppression that has been ongoing for hundreds of years.

GWU Montreal solidarity statement with the Wet’suwet’en

Game Workers Unite Montreal offers our support and solidarity to defenders of Wet’suwet’en lands against the violence and invasion of their lands by the RCMP at the command of Coastal GasLink. Too often, Indigenous peoples are forced to defend their lands and ways of living from the colonial tactics of resource extraction industries.

As workers in the video game industry, we are intrinsically tied to the energy and mining industries. The technology we use to create and publish our work uses up vast amounts of electricity and is built with materials mined in hazardous, environmentally degrading, and exploitative conditions. It is essential that we remain critical of our own industry and constantly understand the place of our own workplace struggles amongst the broader struggle against extractive capitalism.

Wet’suwet’en lands have never been surrendered to the Crown. Despite settler colonial laws being imposed on the Wet'suwet'en people by the Canadian government through the Indian Act, their governance systems have been sustained since time immemorial and stand in defiance against a colonial policy of assimilation and genocide. The sovereignty of the Wet’suwet’en people was affirmed and their territory recognized as sovereign land by the Canadian Crown in the Nisga’a Treaty in the Delgamuukw v British Columbia Supreme Court case of 1997. In 2019, the BC provincial government adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into law. BC premier John Horgan expressed that the conflict imposed by RCMP onto Wet’suwet’en peoples should not be emblematic of the overall legacy of UNDRIP. Furthermore, he stated the hereditary chiefs do not have a right to deny access to their own lands, nor engage in nation-to-nation talks with the Canadian government.

Canadians were appalled at the violence inflicted by the RCMP at the Gidimt’en checkpoint in January of 2019. 14 peaceful demonstrators were needlessly arrested by a heavily armed RCMP task force that intended to tear down the checkpoint. Later in the year, The Guardian reported that in strategy meetings the RCMP argued that “lethal overwatch” was required for the sting. Officers were instructed to “use as much violence towards the gate as you want” and a memo indicated arrests would be necessary to “sterilize the site.” Since the Hereditary Chiefs issued their eviction notice to CGL on January 4th 2020, the RCMP has enforced a no-fly zone over Wet’suwet’en territory, and witnesses confirmed on January 12th that 16 RCMP members departed a private jet in Smithers BC. These actions seem to indicate that the RCMP does not think it needs to act in good faith with the Wet’suwet’en......

Solidarity Statement in support of Unist’ot’en Camp and the Wet’suwet’en Nation

The BC Teachers’ Federation reaffirms our solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation. As a union committed to the Truth and Reconciliation’s Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we call on the governments of BC and Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Coastal GasLink Pipeline to respect the position taken by the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs. They are insisting upon respect for Indigenous sovereignty as they have never ceded their jurisdiction to the lands they have governed and have been stewards of for millennia. All five clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have unanimously opposed all pipeline proposals. Forcibly removing peaceful land defenders from their traditional unceded lands is in violation of the UN Declaration.

Our provincial government recently passed a bill that states they will honor the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Actions speaks louder than empty promises that First Peoples have faced for decades. If the leaders of our province and country are truly committed to reconciliation and honouring the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, then immediate action is required. Elected leaders must act now by negotiating with the respected leaders of the Wet’suwet’en Nation who hold the inherent right to self-determination including the right to defend their lands.

The 45,000 members of the BC Teachers’ Federation stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples and demand that the government of BC and Canada uphold their responsibilities laid out in the Supreme Court Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision of 1997. We stand as witnesses at this historic moment when our governments must make a choice to uphold this court decision or continue the ongoing legacy of colonization.

In solidarity,

BC Teachers’ Federation 

$15 & Fairness! @fairwagesnow - Toronto

Statement on Wet’suwet’en Conflict

The Graduate Students Association at Carleton University, along with the undersigned individuals and organizations belonging to the Carleton community call for the withdrawal of the RCMP from Wet’suwet’en territories and a peaceful resolution to the conflict currently taking place in British Columbia.

As members of the Carleton University community, we are fully committed to supporting Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination not only under Indigenous legal orders of the Wet’suwet’en, but also the Principles set out within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as Article III of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are concerned with the current and ongoing unchecked actions of the RCMP including setting up exclusionary zones on Wet’suwet’en territory, the forceful and violent removal of Indigenous land defenders, and the restriction of the free press on this matter.

Any further actions taken by the RCMP is a threat to reconciliation and the mending of relationships between Indigenous people and the canadian state. We, the undersigned, call on the RCMP to remove themselves from Wet’suwet’en territory. We additionally call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, BC Premiere John Horgan, and Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General David Lametti to meet with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs to resolve this conflict.

Indigenous youth are rising up in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

While strong winds and chilling rain swept through Lekwungen territories in Victoria, B.C., on Thursday evening, Indigenous youth remained steadfast in their determination for justice for the Wet’suwet’en. February 6 was the first day of what would become an ongoing, Indigenous youth-led occupation of the ceremonial gates and steps to the B.C. Legislative Assembly. Indigenous youth are camping out on the steps of the building in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation, who are now on their sixth day of resisting a violent RCMP invasion of their sovereign territories. 

“We as Indigenous youth are occupying because we understand that what the Wet’suwet’en are doing protects our collective future” explains 19-year-old Ta'Kaiya Blaney of Tla’amin Nation. “If Canada is willing to exercise lethal overwatch, shoot and kill Indigenous land defenders to push a pipeline through, that sets a precedent for all Indigenous nations around the world. We are not anti-pipeline protesters. This is about us defending Indigenous lands and Indigenous sovereignty.”.....

..yesterday

Cambie bridge shut down in #Vancouver. Solidarity action with #Wetsuweten@UnistotenCamp. Awesome to see so many settler allies out supporting

..includes short video

Tyendinaga Mohawk Police Chief Jason Brant issues personal plea to demonstrators to end demonstration in support of Wet'suwet'en that has shut down one of Canada's busiest rail corridors for seven days.

Link

....

A second camp has been set along the CN tracks in Tyendinaga

The Myth of State Neutrality

We are taught at a very early age and socialized throughout our lives to respect and obey the rule of law. British Columbia Premier John Horgan recently invoked, rather infamously, the rule of law in justifying RCMP assaults on Wet’suwet’en defending their territory against imposition of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline (never mind that his rule of law erases recognition of Wet’suwet’en law on unceded Indigenous territory). Saskatchewan Premier Doug Moe too has invoked rule of law in suggesting that locked out workers, Unifor members in Regina, take down picket barriers at the Federated Co-op Ltd. Refinery (even as police assist scabs getting into and out of the workplace).

These appeals, and associated language such as “enforcing injunctions” seek to remove politics from crucial issues of social and environmental justice and Indigenous sovereignty. They attempt to render issues of great ethical significance as simply legal or technical applications.

The notion of rule of law rests on an even deeper foundation – the notion of neutrality of the state. We are told that the state is an impartial, disinterested, neutral arbitrator. It takes no sides, only views and assesses evidence impartially and detached from specific interests. Serving only the rule of law, and thus, why it is granted these special powers.

In times of open labour conflict, strikes and lockouts, picket actions by workers at workplaces – as in Indigenous land struggles – we see perhaps most clearly, as everyday appearances are torn away, that the state is not neutral – it is an interested actor. And we can come to see that throughout Canadian history the state has taken sides, and it continues to do so.....

..canada is on fire!

Anti-pipeline blockades continue to slow railway traffic

quote:

More than 150 freight trains have been idled since the blockades were set up last Thursday in British Columbia and Ontario.

Passenger rail services have also been affected in Ontario, Quebec and B.C., with Via Rail cancelling service on its Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto routes until at least the end of the day this Thursday because of a blockade near Belleville, Ont.

Chief executive JJ Ruest said the CN network gives the company limited parking space for its trains, which means traffic is backed up from Halifax to Windsor, Ont., and in parts of B.C. approaching Prince Rupert.

Via Rail said 157 passenger trains have been cancelled, affecting 24,500 travellers.

In addition to the service cancellations in Ontario, Via says a blockade near New Hazelton, B.C., also means normal rail service is being interrupted between Prince Rupert and Prince George.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he is working with his Ontario counterpart Caroline Mulroney to find a solution to the blockade in that province.

Ruest said CN Rail had to temporarily discontinue service in its key corridors because of the blockades.

"The impact is also being felt beyond Canada's borders and is harming the country's reputation as a stable and viable supply chain partner," he said in a statement.

In Victoria on Tuesday, demonstrators also disrupted the business of the B.C. legislature as Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin delivered the NDP government's throne speech.

quote:

The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, whose members typically load about 4,500 rail cars a day, urged government officials to work with police to restore service on the tracks.

"In Canada there's not really other alternatives to move stuff around. The highways and trucks — especially in Quebec and southern Ontario — are already at a very, very high utilization of available capacity," association president Dennis Darby said in an interview.

Stakeholders from chemical companies to Dannon Yogurt called this week to raise concerns, he said.

"They can't get their stuff out."