While Makivik Corp. praises Trudeau government, NTI accuses Ottawa of using “coercive power”

By Jim Bell

Two organizations, two divergent positions: that’s how Makivik Corp. and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. are reacting to the Wet’suwet’en Indigenous land rights dispute that has sparked railway line blockades and protests across the country this month.

In a statement issued this past Feb. 20, Makivik’s president, Charlie Watt, sent what he called a “message of support” to those federal cabinet ministers who have engaged in talks with Mohawks from Tyendinaga who were blocking a rail line near Belleville, Ont., in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary house chiefs who oppose the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline that would run across northern British Columbia from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.

“Observing it from afar I commend the key ministers—Carolyn Bennett at Crown-Indigenous Relations, and Mark Miller at Indigenous Services— for engaging in deep discussions with the Wet’suwet’en in B.C., and Mohawk at Tyendinaga, Ontario respectively,” said Charlie Watt, Makivik’s president.

At the same time, Watt said he “understands how deeply the Wet’suwet’en feel”—because of his work negotiating the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

“At the core of this conflict are historic relations between Indigenous peoples and the Crown in Canada over jurisdiction, self-determination, and sovereignty,” Watt said.

Watt, a former Liberal senator, also slammed national Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, Conservative leadership candidate Peter Mackay and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney for advocating immediate police intervention.

“That simply demonstrates gross ignorance of the history of Indigenous relations in Canada, and fosters hatred towards Indigenous peoples as opposed to building understanding, and contributing to reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous peoples,” Watt said.

NTI, on the other hand, slammed the Liberal government for how it has handled the crisis so far.

“In traditional Wet’suwet’en territory the Government of Canada is using coercive power and is dictating the use of land by means of establishing exclusion zones, forceful removal of land defenders, and threats to journalists,” NTI said in a statement issued on Feb. 21.

The NTI statement also offered unequivocal support for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the construction of a natural gas pipeline in B.C. from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.

About one-third of the pipeline’s route passes through territory over which the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs claim sovereignty. This past January, the hereditary chiefs presented Coastal GasLink with an eviction notice and felled trees to block a road and prevent construction activities.

The protesters who attempted to implement that “eviction” were removed by the RCMP early in February. NTI still supports their claim.

“Nunavut Tunngavik stands in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en land defenders, and all the Indigenous nations supporting them for their inherent right to govern their own territory and to protect their ancestral lands,” the NTI statement said.

“Canada must accept that the Wet’suwet’en have jurisdiction!” NTI said.

The Inuit organization also warned that its relationship with Canada is now at stake.

“If Canada does not believe that, it is difficult for us, as an Indigenous people, to continue to have trust in our relationship with the Government of Canada,” NTI said.

As of this story’s publication date, the Ontario Provincial Police had started to arrest protesters from the Tyendinaga Mohawk territory near Belleville who had been blockading the rail line that connects Toronto with Ottawa and Montreal.

At the same time, people from the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake were blocking a CP rail line southwest of Montreal and other protesters had erected a partial blockade in Saskatoon.