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I heard discussion of the laws from my great-grandmother, and while I’m not an expert, I did learn the basics. I am still learning from the chiefs I talk to, from my clan and my father clan. Unfortunately, I see our laws being changed or cast aside during this event in our territory, mostly to justify the actions of some of our house chiefs, who act to make the outside environmental activists that have come into our territory happy. It seems they have been manipulated to fight their fight.

We have seen three female chiefs being stripped of their name because they don’t agree with the “Hereditary Chiefs” within the society that is the Office of the Wet’suwet’en. This stripping was not done following our law. We have seen individuals be given Chief’s names that then flout our Law on many fronts. A newly named chief can’t speak for a year, yet these new chiefs have been vocal in the media. We have seen a chief break our Law by claiming a name from another house. We have seen a chief name be given to some whose parents sit together in the feast hall. We have seen adoptions across clans take place without merit or proper transfer.

Our Law states that guests have no say in “our business,” meaning the things that are taking place on our territories. This continues to be observed by many, but some guests, whether born in Wet’suwet’en territory or adopted into a house, forget that they are guests and can observe but not speak. Guests are permitted to live in the territory and take advantage of the resources provided by the territory, but they have no say on what happens within the territory. This has not been followed by some and they need to be reminded by our house chiefs that they have no say, public or private. If they want to have a say on territory, they should follow their matrilineal lines back home and conduct business at home.