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

..colonisation is ruthless i repeat. this is not normal and shouldn't be seen as normal. from a link i posted earlier today.

A Concise Chronology of Canada’s Colonial Cops

The armed invasion and arrests in Wet’suwet’en territory carried out by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) this February that have sparked cross-country Indigenous resistance have been about more than just the enforcement of a court injunction on behalf of a natural gas pipeline company.

The RCMP may serve as Canada’s federal police force, but in relation to Indigenous peoples it is not so much a domestic policing agency as an occupying foreign army.

In the context of a previous police raid of Wet’suwet’en territory a year ago, the RCMP installed a special remote detachment along the forest-service road that leads to the decade-long-running Unist’ot’en camp and healing centre. The police force has continuously set up arbitrary exclusion zones in the area, stopping and arresting Indigenous people and their supporters without cause, as it facilitates the work of the Coastal GasLink pipeline company that is destroying the territory of Wet’suwet’en clans....

still colonial exploiting the Wet'Suwet'en i see.

even though they got control of their lands and doing what they want, you are imposing what you believe they are, or should be, doing.

some self examining would be appreciated. 

epaulo13 wrote:

  ..not the corporations and not the governments. which is the primary reason the pipeline is on the table. the wet’suwet’en peoples did not go looking for the pipeline..it's being rammed down their throats in many ways. enormous poverty being one tool used..that ties funding to pipeline agreement. colonisation is ruthless and it should be in the forefront of people mind posting in this thread. stop trying to normalise the situation. it is anything but. 

epaulo13 wrote:

  ..you can't split off the hereditary chiefs from the people. hereditary chiefs are not off in ivory towers like our governments who are isolated from the people. feasts are the deciding factor. the chiefs follow the will of the feasts. i understand that very dynamic, thorough and intense debates occur at these feasts. the indian act band council members participate in those feasts. the results, the decisions coming out of those feasts, as i have pointed out, have been no pipelines since 2011.     

Right, and after consulting with their people they determined to accept the pipeline if it followed an alternate route. It is possible they knew the company would refuse. I think it would be very difficult to discuss such a plan at a feast.

You are totally correct about colonization, poverty and the attempted destruction of their entire culture and way of like. The answer cannot be that activists now decide what is good for them because we believe them to be coerced or whatever.

I agree with you that even if only one nation refuses access through their land they have the right to stop it regardless of what other nations want.

The fact remains that the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs offered an alternate route. It is not for us to determine the validity of their choice or question its authenticity. As you have noted yourself any divisions between indigenous peoples are for them to work out. If they are okay with the alternate route it is not for us to undermine their choice by saying it is due to XYZ therefore somehow invalid. 

epaulo13 wrote:

  ..i believe the offer for a different route was strategic or tactical.  

I think it was still genuine. If the company had agreed they would have accepted the pipeline. I am certainly not going to doubt the word of the hereditary chiefs

For whatever reason I have not heard indigenous peoples citing climate change as the reason they object to developments. The offer of the alternative route suggests their primary motivation and goal is to stop the pipeline from going through pristine wilderness. I have no doubt that many indigenous people are driven by climate change and many protesters are equally concerned about climate change but that is not the reasoning they are presenting.

It helps their cause for it to be known that they would accept an alternative route and the company refused the offer.

I do believe there is a danger in appropriating their voices and projecting motivations onto their rejection of the pipeline route that they have not expressed.

If any of the representatives of indigenous peoples are citing climate change as one of their reasons for opposing developments then of course I accept it but even then it would only extend to the people they represent either through the Indian act or through indigenous power structures.

Misappropriation of voices even in the service of a just cause still cannot be defended.  I am on your side, their side, but for me that includes accepting their stated motivations and goals without question in part because of colonization.

Maybe the reason they don't talk much about climate change is because their treaties are about land rights. If they give another reason they risk being attacked on the basis of their motivation being genralized not about the land.

I still can't assume that. Assuming it is just continued colonization and infantilizing. It doesn't matter if we think it reflects well on them. Because of colonization it is doubly important that we avoid projecting. There are certainly climate activists who are indigenous and involved in the fight against the pipeline but they don't represent the indigenous people.  The chiefs represent the will of the people be they hereditary or Indian Act.

Wet'suwet'en land defenders face risks experienced by environmental human rights defenders around the world

The Indigenous Wet'suwet'en land defenders protecting their territory in northern British Columbia from the construction of the TC Energy Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline are experiencing many of the situations, risks and dynamics that environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) around the world encounter.

Challenging extractivism -- EHRDs are commonly at risk for opposing destructive extractive projects such as mining, hydroelectric dams, logging and agribusiness. The Wet'suwet'en oppose a fracked gas pipeline on their territory.

Megaprojects -- EHRDs have experienced increased rates of violence when they oppose a megaproject that impacts their community. The $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline is a 670-kilometre infrastructure project that would lead to a $40-billion liquefied natural gas plant financed by transnational corporations.

Seeking to stop violence -- EHRDs often express concern about community tensions and the violence that can come with a megaproject. The Wet'suwet'en are concerned by the violence against Indigenous women that comes with the "man camps" that house the workers who would build the fracked gas pipeline on their remote territory.

Free, prior and informed consent -- Indigenous EHRDs struggle to have their right to free, prior and informed consent (under ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) respected. The Wet'suwe'ten hereditary chiefs have not given their free, prior and informed consent to the fracked gas pipeline.

Harassment -- EHRDs commonly face harassment by police and private security forces. The Unist'ot'en have stated that they have faced targeted and sustained harassment and intimidation tactics by police and private security on a daily basis.

Criminalization -- Indigenous EHRDs are often criminalized for occupying their own territory (commonly framed as "aggravated usurpation" or illegal occupation). While the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized the Wet'suwet'en as the rightful title holders of the territory, a lower court granted TC Energy an injunction to prevent the Wet'suwet'en from blocking pipeline construction work on their territory.

Impunity -- EHRDs are often subject to violence and harassment by state forces. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has argued that the RCMP decision to restrict movement from the 27-kilometre mark to the 4-kilometre mark on the Morice West Forest Service Road lies outside the scope of the B.C. Supreme Court injunction. And yet the police have maintained this exclusion zone and arrested human rights observers within it.

Gender-specific violence -- EHRDs are often women (WEHRDs). They face the same risks as other defenders, but they are additionally exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks. Unist'ot'en matriarchs Freda Huson (Chief Howihkat), Brenda Michell (Chief Geltiy) and Dr. Karla Taiit were arrested February 10 while holding a ceremony to call on their ancestors and to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

State violence -- EHRDs are unarmed and peaceful but face armed force. The RCMP raid on Wet'suwet'en territory has reportedly involved helicopters, assault rifles, snipers, handguns, sound cannons and police dogs against unarmed land defenders.  

Judicialization -- EHRDs are often arrested and detained in lengthy criminal justice proceedings that divert from their ability to protect their lands and waters. Twenty-eight land defenders and human rights observers have been arrested over the five-day police raid. Some of those arrested were charged with contempt, despite not violating the injunction.

Prolonged struggle for justice -- EHRDs must commonly endure long struggles against ongoing injustices, impunity, incarceration and threats, and rely on international solidarity to sustain their struggle. The Wet'suwet'en remain resolute in their commitment to protect their land, waters, culture and sovereignty.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stefanovich-wetsuweten-elected-chiefs-m...

Elected Wet'suwet'en chiefs are asking for the immediate resignation of Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett over an agreement between Ottawa, B.C. and hereditary chiefs, which they claim was drafted without their consent. 

In a joint statement released on Monday, four elected chiefs call on the B.C. and federal governments to reject the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on rights and title with hereditary chiefs and restart the negotiation process to include the elected leadership.

The draft MOU lays out the steps to transfer jurisdiction of Wet'suwet'en territory to traditional governance, including land, water and revenue-sharing. The agreement would give hereditary chiefs significant leverage over future resource development according to a copy of the document obtained by CBC News.

..every single one of us is connected to systems of oppression. no one exists outside of these systems. the struggle is transformation. and that struggle is what defines us. sometimes we are strong other times not so much. 

..a raven trust & council of canadians project

UnFrackable Mass Organizing Meeting

Let's share strategies with fellow activists and organizers across the country who are taking on fracking and LNG projects. Sign up to join the Mass Call meeting on May 20th - and receive links to the call in your inbox. 

We will be hosting breakout groups, so the hundreds of folks that have been joining our calls in solidarity from Vermont to Costa Rica, can come together face to face to compare notes, brainstorm and celebrate each other.

..more from above

quote

That is arguably in contravention of the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights that says states should take steps to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises that receive support from export credit agencies.

On May 5, the CBC reported that Canada is "doubling down on its bid for a seat" on the UN Security Council that has already "set the government back $2 million." It's clear that the Trudeau government wants to win that seat on June 17.

Peace Brigades International-Canada has posted this online URGENT ACTION petition to enable people to send an email to the prime minister that calls on him to act in accordance with the UN committee's resolution before the UN vote.

As the Trudeau government steps up its efforts to win the Security Council seat, there's an opportune moment to highlight this resolution.

Pam Palmater, a Mi'kmaw citizen, lawyer and professor, has argued, "Canada does not deserve a seat at the UN Security Council unless and until they address peace and security in their own country."

The coming weeks are a pivotal time for all of us to hear that and raise our voices on peace, security and fundamental human rights.

..posted yesterday

Link

Hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en Nation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with B.C. and #Canada that sets the path for negotiations on legal recognition of their title to 22,000 sq km of traditional territory.

The Wet'suwet'en governance system, which pre-dates Canada, is rooted in the feast hall and organized around a clan and house system in which different house groups hold authority over specific sections of territory.
Effective immediately, the #MOU commits Canada and B.C. to recognize that rights and title are held by house groups within the Wet'suwet'en Nation, under their system of governance.
*
The signing comes 23 years after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on the Delgamuukw case brought forward by Gitxsan and Wet'suwe'ten hereditary chiefs who were seeking recognition of ownership over their respective territories.

But what does this all mean for the Wet’suwet’en?
Wet'suwet'en will be the first #Indigenous Nation in Canada to have had Aboriginal title recognized through an agreement/negotiated settlement, rather than in court.
Aboriginal title means...
1) Use and Occupation of the Yintah (territory)

2) Right to decide on the uses of the Yintah subject to constraint to protect for future generations.

The Supreme Court concluded that #Aboriginal title had not been extinguished when the region became part of Canada but did not actually legally recognize the nations' title — instead it ordered a new trial but also encouraged negotiation between the First Nations, B.C. and Canada.

B.C. Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Scott Fraser said that reunification within the Nation is an essential piece to moving forward with any kind of final agreement. While most of that work will be left up to the Nation to figure out internally, he said the province will be engaging with the elected chiefs as well.

The agreement doesn't make any impact on the CGL pipeline that is currently under construction and which led to the MOU discussions in the first place. Wet’suwet’en leaders are proceeding with legal action against #CGL and fundraising is still ongoing. #WetsuwetenStrong

epaulo13 wrote:

Across the Pacific Northwest, Indigneous land & water protectors are fighting back against the threat of oil & gas exports through their traditional lands. From Wet’suwet’en territory to the Klamath River and beyond, these battles to protect communities from the harm of the fossil fuel industry are connected.

On Thursday, May 28, join Indigenous leaders from across the region for a discussion about their communities’ fights against fossil fuel export projects including the Coastal Gas Link pipeline, Jordan Cove LNG, Tacoma LNG, and the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline.

Register for the webinar online here: bit.ly/05282020

Speakers include Ka’ila Farrel-Smith (Klamath-Modoc Artist), Kanahus Manuel (Secwepemc and Ktunaxa), Brook Thompson (Yurok Tribal member), Dakota Case (Puyallup Water Warriors), and a representative from the Gidimt’en Camp. The panel will share stories from their struggles against the fossil fuel industry & colonization, examine the connections between these battles throughout the region, and tell you how to take action in solidarity with their communities

..excellent webinar that brought together various struggles across the pacific northwest against pipelines. this has been accomplished under covid19 and provides a path into the future. and was quite inspiring. from it we will see an escalation of resistance by the summer. 

artwork by Jackie Fawn

Alberta and South Korea’s pensions just bought the Coastal GasLink pipeline: 8 things you need to know

TC Energy just sold its majority ownership stake in the Coastal GasLink pipeline to Alberta and South Korea’s public sector pension funds, investing millions of individuals’ retirement savings into one of Canada’s most controversial industrial projects.

The pension funds are managed by investment companies AIMCo (Alberta Investment Management Company) and KKR, respectively, which together took a 65 per cent stake in the project. TC Energy retained a 35 per cent stake and is offering to sell another 10 per cent stake to First Nations that have signed agreements with Coastal GasLink. TC Energy is still responsible for building and operating the pipeline. 

The deal, which closed on May 25 for an estimated $600 million, unlocks the rest of the money needed for Coastal GasLink’s construction. A consortium of 27 domestic and international banks agreed to fund the $6.6-billion cost, but they would only commit once AIMCo and KKR’s purchase signalled the pipeline was a worthy investment. 

“This financing was absolutely critical for the project to go forward,” says Alison Kirsch, climate and energy lead researcher at Rainforest Action Network. 

KKR and AIMCo are both infamous for taking on risky bets, and the Coastal GasLink pipeline might be just that.

Coastal GasLink isn’t just a pipeline — it’s a lightning rod for the long-strained relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian government. It would transect Wet’suwet’en territory despite Hereditary Chiefs’ staunch rejection of the project. After a winter of unprecedented rail blockades, sit-ins and rallies throughout the country, the pipeline’s construction is unlikely to go down without a fight.

“We have the right to make a decision on any project that happens on Wet’suwet’en territory according to our laws, and we’re following our law,” says Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, spokesperson for the Gidimt’en Camp of Wet’suwet’en Nation. “At no point are we going to give up fighting this project.” 

Adam Scott, director of Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, says the purchase could negatively impact pension holders. “It is really disappointing to see that any very large pension fund in Canada would consider touching this project. This isn’t just a random investor making a bad bet. They’re investing real people’s wages, their hard work, their retirement savings.”

Meanwhile, the pipeline is under immense pressure to go ahead. The $40-billion LNG Canada project, the single largest private sector investment project in Canadian history, hinges on it to ship liquefied natural gas to Asia.

Here’s what you need to know about the deal.....

..more on the above story

Security Camera Captures Heavily Armed RCMP at Wet’suwet’en Cultural Site

Members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation are challenging RCMP actions on their territory after a security camera captured images of police with assault rifles checking an empty building located deep in the woods.

The building, a smokehouse that will soon be used to process fish, was built this spring at the request of Gidimt’en Clan Hereditary Chief Woos. It is on the Morice River about one kilometre from the Morice West Forest Service Road, not far from the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre where conflict between Wet’suwet’en members and pipeline builders began a decade ago.

The long dispute came to a head in January 2019 when heavily armed RCMP officers enforced an injunction by removing barricades and arresting 14 people opposing the Coastal GasLink pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory. Earlier this year large RCMP operations again removed barricades and arrested dozens at several camps over five days.

A trail camera installed to monitor the Gidimt’en smokehouse captured two RCMP visits this month, including images of three officers, one carrying what appears to be a semi-automatic Colt C8 assault rifle, surrounding the building.

According to Cpl. Madonna Saunderson, the officers are members of a Quick Response Team assigned to the Community-Industry Safety Office, a remote detachment established to police the Morice West Forest Service Road following the arrests in January 2019.

“The photos being circulated online relate to recent patrols and the check of a newly constructed building which is on the pipeline’s right of way and is therefore in breach of the BC Supreme Court injunction order,” the statement said. “We understand that CGL has posted a notice on the building advising of this breach.”

The foot patrols were followed a few days later by Coastal GasLink workers, who posted notices that the structure is within their work area and saying it should be moved, according to Gidimt’en Clan member Jennifer Wickham.

“It’s very obvious to us that CGL is using the RCMP yet again as their personal security and they went in to clear the area,” Wickham said. “I don’t know what they expected to find, other than a smokehouse, with such heavy-duty weapons. But there are people in and out of there. We’re planning on getting fish soon. The spring salmon are running. We are going to be actually using that smokehouse to prepare and preserve our food fish.”

Wickham disputes the RCMP’s claim that the building violates the injunction issued by the BC Supreme Court on Dec. 31 that prohibits anyone from blocking access to work sites, as the company does not currently have an environmental assessment permit allowing work in the area.

“It’s really concerning to us, obviously, that they’re so heavily armed going in there to make sure the site is clear for CGL to post their letters that actually have no weight behind them,” she said. “There’s no reason for them to call RCMP because what we’re doing there is not illegal.”

Work continues on Coastal GasLink, a $6.6-billion, 670-kilometre pipeline to carry fracked gas from the province’s northeast to an LNG plant under construction in Kitimat. By late May, 77 per cent of the pipeline right-of-way had been cleared, according to a construction update from the company.

However, TC Energy, the pipeline’s owner, did not have the final permits from B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office required before work can begin within the Morice River Technical Boundary Area, which includes the smokehouse.

The Unist’ot’en, a house group of the Wet’suwet’en, had initially prevented Coastal GasLink from accessing the area to prepare reports on the project’s environmental impact. The province granted a permit anyway on the condition that the company later provide a report assessing impacts.

The pipeline company was able to access the area last summer. However, its report was rejected by the Environmental Assessment Office in February, which said it didn’t provide sufficient information to assess the project’s impacts.

No wonder Canada and Israel are so close.

At least the government failed at getting a seat on the UN security council. Perhaps our international perception is slowly changing.

We condemn the passing of the anti-terror bill in the Philippines and the Duterte regime criminalizing dissent, activism, and land defenders. As indigenous people we have been criminalized for defending our right to live on and protect our own land, and so we stand in solidarity with all those who are affected by Duterte’s repression and fighting injustice in their homeland.

The Hidden Part of Canada and British Columbia's MOU With the Wet'suwet'en

https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2020/07/hidden-part-can...

"...a delegated power from Canada to manage a reduced parcel of land that is no longer theirs, in substitution of inherent ancestral sovereignty...The only difference is that, this time, hereditary chiefs are now part of the negotiation process."

Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction? I went to find out.

I knew I was journeying into a war zone of sorts.

I had watched from afar — online — following play by play the standoff between the traditional Wet'suwet'en People and a multibillion-dollar pipeline project backed by the B.C. and federal governments with armed RCMP enforcement. And I visited this place once before in winter 2019 to meet briefly with a Hereditary Chief named Na’Moks, a.k.a. John Ridsdale.

When I visited last time the conflict from the first wave of the RCMP arresting the Wet’suewet’en land defenders and enforcing an injunction to put through the CGL pipeline had just happened. There was a raid of the Unist’ot’en healing camp in January 2019. I arrived in March on the heels of the first collision the community had with police.

Back then ‘Wet’suwet’en’ was a new name slipping into the headlines. For many Canadians it was the first they had heard of the people, and the place. In the mainstream news they were called protestors. On social media they were calling them terrorists.

Now I was here for a second time. And this time I came this time when the conflict wasn’t dominating the headlines, a sort of calm between uproars. The COVID-19 pandemic had arrived in the world on the heels of the Wet'suwet'en crisis that shut down Canada in February. I arrived when humanity around the globe was - literally - sheltering for our lives during the worst pandemic in the last 100 years.

But while the world went on hold the pipeline conflict didn't end, it's just not in the headlines.

quote:

I’m discovering what’s at stake for the Wet'suwet'en. It’s both simple and complex. It’s not an issue someone can understand just by reading an occasional news article.

And the cost is high.

That cost is the livelihood of the sovereign Wet'suwet'en.

You see, Canada, the province, and the pipeline weaving through the mountainous terrain of the vast, pristine and extraordinary lands of the Wet'suwet'en are on a path that, unchecked, could wipe them out.

It sounds shocking? Not in Canada, right?

Well, this same struggle for survival has been going on for a couple of centuries here.

But the Wet’suwet’en, like all our Indigenous relations, know how to survive. They’ve survived through attempted annihilation via genocide; through colonialism’s oppressive assimilation tactics; land theft; residential school; sixties scoop; racism; and murder via way of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Despite this, from what I’ve seen here, the Wet’suewet’en are thriving. They are reclaiming. They are healing. And they are reviving hope, traditions, and land.....

Civil Liberties and Indigenous Rights Groups Call on CRCC to Immediately Take Conduct of Investigation into Wet’suwet’en Land Defender’s Police Complaint

August 27, 2020 – BC Civil Liberties Association and Union of BC Indian Chiefs are calling on the Chairperson of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) to immediately take charge of the investigation of a Wet’suwet’en land defender’s police complaint.

According to Mr. Cody Merriman (Wedlidi), “I made a police complaint to the CRCC because I was expecting an independent and civilian investigation into the illegal RCMP exclusion zone on Wet’suwet’en territories as part of the militarized raids on the yintah in January 2020. Instead, I have had the very same RCMP officers who were involved in leading the police operations show up unannounced to my home, claim they are the ones ‘informally resolving’ my police complaint against other officers, and try to intimidate me to drop the complaint.”

“Indigenous peoples have always asserted our laws and presence on our territories, but I was denied access to my wife and family’s territories, Gidimt’en yintah, which was subjected to militarized police operations and an exclusion zone earlier this year. Now, we can’t even get a proper and independent investigation into the illegal police misconduct and criminalization of Indigenous people. This is outrageous,” further states Mr. Merriman.

On January 15 2020, Mr. Cody Merriman filed a police complaint with the CRCC. Mr. Merriman was bringing food and emergency supplies to the Gidimt’en Checkpoint on Wet’suwet’en territories but was denied entry and access at the RCMP exclusion zone, in contravention of the RCMP’s own statements and Merriman’s inherent Indigenous and Charter-protected rights.

In May 2020, two RCMP officers arrived unannounced at Mr. Merriman’s home. The officers were unclear about the nature of their visit, and proceeded to interrogate and intimidate Mr. Merriman about his police complaint. In a subsequent letter in June 2020, the RCMP argued that two of the officers in Mr. Merriman’s complaint were Reserve Constables and would not be included in the complaint investigation, even though Reservists are appointed under the RCMP Act and fall under the jurisdiction of the CRCC.

On August 26, 2020, Mr. Merriman filed a second complaint with the CRCC, highlighting the fundamental flaws in the RCMP investigation into his initial police complaint.

According to Carly Teillet, BCCLA Community Lawyer, “Individual RCMP officers and the Smithers RCMP Detachment involved in leading RCMP militarized actions on Wet’suwet’en territories and subject to a policy complaint to the CRCC should not be investigating Mr. Merriman’s complaint. This is a clear conflict of interest. We call on the CRCC Chairperson to immediately take conduct of the complaint investigation from the RCMP. We further call on the CRCC to include the conduct of the two reserve constables in the complaint investigation.”.....

..from an email

quote:

A plane just took off in New York, with an 135 foot banner reading Stop Coastal GasLink #ShutdownKKR. It's flying over Wall St and the heart of New York City's financial district right now, calling out the private equity company - KKR & Co - for funding the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The pipeline is being built on Wet'suwet'en land without the consent of their hereditary chiefs.

Hundreds of us are calling, emailing, and tweeting at the private equity company now too, because they refuse to stop funding Coastal GasLink. They already shut down their New York office number to the public, which means our communications blockade is working. Let's make this unforgettable, and their phones ring off the hook.

Here's three ways you can participate right now:

 - Call KKR by dialing their California office at 650 233 6560 (script below, if you need talking points)
 - Tweet at @KKR_Co and tell them just how awful they are for ignoring Wet'suwet'en concerns about their rights, the climate, land air and water. Need some tweet inspiration? See below!
 - Email KKR today by using our easy messaging tool here.

The Wet'suwet'en are calling for respect for the lands, waters, climate, and womxn. We aren't billionaires, but we know thousands of people are on our side and a change will come. Rise up with us against this extractive project today, and let's make sure the company sees our dedication to stopping this pipeline once and for all.

..from and email

quote:

Individually, we’re one drop. Together? We’re a mighty river.

We’ve been waiting a long time for Wet’suwet’en’s case to be heard by the BC Supreme Court. Today, hereditary chiefs who aim to stop Coastal GasLink from encroaching on their territory will be in court for the second - and final - day of their Judicial Review hearing. These visionary stewards of land and water are refusing to allow their territory to be defiled by a company that has consistently failed to live up to environmental and human rights standards. 

Under normal circumstances, we would invite you to gather together and rally on the courthouse steps. Instead, we reached out to you using the online tools we now rely on to keep our movement - and the RAVEN community - connected. 

And: wow!! You responded with a roar..your overwhelming support for Wet’suwet’en Nation this week has proven that we don’t need to physically connect to make a massive impact. We are over 1/3 of the way to our $50k goal

Wet'suwet'en Access Point on Gidimt'en Territory

October 1 at 12:25 PM  · 

On July 3 2020, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs met with representatives of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline project to discuss the past 2 years of conflict on the yintah. The meeting took place on the territory of Cas yikh (Grizzly house) of the Gidimt’en clan, at the site of two militarized raids on Wet’suwet’en clan members and supporters.

Coastal Gaslink is responsible for the criminalization of land defenders who uphold Wet’suwet’en laws, and the collective decision that there will be no pipelines on Wet’suwet’en territory. While apologies can be offered, they feel hollow while the company continues to trespass, and the RCMP continue to harass and invade.

The authority and power of the Hereditary Chiefs comes from their territories and the ancient laws passed down by our ancestors. Wiggus (Respect) is one of the foundations of Wet’suwet’en law. The chiefs uphold Wiggus even when dealing with those that have never offered respect to their decisions about their territories.

The Hereditary Chiefs have never consented to any pipeline through their territories, and demonstrations of violence against them and their territories will not change their minds. This meeting offered an opportunity to reiterate this position to Coastal Gaslink, face to face, and on the territory, as business is dealt with on Wet’suwet’en terms. Dinï ze’ Woos’ words are very clear, “we’re not moving, we’re not moving anything”.

Two months after this meeting, Coastal Gaslink president David Pfeiffer resigned.





video

Chief Dsta'hyl Deactivates Coastal Gaslink Excavator



At Coyote Camp, a school bus blocks an access road to a Coastal GasLink worksite on Wet’suwet’en territory. Land defenders there, who are defying a court injunction, have been joined by some veterans of the Fairy Creek blockade. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood.

..includes 3.21 min video

Eve and Shilo: Familial Alliances

"Me and Eve have a child together named after this territory - Cas Yikh." - Shilo (Six Nations), Dinï ze' Woos' son-in-law

Cas Yikh was born from two nations coming together--Wet'suwet'en and Haudenosaunee--to defend our territories and our way of life. We know the colonizer's worst fear is that we unite and fight together. This pipeline will not go through. We will never give up.