TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY, ONT.—The reasons to take a stand don’t need to be explained. Here in Tyendinaga, at least for some, it goes without saying: The struggle of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs is the struggle facing everybody.

The plights of colonialism, stolen land, nature brutalized by a settler society hungry for money — these are the perceived links that bind the conflict over a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia with demonstrations of solidarity rippling across Canada.

“That is why we’re here, to protect our land,” said Debbie Clark, one of the few people who agreed to be interviewed by the Star at a small protest camp outside Marysville, Ont., on Wednesday.

Wrapped in a camouflage jacket, she sat in the warmth of a barrel fire on the south side of the Canadian National rail tracks, where the presence of Tyendinaga Mohawk demonstrators has clogged the traffic of people and goods for days.

“We have no weapons, except our voice,” said Clark. “We stand behind each other, and that’s our weapon, that’s our defence. We stand behind our brothers and sisters.”

The camp on a country road between Toronto and Kingston is but one of several demonstrations that have sprung up after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — acting on an order from B.C.’s highest court — arrested more than two dozen people to clear the way for the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Protesters have staged sit-ins at federal ministers’ offices and blocked traffic in such cities as Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto. Hundreds clogged the entrances to the B.C. legislature on Tuesday, delaying the provincial government’s throne speech. And under the provocative slogan “Shut Down Canada,” demonstrators have congregated at rail lines here and in Montreal and northern B.C., forcing the cancellation of hundreds of passenger and freight trains and prompting CN Rail to consider shutting down “significant” portions of its national rail network.

In Tyendinaga territory Wednesday, the scene was quiet, staid. Demonstrators laughed and sipped from cans of THC-infused pop, products of the local marijuana market that has emerged in the area. A large snowplow was parked beside the tracks beneath a red Mohawk flag that flapped from the upturned crossing rail. A small cluster of green tents was set up in the gully beside the tracks, along with a small trailer with a sign on it that said: “The Wolf’s Den.”

Beyond a pair of Ontario Provincial Police cruisers parked several hundred yards away, there was no sign of law enforcement in the area Wednesday afternoon.

Mary-Ann Harrison pulled up to the site in her car after driving from Ottawa with a load of supplies to show her support. She brought a four-burner propane stove, washing station for dishes and a bunch of sandwiches.

“We’re trying to stand in solidarity right now,” she said, pointing to her opposition to the natural gas pipeline that sparked has the nationwide demonstrations.

“It’s a larger problem, which is corporate greed destroying the future of the planet,” she said.

In a chair near the fire, a man who said he was a local elder leaned forward over his tattooed hands. Agreeing only to provide his first name, George, he described the people around him as “protectors” who won’t dismantle their camps until the RCMP in B.C. release those they arrested in Wet’suwet’en territory and the pipeline project is abandoned.

“We help others, just like if we were in trouble, they’d help us,” said George, 75. “This is just to show they can’t be pushing us around all the time.”

The Star spoke to protesters about the reasons they are taking action, and what they want to see next.

Here is what they told us, in their own words.

Morgan Mowatt, Gitxsan Nation, lives in Victoria

“It’s personal because it can also affect our nation. My dad is from the Gitxsan Nation, a neighbour of the Wet’suwet’en — we have a lot of family there. My sister and I have done a lot of work on our nation and we’re up there as much as we can be.

It’s beautiful territory up there, and it certainly is a reminder every time you're up there what’s at risk when rights aren’t upheld and when people aren’t able to make decisions on what’s happening in their homes.

Being on territory that has been maintained so meticulously by our hereditary systems and kept in tact and protected, and dealt with gently and with accountability to future generations — when you’re in those spaces, when you know that your own ancestors have done that for thousands of years, it’s a reminder how well those systems work.”

Peter Underwood, Saanich Nation, lives in Victoria

“I work for the Native Students’ Union (at the University of Victoria). I’ve made connections a lot through an Indigenous conference and other activist communities. That’s how I got involved.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Through my work, I’ve met some Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en folks and, in general, a lot of Indigenous folks across the country have that solidarity; because if it can happen in Wet’suwet’en, it can happen to any of us.

There has been such a good community of activism in Victoria. I want to show up to these kind of events in case I need them to show up for me.

There’s a lot of different bodies with a lot of different backgrounds. Some people are in it for different things. There are a lot of groups that are climate activists and are more anti-pipeline and moreso around for environmental reasons, not as much for Indigenous sovereignty. That is what I’m here for, solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Nation and their clans.

There’s so many more people out there once you make the connections.

One big thing is: How come we don’t learn a lot about this in schools? I remember in high school I learned a lot about England before the English even came here. More than I learned about what was here before.

There’s so much that isn’t talked about in education.”

Cricket Guest, 20, Toronto

“Coastal GasLink is proposing to build a pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory. It’s unceded territory. It was never sold to Canada. It was never sold to the Crown. It still is owned by Indigenous people. And so the Wet’suwet’en people are not OK with this. They were not given proper consent or consultation on the Coastal GasLink project expanding or going through their territory. It’s important to know that the way Wet’suwet’en people live is very much traditional to our people: off the land. They rely on the land for their livelihood, for their medicines. All of these actions are starting because Thursday the RCMP raid of the territory started. Indigenous youth have agreed that we will be loud. We will be taking up space. We will be shutting down Canada until the Wet’suwet’en people are safe, until the RCMP is off of their territory. We’ll be doing this for as long as it takes. We are using our power to demand that we don’t continue this legacy of ongoing Indigenous genocide in an era where the government — and Justin Trudeau, specifically — loves to preach about reconciliation. I want to see them using their positions of authority to take some sort of actions. They’ve imposed this government system onto our people, this system that doesn’t belong to us. And then when we speak to them about it, it feels as though every person in a position of power is then saying that they don’t have the power to stop this, when they do.”

Alienor (Allie) Rougeot, 21, of Fridays for Future Toronto

“When we started Friday for Future, we knew that we wanted to have Indigenous sovereignty and solidarity in our demands. When we started seeing warnings that the RCMP might (occupy) or increase surveillance of Wet’suwet’en, we thought: This is the time that if we are really allies, we have to prepare. We started trying to use our social media and our platforms to highlight more Indigenous voices. Recently, we’ve been doing kind of a mix of either our own action and solidarity or just showing up to action led by Indigenous people. I think there will be escalations. If it takes more occupations of offices and if it takes more disrupting business as usual, then that’s what we will support. People trust the voices of climate strikers. Hopefully, if the message is relayed from us, they will be more open to hearing it than they would otherwise, if they don’t know much about land protectors. Originally, I would just be asking for no pipeline, but at this point we’re begging for the RCMP for back off. I just really think if Justin Trudeau meant his nation-to-nation promise, then there should be nation-to-nation conversation with the hereditary chiefs. I would like to see a deep introspection of the Canadian government into what it means when you promise Indigenous nations something. Plus, the government promised Canadian youth something. How do projects like Coastal GasLink fit into these promises at any moment?”

Simran Dhunna, 24, of Climate Justice Toronto

“We’re a youth-led group of young people who are uniting in solidarity with Indigenous folks who are on the front lines of the climate crisis. We really believe that we’re going to be able to only stop the climate crisis when we confront its root causes: colonialism, white supremacy and capitalism. A lot of our membership and youth around the city and country know that the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty is the struggle for climate action. That’s part of the reason I was one of the people who was involved in a nearly 24-hour occupation of Carolyn Bennett’s office this Monday, rallying with others outside. We occupied for three key reasons. We want the Canadian government to implement UNDRIP and to respect Wet’suwet’en’s rights to free prior informed consent, which Coastal GasLink had never obtained. We want the RCMP to stand down, to leave Wet’suwet’en land immediately, and to not arrest land defenders or searching through the Unist’ot’en’s healing centre. This movement is taking the lead from Wet’suwet’en nation. The Unist’ot’en camp has released a supporter tool kit. And so climate activists and community groups have taken that toolkit and organized their own nonviolent direct actions around the country. For as long as there is an RCMP presence and for as long as the government and Coastal GasLink try to gain access to Wet’suwet’en land without consent, we will continue to take nonviolent direct action and disrupt business as usual. The government says that they’re climate leaders, say that they’re about reconciliation. What we’re really seeing is inaction and hypocrisy on part of the government at the provincial and federal level.”

Nikki Sanchez, Pipil Maya Nation, lives in Victoria

“Ultimately, all of the education, even the PhD I’m doing right now (at the University of Victoria), has been towards equity and justice for all people. I’ve been involved in Indigenous grassroots solidarity movements since I was born. As an Indigenous person, it’s almost impossible not to have to engage with resistance movements. As a very small child, I was involved in the Clayoquot Sound protest, which was the largest civil disobedience in Canadian history. We lived on a blockade during that time.

In an era of so called reconciliation the fact that K9 units, tactical units and snipers are being brought into Wet’suwet’en territory is absolutely shameful and I feel enraged about the hypocrisy of our politicians. While they were being forcibly removed we could not stay home and complicit.”

Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, Gig’stan First Nation member and University of Victoria student

The heart of the issue is the way B.C. is criminalizing Indigenous sovereignty in a way that we haven’t really seen since the Potlatch ban. The band councils, they have jurisdiction over the reserves, which is not where the pipeline is going. They’re pushing through this project without the consent of the hereditary chiefs.

I’m from the nation just north of Wet’suwet’en. For someone like myself to see the relationship between B.C. and a traditional unceded government deteriorate to the point where B.C. won’t even talk is unacceptable. I was just compelled to go out.

Saskia Burdick, 19, of the Heiltsuk Nation, speaking in Vancouver

"We're here on Broadway and Cambie holding the road, holding the line, in solidarity with our Wet’suwet’sen family. ...What's happening in northern B.C. right now is an act of war against Indigenous people. ... The Canadian government can't just keep ... forcing industry through at the detriment of all life on this planet. It's not OK, and we won't stand for it.”

With files from Alex McKeen and Joanna Chiu

Read more about: