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Troy Young is a Witset member whose family business holds a number of contracts with Coastal GasLink for clearing and roadbuilding. His grandmother was a hereditary house chief.

“People in Canada have the right to protest. This is a democracy. It is unfortunate that they are protesting with only half the story being told,” Young told Postmedia News.

“I don’t feel the elected councils are being given a fair voice in this matter. From discussions I have had, the elected chiefs recognize that employment can be a multi-generational gain for the family. People working on a pipeline can send their children to school to provide for better opportunities in the future. The elected chiefs want to break the bondage of poverty that exists within our communities.”

PNG

The Wet’suwet’en’s 22,000 square kilometre range is home to five clans, with 13 houses operating under those clans (some clans have three houses and some have two). Each house has a hereditary chief and wing chief.

As the controversy around the pipeline protests has deepened, divides among those Wet’suwet’en in favour and those against has deepened. According to a report in the Aboriginal news source APTN, a letter has been sent to those involved in the conflict calling for a rare all-clans meeting.

Andrew George — wing chief of the Grizzly house — told APTN “what currently is going on does not reflect the true governance of the Wet’suwet’en, on both sides. We are afraid something bad might happen.”

Coastal GasLink said it “will redouble efforts to engage with the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and with the Unist’ot’en in search of a peaceful, long term resolution that benefits the Wet’suwet’en people.”

Unist’ot’en is one of the three houses of the Gilseyhu or Bull Frog clan.

Wet’suwet’en First Nation bands contacted by Postmedia News said that they were preparing a joint press release on the renewal of pipeline work and would not comment at this time.

dcarrigg@postmedia.com