Canadian company TC Energy is trying to build a fracking pipeline on indigenous land. This pipeline is named Coastal Gaslink and it would pass from Dawson’s Creek to Kitimat through Wet’suwet’en territory. Wet’suwet’en territory does not belong to Canada. It was never formally ceded to Canada by any agreements with the Wet’suwet’en. The Canadian supreme court ruled in 1997 that the Wet’suwet’en still hold the title to the areas claimed by them. Canada is invading this territory for financial gain. Make no mistake, Canadian colonialism is alive and well.

RCMP raid Wet’suwet’en territory.

TC Energy and the Canadian government want it to look like there’s still some debate about whether this pipeline violates indigenous sovereignty. There is no debate. The five Wet’suwet’en clans have unanimously opted out of allowing pipeline construction on their territory and proposed an alternative route for TC energy. Only the Wet’suwet’en band council supports the pipeline. The band council was imposed by colonial settlers and has no jurisdiction over this territory. The hereditary chiefs who actually hold jurisdiction over the territory have all refused the pipeline. The pipeline is neither wanted by the Wet’suwet’en, nor is it permitted on Wet’suwet’en territory. The Wet’suwet’en have now given TC Energy an eviction notice ordering them to leave their territory.

But TC Energy and Canada don’t care about native sovereignty. Coastal Gaslink has seeked a court injunction to kick the Wet’suwet’en off their own territory and sue them for damages. On January 7, 2019 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) breached the Gidumt’en checkpoint setup by the Wet’suwet’en and arrested twelve people. The pipeline is still happening without the permission of the Wet’suwet’en and it’s clear whose side the Canadian government is on. The Canadian government is now illegally using armed RCMP officers to enter territory that does not belong to them and remove its rightful inhabitants. The RCMP again invaded Unist’ot’en alongside Coastal Gaslink workers on February 10th, arresting the matriarchs holding ceremony honoring the missing girls, women and two-spirit folks on a bridge leading to the proposed construction site. This ceremony was desecrated. The red coats honoring those missing were torn down in a display of supreme disrespect towards the indigenous people.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau promised to uphold indigenous peoples’ veto rights. He said “no would absolutely mean no” for the indigenous people. Trudeau’s promise was broken. The Canadian government is continuing the racist double standard of expecting the indigenous people to adhere to laws they themselves won’t adhere to. Trudeau speaks of “rule of law”. Why doesn’t he lead by example? Canada has two choices: continue invading a foreign territory for money, or acknowledge they have no right to use these territories and leave them.

The invasion of Wet’suwet’en territory is not an isolated incident. Canada regularly exploits, invades, and destroys indigenous land for profit. Canada IS a settler-colonial state. Not WAS, IS. Canada became the country it was BECAUSE it displaced and killed its natives. There is an epidemic of missing indigenous women and two-spirit folks in Canada that has been rightly called a genocide. Canada’s progressive veneer does not erase the suffering it has caused on the indigenous people.

At the center of the resistance on Wet’suwet’en territory lie the Unist’ot’en, the original tribe in the Wet’suwet’en territory. The pipeline would go through the Unist’ot’en healing lodge. The Unist’ot’en have been organizing checkpoints to keep TC Energy workers out of their camps and prevent the construction of the pipeline. The Wet’suwet’en’s efforts are spreading. Indigenous tribes throughout Canada have been organizing actions in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en. Railway and road blockades, office sit-ins on public officials. The effect on Canada’s politics and economy has become impossible to ignore. And these actions are working. The RCMP are offering to leave the Wet’suwet’en territory, politicians are trying to meet with hereditary chiefs to alleviate this crisis, and Canada’s Environmental Assessment Office has rejected TC energy’s technical data report on the pipeline, delaying the construction for months. These are small victories, but they are not enough. Canada must unequivocally respect indigenous territories and their sovereignty, this includes dropping charges against the people protecting their territory and removal of RCMP officers from Wet’suwet’en territory.

These concerns about the Canada shutdown should be about Canada’s actions that necessitate it. Canada continues to act with disrespect for indigenous people and indigenous land. The Coastal Gaslink pipeline is just one example of this. Wet’suwet’en at the Unist’ot’en camp are not simply protesting the pipeline. They are exercising their right to exist against colonialist oppressors. Canada has no right to impose its laws on the Wet’suwet’en tribes and subject them to environmental destruction.

We cannot experience the fear and hurt the Wet’suwet’en tribes experience, but we must share their anger, and their desire for change. If Canada cannot exist without exploitation, it should not exist at all.

Reconciliation is dead. Revolution lives.

Resources:

Statement by the Wet’suwet’en Chiefs January 30, 2020 Wet’suwet’en Territory

DONATE: UNIST’OT’EN | Heal the People, Heal the Land

INVASION – Documentary about Wet’suwet’en resistance

Your Questions about Wet’suwet’en Solidarity