NDP BC invades sovereign Wet'suwet'en territory, RCMP arrest defenders 2

First Nations members blockade Truro rail line to protest pipelines

Rail blockades that have shut down train traffic across Canada came to Truro Friday when a group of First Nations protesters briefly held up a CN freight train.

Protesters blockaded the level crossing on Willow Street in support of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia, whose hereditary chiefs are opposed to a natural gas pipeline being built on their land.

“This is more than just a pipeline, this is 500 years of resistance,” protester Toby Condo said. “This is a movement and enough is enough.”....

Anishnawbe relatives in baawating - sault ste marie

..bridge to the us shut down.

Coastal GasLink connects bad economics with terrible climate policy while trampling on Indigenous rights

Protests around BC and the rest of the country have put Indigenous issues front and centre in discussions of Canadian politics and energy policy. Approved by the BC government, TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink pipeline would run through Wet’suwet’en territory and the company argues it is in the broader “public interest” because of “substantial benefits to First Nations, local communities, British Columbia and Canada.”

Let’s take a closer look at these claims of public interest and substantial benefits that proponents claim justify over-riding Indigenous rights. The fact of the matter is that on both ends of the pipeline, there are bad economics and terrible climate policy.

quote:

Since 2007 BC’s gas production has doubled, with almost all of the increase exported to Alberta, where it is used as an input in oil sands production, and the United States. Moreover, BC is planning for further production growth—another 26% increase is forecast between 2019 and 2022, according to the recent BC Budget.

This flies in the face of the BC government’s Clean BC climate plan and an acknowledged worldwide climate emergency. Other adverse environmental impacts on the land and water come with growing gas development, something that local First Nations have flagged as an infringement on their treaty rights.

But the economics of expanding the gas industry are also terrible. The same fracking production boom in the rest of North America has led to over-supply and prices so low that US gas companies are not making money, “forcing a wave of multibillion-dollar writedowns, layoffs and spending cuts.” 

Gas production in BC is being propped up by a number of subsidy programs that give credits against royalties for costs of deep well drilling (fracking), producing from marginal wells and other infrastructure. Royalties, which are supposed to be the public’s share of the value of the public resource being extracted, are falling in BC and the result is that BC is effectively giving the public gas resource away. For example, BC Budget 2020 shows that royalties would have been $534 million in 2019/20, but after deducting $381 million in royalty credits the net royalty was a mere $153 million. Back in the 2000s, gas royalties were consistently in the $1 to 2 billion range and that was based on levels of production that were about half as large as today. 

Overproduction leading to low market prices is part of the reason for the decline in royalty revenues in recent years, but it is the royalty credits that constitute a substantial subsidy to the industry. CCPA BC’s Ben Parfitt has found through FOI requests that some 26 companies garnered just over $700 million in deep well credits in 2017/18 alone. BC’s public accounts reveal that accumulated deep well credits at the end of 2018/19 represent $2.6 billion in reduced future royalties.

According to a retired BC civil servant from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, BC “is giving out $2 in available royalty tax rebates for every dollar in royalty tax payables.”

Even worse, the BC government has signed a long-term royalty agreement LNG Canada partner Petronas, which has substantial upstream gas leases, locking in lower-than-normal baseline royalty rates.

BC Hydro ratepayers are also subsidizing gas production via the new transmission lines to service the industry along with the Site C mega-dam. The Clean BC plan aims to electrify large swaths of the oil and gas industry, which accounts for more than one-fifth (22 per cent) of BC’s carbon emissions, while continuing to grow gas production. The vast majority of emissions, however, are from combustion of gas, some 90 per cent of which is exported. 

The rub is that the gas industry will be paying the industrial rate for that electricity, which is about half the residential rate and much less than the cost of generating the new power it will consume....

Matthew Behrens: The Virus 'Threatening' Canada Starts With a D, Not a C

https://rabble.ca/columnists/2020/02/virus-threatening-canada-starts-d-n...

"The virus is not the 'vote once every four years for those who will rule over you', kind of democracy. Rather, it's a grassroots, community-based, decentralized democracy based on people self-organizing, making decisions about their lives and their futures because the system was never designed to respect our voices. No matter who you vote for, government has always acted as a colonial power that engages in perpetual violence against Indigenous nations on behalf of extractive industries and others who make a living off exploitation.

The ongoing puncturing of Canada's mythology as benevolent and progressive has been a most welcome sight, and the explosion of participatory democracy leading to creative solidarity actions is a phenomenon that cannot be swept back under the rug. Indeed, the federal Liberal regime, its provincial NDP counterpart in BC and their state security agencies have been shaken to the core by the occupations, blockades, endless marches and, perhaps most powerful of all, a loving solidarity in which people across the land are prepared to take risks in support of those whose sovereign indigenous territories were violently invaded and which remain illegally occupied..."

#WetsuwetenSolidarity  #NoTreatyNoJurisdictionNoPipelinesNoRCMP    #SovereigntyIsTheIssueCanadaIsTheProblem  #NoJusticeNoPeace  #ShutDownCanada

BREAKING: "CP Rail lines are being blocked in occupied Tio'tia:ke (Montreal), disrupting freight traffic near St Laurent and Van Horne. Head over to Champ de Possibles to support if you can!

https://twitter.com/JR95481817/status/1233864821273178112

#ShutDownCanada  #WetsuwetenStrong  #TyendinagaStrong  #StopThatTrain  #SovereigntyIsTheAnswerCanadaIsTheProblem  #nowisthetime

Wet'suwet'en Chiefs Hint At Possible Resolution on Rights and Title With Govt Ministers (and vid)

https://globalnews.ca/news/6613873/wetsuweten-rights-title-agreement/

"Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs say it's possible a landmark agreement on rights and title over their traditional lands could be signed with the provincial and federal governments this weekend - but they're not there yet...The agreement being sought would effectively resolve the open question left dangling at the end of the Delgamuukw decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997... the ruling did not recognize specifically what lands belong to the Wet'suwet'en. The judges found there was a defect in the pleadings and sent it back to trial, **suggesting at the same time that goodwill negotiations could be a better way to resolve the questions it was being asked. These negotiations never happened until this week...**

July 1, 1997: The 'Lynch-Mob' Nature of Canadian Colonialism: Dr Bruce Clark on Delgamuukw...

http://sisis.nativeweb.org/clark/jul01int.html

"...Well, it's a fairly sophisticated fraud that's going on. In the [Delgamuukw, SCC ] hearing on September 12, 1995, I applied on behalf of one of the appellants to have the Supreme Court of Canada address the issue of Court jurisdiction. The reason being that the essence of the Native Sovereignty position is that until there's a treaty, the Indians were here first and they have jurisdiction. Therefore, until there is a treaty the non-Indians don't have jurisdiction and correspondingly, their Courts don't have jurisdiction.

[Here's] what the Delgamuukw case is set up to do  -  The Indian appellants are asserting ownership and jurisdiction except for Court jurisdiction. And that's impossible - a contradiction in terms. If the non-native Courts have jurisdiction, the only source for their jurisdiction is the non-native legislatures. If the non-native Courts have jurisdiction, by necessary implication the non-native legislatures had to have jurisdiction to invest it in the Courts. Therefore, if the Courts have jurisdiction, the legislatures have jurisdiction and there is no such thing as Native Sovereignty.

So, essentially, what it boils down to is this - you have these Indian appellants in Delgamuukw who maintain the pretense  they're asserting jurisdiction, but since they've accepted Court jurisdiction they're beat before they start. What they're doing is a major sellout of the concept of Native Sovereignty and Jurisdiction. The appellants in Delgamuukw are essentially angling for a bargaining position and they hope, I think, that there would be some sort of reward - their lawyers in particular - for having sold native sovereignty down the river in this fashion.

They're inviting the Court to be politicians. Essentially, the deal they're trying to make with the judges is : 'Look, we know that there's no treaty and therefore we know that the newcomers, prematurely, that is illegally, have invaded the Indian Territories. But you're here. And so rather than embarrass you by insisting upon the letter of the law by saying you don't have jurisdiction, we will concede you do have jurisdiction. Therefore we will concede that all of the white people who are here and are really trespassing - sort of aren't trespassers.'

** 'In return for this sell-out of the concept of Native Sovereignty, please politically say some things which put heat on the federal and provincial governments to negotiate with us a political settlement.' So essentially what they're persuading the Court to do - suborning the Court to do - is to sell the rule of law down the river and to become a politically expedient tribunal. This is from a native sovereigntist point of view anathema..."

#NoJusticeNoPeace  #NoTreatyNoJurisdictionNoPipelinesNoRCMP  #SovereigntyIsTheAnswerCanadaIsTheProblem  #ShutDownCanada  #AllRise  #thetimeisnow

Syilx Okanagan Nation supports Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs

The Syilx Okanagan Nation has issued a statement supporting the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.

“The Wet’suwet’en crisis shines a national light on the ongoing issue of Title and Rights recognition in British Columbia. This long-standing issue has remained largely unresolved despite the 1997 Delgamuukw decision where the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that Wet’suwet’en Title and Rights has never been extinguished,” according to the Syilx Okanagan Nation in a press release.

“Aspirational words about reconciliation are not enough. What is required is full respect and recognition of Indigenous laws, governance, and title and rights, not only for the Wet’suwet’en, but for all Indigenous Nations.”

Grand chief Stewart Phillip, chair for the Syilx Okanagan Nation, said B.C. and Canada “must move beyond political mumbling and empty rhetoric and immediately take action to honour the invitation of the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs to meet face-to-face.”

He said in the release that the RCMP should leave Wet'suwet'en territory and the Coastal Gas Link should reroute the pipeline.

“It is time for Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier John Horgan to, 'walk the walk,'” he said in the release.

Earlier today, the OKIB issued a similar statement to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with chief Byron Louis and councillors offering their support to the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.

...

Okanagan Indian Band chief and councillors stand with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs

Okanagan Indian Band chief Byron Louis and councillors are showing their support for the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs through a letter issued to the prime minister.

In the letter, OKIB chief and councillors expressed their concern for the environmental impacts of a pipeline running from Alberta to the B.C. coast and support for Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs who are “currently attempting to protect their land by blocking TC Energy Coastal Gas Link pipeline.”

“We understand that GasLink will not only carry gas from Northern British Columbia obtained by fracking - a method that causes great stress on the land and those of their relations that inhabit the land, but also traverses… spawning grounds for salmon,” they said in the letter.

“Canada’s history is replete with instances of First Nations people forcibly removed from their land. Whether by government policy or police action, the result is the same, economies and cultures are destroyed,” the OKIB chief and council said in the letter.

“Consultation and reconciliation demand respect for rules and systems of government that were in effect in this land long before people with Western European ideas of governance immigrated here.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/6615733/wetsuweten-talks-agreement-reached/

Paladin1 wrote:

Wet’suwet’en pipeline supporters say their message is not being heard

https://globalnews.ca/news/6615567/wetsuweten-pipeline-supporters/?utm_s...

So if this was the 1960s in Alabama, would we quote a news article stating that the voices of black people who support segregation are not being heard?

This Vigilante Scientist Trekked Over 10,000 Kilometres To Reveal BC's Leaky Gas Wells

https://thenarwhal.ca/vigilante-scientist-trekked-over-10-000-kilometres...

"...Over the course of 12 days, Werring and his son visited 178 well sites. On any given day, they'd access between 10 and 30 wells. They discovered that, on average, 85 per cent of the active wells were venting methane gas directly into the environment. Additionally, they found that 35 per cent of inactive wells were leaking methane. Natural gas is 95 per cent methane - and methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, especially in the near term. A molecule of methane is 84 times more effective at trapping heat than a molecule of carbon dioxide over the course of 20 years.

More than 25,000 wells have been drilled in British Columbia since the 1950s. The challenge with addresing methane emissions is two-fold: first, there are all sorts of ways methane can leak from gas wells. Second, the pumps used to control the flow of gas from wells (called 'pneumatic devices') are fuelled with gas from the well itself and the devices often 'bleed' gas directly into the atmosphere. 'Fifty percent of that could be reduced at no net cost,' Nelson said. 'And those reductions would have the same climate benefit as closing all the coal plants in China.'

'Reducing CO2 is incredibly important, but the fruits of that labour aren't going to be felt until my grandchildren are around. Reductions of methane now can be felt immediately.' There are also immediate health risks to methane leaks, because natural gas contains toxic chemicals like xylene and benzene, which are known carcinogens..."

#EcocideIsGenocide  #LeaveItInTheGround  #NoTreatyNoJurisdictionNoPipelinesNoRCMP  #SovereigntyIsTheAnswerCanadaIsTheProblem  #WetsuwetenStrong   #RiseUp  #ShutThisShitDown

‘It’s not over’: Tentative agreement with Wet’suwet’en Nation may be a milestone, but it doesn’t resolve pipeline fight

The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the B.C. and Canadian governments have come to a tentative agreement about rights and title, but none of the parties have changed their position on the controversial Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Chief Woos, who represents the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en, said the past three days of discussion were preliminary in nature and focused on ensuring that the needed respect was present.

“The degree of satisfaction is not what we expected, but at the same time we’re looking at the other avenues, and we’ll see where that brings us.”

“The hereditary chiefs are opposed to any pipeline going through our territory,” he said. “We’ve maintained that since day one.”

Agreement not yet public

Chief Woos, federal minister of Crown-Indigenous relations Carolyn Bennett, and B.C. minister of Indigenous relations Scott Fraser announced the tentative agreement at a press conference this morning in Smithers, B.C.

The agreement will now go to the 13 Wet’suwet’en house groups for approval. The details will not be released until a decision has been made.

Minister Bennett described the agreement as a “milestone in the history of Canada.”

Chief Woos described the agreement as more of a preliminary step in a process that he hopes will lead to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier John Horgan coming to meet with the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

He said that the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have informed the provincial and federal governments that the Delgamuukw decision has to be respected, and “that’s where this starts.”

quote:

The fate of Coastal GasLink

As for the pipeline at the heart of the current dispute, the company says it’s full steam ahead.

“Coastal GasLink will resume construction activities in the Morice River area on Monday, March 2 following the four-day pause to allow for constructive dialogue between the parties,” President David Pfeiffer announced in a statement today.

The company’s latest environmental assessment report was “not accepted” on Feb. 19, 2020, by the B.C. ministry responsible. Construction cannot proceed until the report has been resubmitted and approved, though “pre-construction” work can continue.

Fraser said the Coastal GasLink project has already been given the green light.

quote:

Issues with RCMP remain

Bennett said the precedent set by the tentative agreement “means at the very first idea of a project, that the rights holders would be there at the table with their Indigenous knowledge and the voices of their nation. It means this is a beginning of how we work towards a nation-to-nation relationship coast to coast to coast.”

She also said this will ensure “traditional laws and customs and legal orders are honoured as they form a government that can work nation to nation with Canada.”

It’s unclear what Indigenous nations would need to do to “form” a government, given already existing traditional structures.

Pressed on whether the RCMP would stay out of Wet’suwet’en territory around the Morice Forest Service Road, as they have during the current negotiations, Fraser responded that the RCMP and Coastal GasLink had made a concession “while we were doing this work.”

“My understanding is that our work for this moment has been done.”

The concerns of the Wet’suwet’en Nation about police conduct on their territory have not abated.

“We’re definitely looking at sitting down with the RCMP again,” said Chief Woos, “because it’s not over. We’re not going to sit back and look at the brutality and what have you out there. It’s real. If they’re watching out there, we’ve demonstrated respect, we’ve demonstrated that we’re willing to sit down and look at a peaceful resolution to that.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Paladin1 wrote:

Wet’suwet’en pipeline supporters say their message is not being heard

https://globalnews.ca/news/6615567/wetsuweten-pipeline-supporters/?utm_s...

So if this was the 1960s in Alabama, would we quote a news article stating that the voices of black people who support segregation are not being heard?

What do you have against Wet'Suwet'En residents having jobs, being independent and not having to grovel to chiefs for money to buy a house (or permission to buy a house)?

Why are we so hell bent on living in an echo chamber and only hearing one side of the story?

 

'Coastal GasLink Statement on the Conclusion of Discussions Between Hereditary Chiefs and Government Representatives'

https://twitter.com/smogelgem/status/1234265148979761152

"Coastal GasLink and the Province are supposed to be working on the issues we brought to them. They are supposed to have discussed those isues and presented us progress on Monday. That was what BC committed to. What's this!!??

[email protected]

#SovereigntyIsTheIssueCanadaIsTheProblem   #NoTreatyNoJurisdictionNoPipelinesNoRCMP  #EcocideIsGenocide  #NoJusticeNoPeace  #Wetsuweten  #Tyendinaga  #ShutDownCanada  #thetimeisnow

..imho..what we see coming out of the talks is who the governments negotiates with..the heriditary chiefs..the authority. the band councils aren't at that table though they were used to justify the pipeline and the rcmp invasion. and so we have now the governments abandoning the bands councils. 

..the governments & cgl knew all along who the authority was..who the title holders were. and how they rained terror on the camps in order to try and get what they wanted.    

‘Keep the pressure on’: Gidimt’en spokesperson urges Wet’suwet’en solidarity movement not to let up

quote:

Speaking in video footage released today, Wickham, who holds the traditional name Tsake'za Sleydo’, reinforced the message that the underlying issues are far from resolved and urged the solidarity movement to keep pushing.

What follows are Wickham’s remarks.

‘Now is the time’

The governments are being forced to acknowledge and forced to move on our inherent rights and title and responsibilities to our land.

We’re not resting. We’re not giving up. We’re not standing down. We’re not asking other people to stand down.

Even though they’re willing to talk about title on our territory, they’re willing to do that for future reference so this never happens again. But they don’t understand that this is not over.

We’re still in the middle of a crisis and that’s not going to go away. And it’s not going to go away because they’re talking about recognizing our title.

We have always maintained our jurisdiction over our territory through our houses and through our names, our hereditary names, and our feast system.

And they have no claim to that. They have no deed to the land. They have no treaty with us.

And even for people that do have treaties, that’s not to give up your territory or to give up your rights. That’s to have an agreement about how you’re going to live together on those territories.

We don’t need the province, we don’t need the federal government to know that we have full jurisdiction over our territories. We don’t need them to acknowledge us.

But the fact of the matter is they have RCMP pointing guns at our people and removing our people and our guests from our territories and arresting our chiefs.

And we need that to stop. And so that’s where they come in.

We know that this is a long fight. We know that this is an intergenerational struggle.

This is a revolution. This isn’t a three-day “now they’ve met the demands and let’s all go home.”

We know we’ve been fighting this since contact, since colonization.

And we’re going to continue to keep fighting this. We need to keep focused. We need to keep the pressure on.

This is the time. This is the opportunity. This is the time that we have seen thousands and thousands and thousands of us rise up and that we have solidarity and support even from non-Indigenous people and allies all over the world.

And so this is not the time to take a break. This is not the time to sit back and hope that it all works out. This is the time to keep pushing because now is the time to see and actualize and realize our hopes and dreams of liberation.

And so I encourage our supporters to keep on going. Keep pushing. We’re not standing down, and we’re not asking anybody else to stand down either.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Because the pipeline project is backed by interests that have money to buy ads on the TV stations and in the newspapers and radios, whereas the interests that oppose the project have outlets like rabble.ca. Of course the voices of the people who want the pipeline to go through are going to be promoted, and that includes those members in these indigenous communities who are more supportive.

From what I'm seeing the pro-pipeline First Nation members are being largely ignored by the media, and Rabble.

I've been posting articles with words from FN members themselves arguing as much.

Quote:

As for the jobs argument? You could generate a great deal of wealth for a city and a great deal of jobs by opening it up to be a major centre for organized crime syndicates. We don't do that because of the massive social destruction it causes. You want to create jobs in these communities? There are many opportunities for renewable energy and ecological restoration that wouldn't result in the kinds of tensions we are seeing now and that wouldn't leave these communities dry when the resources run out. Ever see what happens to mining towns when the mines close, or what is happening to  many communities in BC with the collapse of their forestry industry?

If I may paraphrase, us settlers are still deciding what's best for First Nations members and where they ought to work?

If someone is anti-pipeline that's great. I think it's disingenuous when settlers are saying it's in solidarity with the Wet'Suwet'En people.  It's convenient, that's all.

Paladin1 wrote:

If someone is anti-pipeline that's great. I think it's disingenuous when settlers are saying it's in solidarity with the Wet'Suwet'En people.  It's convenient, that's all.

The Wwet'suwet'en are in the process of deciding tehir future based on an offer that would never have been put on the table without the blockades carried out by the allies of the Wet'suwet'en people. This has always been about the right to oversee resource development on their territory. This is a multi generational battle. In the 1980's the leaders with the hereditary titles took the government to court to prove they were still the title holders under our constitution, The SCC agreed finally in 1997. So our governments said the SCC has said you have this bundle of rights that includes land title however in our treaty process you have to cede those land rights in exchange for a handful of magic investment beans. This generation of hereditary chiefs has forced the government to the table to bargain the full bundle of rights. The gas pipeline is a short term part of this battle for the Wet'suwet'en. All the indigenous nations in the country with unceded rights and territories are watching closely to see if a new path will open up.

The problem many indigenous people I know have with the treaty process that leads to extinguishing land title is the rights belong to the community and the community includes future generations. So they ask how can one generation cede the rights that belong to a community that has not been born yet.

Bruce Clark: About The Pipeline

https://rabble.ca/babble/indigenous-issues-and-culture/bruce-clark-about...

"...This brings us to the critical part from the pipeline perspective. The newer law says that all the Indians have is a 'right to be consulted' before development can occur on their land. The older law says that no development can occur until the Indians have signed a treaty. No treaty has been signed. Under the older law the Indians enjoy the power of veto. Under the newer law the Indians enjoy nothing.

Which is why they have an injunction againt them, because the assumption is that the newer law rules. The assumption is in error. That is why it is fair to say Ongoing Genocide [is] Caused by Judicial Suppression of the 'Existing' Aboriginal Rights. But you have to read the book to really understand first that fraud is normal for the courts in Indian affairs, and secondly that another fraud is happening in the pipeline situation..."

#NoTreatyNoJurisdictionNoPipelinesNoRCMP  #SovereigntyIsTheAnswerCanadaIsTheProblem  #NoJusticeNoPeace #thetimeisnow

'Fess Up, Mr Horgan, You Picked Your Indians

https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/island-voices-fess-up-mr-hor...

"It's time for Premier Horgan to fess up and admit that he has picked his Indians, as a way of moving one of his pet projects along. Like the Trans Mountain pipeline project, many band governments signed on to the LNG pipeline project for a few pieces of silver and promise of jobs for their members. Not surprising really. Some chiefs who signed on to the TMX project admitted they wept, knowing it was wrong, not only because of the nature of the project, but also because they were, for want of a better expression, Indian Act stooges of a colonial system..."

#NoTreatyNoJurisdictionNoPipelinesNoRCMP  #SovereigntyIsTheAnswerCanadaIsTheProblem  #EcocideIsGenocide  #ShutCanadaDown  #landback  #thetimeisnow

I have only ever been an active supporter of Indigenous sovereigntists.  Pro-pipeline collaborationists with Canada's corporate neo-colonialism will never have me as an ally. Period.

Protesters block train bridge temporarily in southwest Montreal in solidarity action with Wet'suwet'en

Around 40 protesters set up a blockade on the CN Rail bridge in the Pointe St. Charles neighbourhood of Montreal as an act of solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs in British Columbia, who reached a deal with the federal government Sunday night that is currently being reviewed.

The protesters in Pointe St. Charles issued a news release, saying they are blocking the tracks "to support Indigenous sovereignty and in recognition of the urgency of stopping resource extraction projects threatening future generations."

The protesters left voluntarily shortly before 6 p.m.....

Coffee With My Ma

BONUS EPISODE - #KahnawakeStandsWithWetsuweten

#KahnawakeStandsWithWetsuweten a short podcast highlighting the voices of Kahnawake and the people standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters out west. 

..lots of pics.

London and Edinburgh stand with the Wet’suwet’en

The London demonstration was a collaboration between rs21 and Wet’suwet’en Solidarity UK, with support from Student Climate Action, Reclaim the Power, UK Youth Climate Coalition, the International Solidarity Group, Jewdas, Wretched of the Earth, Green Anti-capitalist Front and Papua Militant International.

Outside Canada House on Trafalgar Square, slogans were raised demanding an end to the invasion of Wet’suwet’en land and the shelving of the pipeline project, and identifying the racism and brutality of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Charlie Powell, one of the rs21 organisers, spoke about the ongoing struggle against colonialism and the necessity of movements for climate justice standing in solidarity with Indigenous peoples.

We are here today in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en land defenders who are fighting against a state which seeks to crush them. We are here in commitment to make their struggle our own, united, to win. To build bridges of solidarity across borders, across oceans, across the world until we have justice.