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

..i had a thought as i was lying in bed. had to get up and share it or i wouldn't get to sleep. both governments bc and the feds were in deep shit with the uprising across the country. i doubt very much the committee that produced the environmental assessment was independent..like neb around trans mountain. i'm thinking this was their way out of the hole they dug for themselves. a way to save face and not have to concede anything to the hereditary chiefs.   

The Unist’ot’en Healing Centre in 2017. Photo by Smogelgem, hereditary chief from the Fireweed clan of the Wet’suwet’en

Kanenhariyo and Woos. Mohawk- Wet'suwet'en alliance

..short video

‘It's a symptom of Canada's inability to engage First Nations meaningfully’: The Southern Chiefs Organization which represents 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota First Nations in Manitoba, has weighed in on the crisis in Wet’suwet’en territory and the rail blockades across the country.

Link

...drift

BREAKING: More than 100 faith and indigenous leaders are gathered in prayer at the office of Governor Tim Walz, honoring the 227 bodies of water threatened by the Line 3 pipeline.

He’s poised to issue permits for these water crossings, despite clear evidence of oil spill risk, broken treaties, and the climate crisis.

We join together in interfaith community, urging public officials to do everything in their power to protect sacred water and #StopLine3.

...end drift

..this piece is from jun/2008

Stone by stone, rail by rail

On June 29, 2007, Mohawks from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ontario, erected blockades on the Canadian National rail line, local Highway 2, and Highway 401-the busiest thoroughfare in the country. This marked the second time in six months that the community blocked the rails in defence of their land. In the days before June 29, which had been declared a National Day of Action by the Assembly of First Nations, Mohawk spokesperson Shawn Brant explained to the CBC why the community could no longer wait on distant negotiations. “We bury our children in this country every day,” he said. “We have to force them to drink polluted water. We’re sick and tired of it. It’s going to end-June 29 is going to mark the time when First Nations people are going to be in a different relationship with the rest of the country.”

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The antidote to youth suicide

A 2003 academic study by Michael J. Chandler of the University of British Columbia and Christopher E. Lalonde of the University of Victoria cites the fact that on some B.C. reserves, the suicide rate is as much as 800 times the national average, while on others there has not been a single suicide in the past 15 years. The difference, Chandler and Lalonde conclude, is cultural resistance: communities that are actively fighting to preserve traditional lands, culture and the right to self-government are far less likely to see large numbers of youth suicide.

“It is simply an empirical fact,” note Chandler and Lalonde, “that the Aboriginal communities in B.C. that have, for example, achieved a measure of self-government, or were quick off the mark to litigate for Aboriginal title of traditional lands, have lower or absent youth suicide rates.”

Resistance to colonialism, it would seem, is quite literally a question of survival for Native peoples in Canada-not just as communities, but as individuals.

Anecdotally, recent events at Tyendinaga would seem to corroborate the study’s conclusions. “Today, suicide, despair is the farthest thing from their mind,” Brant says of the community’s youth. “They’re focused socially around the Longhouse, politically around the land.” As the community has fought to reclaim its traditional lands, youth have played a key role. These reclamation efforts, and the participation of young people, have sparked a resurgence of Mohawk cultural and political practice, in part through the establishment of the territory’s first functioning longhouse in over a hundred years.

In Tyendinaga, as in many other indigenous communities, this process has been greatly facilitated by the development of an alternative economy that is not dependent on the Canadian state, in this case in the form of a Native tobacco industry. Tobacco, a traditional part of Mohawk culture, is a significant source of income for many families that has enabled them to lift themselves out of serious poverty, and has also directly funded community projects like free meal programs, community gardening and the building of the Tyendinaga Longhouse. The self-sufficiency that the tobacco trade has brought Tyendinaga is also, not coincidentally, something that the Canadian government has identified as a threat to national security.

Calls for vigilante actions against Wet’suwet’en blockades are growing in far-right circles, anti-hate group says

There has been an uptick in online calls for vigilante action against Wet’suwet’en solidarity protests among hate groups and far-right activists, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network says.

Evan Balgord, a researcher with the network, says the protests in support of Wet’suwet’en heredity chiefs are the “number one” topic of conversation among hate groups and far-right fringe groups online, with many calling for violence to remove the protesters.

It is difficult to quantify the reach of those messages, and impossible to say if they will translate into anything more than talk. But Balgord said the groups were inspired by counterprotesters who removed a barricade in Edmonton Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of celebration of those couple of guys who dismantled that barricade of sorts in Edmonton … and calls for people to do similar things,” Balgord said in an interview Thursday.

“But not just to tear down those blockades … but a lot of the calls are specifically like, ‘if they are blocking streets, we should run over them.’”......

I know this is blasphemous to say here but it's unfortunate that the hereditary chiefs did not take up the offer by the federales to negotiate which forced Trudeau into action as he could not continue to have Canada's railway system shut down

..it's not blasphemous it's living in denial that canada and bc are colonial powers that reject the concept of sovereign territory. colonial powers that facilitate the demands of corporations as their highest priority. in spite of their paying lip service otherwise to the public..it's the police and military that do their dirty work both on the territory or in the back rooms ie spying on indigenous folk like they were a threat to the state. that is the state's real power source.

..blocking rails, shutting down canada is indigenous power in this case because bc and the feds are ignoring the laws that say the territory is sovereign and it's the hereditary chiefs that are the authority. ignoring laws that say indigenous law is a part of canadian law. ignoring the constitution that says much of this as well.    

..not canadian law or the constitution, in spite of what i just said, is a full protection for indigenous folk because they 1) don't go far enough 2) cost millions of dollars to access through the courts 3) are ignored by goverments and corporations as in this case.

epaulo13 wrote:

..it's not blasphemous it's living in denial that canada and bc are colonial powers that reject the concept of sovereign territory. colonial powers that facilitate the demands of corporations as their highest priority. in spite of their paying lip service otherwise to the public..it's the police and military that do their dirty work both on the territory or in the back rooms ie spying on indigenous folk like they were a threat to the state. that is the state's real power source.

..blocking rails, shutting down canada is indigenous power in this case because bc and the feds are ignoring the laws that say the territory is sovereign and it's the hereditary chiefs that are the authority. ignoring laws that say indigenous law is a part of canadian law. ignoring the constitution that says much of this as well.    

..not canadian law or the constitution, in spite of what i just said, is a full protection for indigenous folk because they 1) don't go far enough 2) cost millions of dollars to access through the courts 3) are ignored by goverments and corporations as in this case.

Not many countries can abuse a minority and have them protesting like this after so many years. More common it is violent.

Indigenous peoples tend to have a culture of more peaceful protest than others (this is in many parts of the world). Canadians should be grateful that this abuse has not resulted in violence and be thankful for the restraint. 

We could get into a discussion around why Indigenous protest remains as patient as it has been. I think it is part the culture, in part the lack of interference from outside, in part a genuine desire to reconcile and build a stronger Canada. One thing that sets Indigenous people apart from other oppressed minorities may be the fact that they are the "home owners" and the colonists are in their house. They have more concern for it -- there is no point speaking of a conflict and separation when this entire country is theirs and leaving carries a different meaning. Despite all this I fear that patience has limits and abuse eventually destroys it. Still I want non-Indigenous Canadians to seek reconciliation with Indigenous people for better reasons than selfishness and fear.

Seattle Stands with Wet'suwet'en

Monday, February 24, 2020 at 6 AM – 11:30 PM​

***UPDATED GATHERING SPOTS***
(individuals encouraged to grab a sign & a friend and head to their nearest street corner, freeway or local Chase bank! Post photos and DM us to have your location added to the list!)

Canadian Consulate, Seattle (1501 4th Ave #600, Seattle, WA 98101): 8am-4pm

Bothell (intersection of Bothell Way NE & Woodinville Drive): 4-6pm

'The terror was brought to us': Memories of Oka resurface as rail blockade crisis continues

In the summer of 1990, Waneek Horn-Miller was a teenager, standing with her activist mother and younger sister behind the barricades in Oka, Que.

The town was planning to expand a golf course onto land that Mohawks consider sacred. A standoff between the Indigenous community and police exploded into a 78-day crisis. A police officer was killed and dozens more were injured — including Horn-Miller, who was stabbed in the chest by a soldier's bayonet.

Horn-Miller told The House she was looking over archival photos of the Oka crisis earlier this week.

"That reminder of just the hate that bubbled to the surface, this anger … we were being called terrorists when we weren't bringing terror to anybody," she said. "We weren't exerting any kind of aggression towards anybody else. The terror was being brought to us."

"I didn't get medical treatment for 22 hours," Horn-Miller told The House this week. "I was an unarmed 14-year-old, holding my little sister, when that happened."

Thirty years later, Horn-Miller is a former Olympic athlete and a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. She has been closely following the countrywide protests sparked by opposition to a natural gas pipeline on Wet'suwet'en traditional territory in British Columbia.

When asked whether Canadians have learned any lessons about the Crown-Indigenous relationship in the 30 years since Oka, Horn-Miller pointed to the way the media conversation has changed.

"I see a difference in a lot of the way the media is looking at the situation," she explained. "They're starting to peel back the layers of what is at the core of this issue … they're talking about hereditary chiefs versus the band council system, which is an imposed system, and how that isn't working, obviously, in this situation."

In light of the pressure being put on the federal government to swiftly end the rail blockades that have unfolded in recent weeks, Horn-Miller also warned authorities against taking the kind of action she witnessed in Oka.

In light of the pressure being put on the federal government to swiftly end the rail blockades that have unfolded in recent weeks, Horn-Miller also warned authorities against taking the kind of action she witnessed in Oka.

"That is always, always a fear," said Horn-Miller. "I can't imagine just how many miles we'll step back if they send in the Armed Forces.

"This would be a huge wound that would be wide open within this country, for so many people. Not just Indigenous people — for Canadians as well."

Paladin1 wrote:

A 22,000 KM exclusion zone for the RCMP. The government will definitly go for that.

I guess it is really hard to wrap ones head around the idea of a sovereign indigenous territory where they make the laws and enforce them. I agree that the government is not going to accede to that request because that concession is better legally than a court case in proving they have title to their lands. What I like is their request to have the PM and Premier meet on Wwet'suwet'en territory in their feast hall. Most people don't understand that the feasting ceremony was part of the banned meetings under the pot latch laws. In the 1920's because of this nations and other Norther BC nations demanding that their title be recognized the government banned their governments and made it a crime to hire a lawyer to fight for title under British law. That was just before a case was to go to the House of Lords and the outcome would have been that under British law they still had title.

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs will maintain blockades despite headway in B.C.

Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation meeting on Saturday with Mohawk leaders in Kahnawake confirmed they’ve spoken with British Columbia’s commanding RCMP officer about police withdrawing from a protest site against a proposed gas pipeline.

However, despite that conversation, the hereditary chiefs have not decided to call for the dismantling of railway blockades across the country, including in Kahanwake, on the South Shore of Montreal.

quote:

“Yesterday, we had a phone call with Jennifer Strachen,” Wet’suwet’en Chief Woos told reporters Saturday afternoon outside the Kahnawake Longhouse. “We talked a little about what we expected.”

On Wednesday, Strachan, in charge of the Mounties in B.C., offered in a letter to the chiefs to move the police detachment from near the protest site in northern B.C. to the nearby town of Houston in an attempt to defuse tensions. The next day, however, a Wet’suwet’en spokesperson said the RCMP hadn’t “officially engaged” with them

That changed on Friday when they did, indeed, speak with Strachen. That same day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted the “barricades must come down now.”

“We’re still going to say the same thing again: for the RCMP to vacate the premises, and developments that are going to be happening are still being considered by the RCMP,” Woos said, declining to specify what exactly is being considered by the police.

Woos took heart in a decision Friday by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office that Coastal GasLink must consult further with Indigenous communities along a stretch of its planned pipeline route that is at the centre of the Wet’suwet’en conflict. The company has been given 30 days to consult with Indigenous leaders before re-submitting its final report for approval.

“With the news of the environmental report, it was inviting, to say the least,” he said. “I think we’ll take a close look at that, for sure.”

Meanwhile, a request by the chiefs to meet with Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, has gone unanswered, Woos added.

“No, there was no phone call from Marc Miller. It seems to me that since Mr. Trudeau made his announcement, the communication has ceased. There you go.”.....

My business will be negatively affected by the railway blockades. I still support them.

I am the owner of a growing business that depends on rail freight to move my product across Canada. Fatso Peanut Butter is based in Victoria, B.C., but all of the production happens on the East Coast and we stock our products in stores across the country.

If the rail blockades continue through March — when my next consignment will be ready to ship — I'll have to make alternative arrangements to transport our product by highway, which will add an additional $6,000 to $8,000 in expenses. And if blockades escalate and further restrict cross-country and cross-border transport, my business and our plans to expand into the U.S. this spring are all but dead in the water. 

My livelihood is under threat and yet I support the rail blockades in support of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose a pipeline slated to pass through their traditional lands.

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But my anger is directed toward the government that refuses to back down, and the opposition, lobbyists, and armchair activists who think they speak for my interests..... 

epaulo13 wrote:

The rule of law is ‘racist’ says Mohawk law professor Beverly Jacobs

As she prepared to leave for a “historical” meeting between Kanien’kehà:ka (Mohawk) and hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Beverly Jacobs told APTN News what goes through her mind when politicians invoke the rule of law.

“In my opinion, it’s very racist and very disrespectful to use that concept of the rule of law and following the rule of law. It’s Canadian law when they’re talking about it that way,” she said.

“It’s their law that created the Indian Act – one of the most racist pieces of legislation that exists in the world. It’s their law that’s established the genocidal policies on Indigenous people.”

She used child welfare law and criminal law as an example.

In those cases, Indigenous people are over-represented in prisons and Indigenous children are apprehended into foster care more often than non-Indigenous.

Canada’s correctional investigator reported in January that 30 per cent of inmates in federal prisons are First Nations, Métis, or Inuit. The number rose to 42 per cent for Indigenous women.

In January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the federal government discriminated against kids by underfunding the child welfare system on-reserve and in the Yukon.

The tribunal awarded $40,000 in damages to kids and some family members harmed by the system in September 2019 and ruled that Canada’s discriminatory policies were “reckless and willful.”

Canada’s lawyers have asked for a judicial review of that ruling.

The tribunal has given parties until the end of February to come up with a plan to identify and compensate eligible children and their families.

“Really? Are we going to follow that rule of law?” asked Jacobs, an assistant law professor at University of Windsor and former president of Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) where she was one of the people responsible for kickstarting the Sisters in Spirit program.

“That’s what we’re trying to fight. That’s what we’re trying to address in all of the commissions. All of the inquiries that are occurring have said that Canadian law is the source of genocide of Indigenous peoples. So if that’s what they’re invoking – and they’re invoking a police state – it’s violent. It’s inappropriate. It’s not addressing the true understanding and relationship as governments. They continue to treat our people as inferior and that we don’t have laws.”.....

People who want the "rule of law" applied to break up the protest need to be careful what they wish for. If the First Nations take legal action against any government agency over this, there's a good chance that a strict ruling according to the "rule of law" will be against the Canadian government.