In this op-ed, 21-year-old Ocean Hyland, a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia, Canada, explains why she recently joined thousands of others in protest against an oil company.

My name is Ocean Hyland. My friends call me Shkwen, which is “Ocean” in the Squamish language. I also carry the ancestral name Ts’simtelot, which I share with my mother, Charlene Aleck, an elected councilor for the Indigenous Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia. My mother and I received this name from my late maternal grandfather, Joe Aleck, who is from the Stó:lō territory.

On Saturday, March 10, my Tsleil-Waututh family joined 10,000 people who were gathered for a resistance project we call “Kwekwecnewtxw: Protect the Inlet.” Kwekwecnewtxw means “a place to watch from” in a language of the Coast Salish peoples.

Together, we did something we hadn’t done in a very long time: build a watch house to guard against danger. Today, this danger is Kinder Morgan, a Texas-based oil company that wants to build an oil pipeline through Indigenous lands.

The tradition of putting up a watch house when our land and people are in danger has been an important practice of our people. Seeing the support of thousands for this project filled my heart with gratitude.

Kinder Morgan wants to build a new pipeline from the tar sands (vast oil fields) in central Canada — which contains bitumen, some of the Earth’s most dangerous oil — to the coast of British Columbia. The pipeline would increase the number of tankers in coastal waters seven-fold, carrying the oil through the Pacific Ocean to California and markets overseas. Spills are a near certainty, so we believe Kinder Morgan is risking too much to make a profit.

So, on March 10, I marched with my family, my community members, my friends, and people I didn’t know at all as the Elders led us up a mountain to build the watch house.

Together, Indigenous leaders from Canada and Standing Rock, as well as a diverse crowd of thousands, were all united in our knowledge that this sacred coast is beautiful and worth protecting. It was a truly inspiring moment.

Being raised Tsleil-Waututh, or “the people of the inlet,” I learned about how our people once numbered nearly 10,000 while living along what is now called the Burrard Inlet. But, Tsleil-Waututh was so damaged from colonization that at one point, from what I learned, our number dropped down to 13 people. With that great loss of community, we also lost immense amounts of Tsleil-Waututh identity. My family’s dialect is now extinct.

To raise a space like the watch house on unceded Coast Salish territory is a huge step toward reconciliation — to heal the land and heal our people. It is a great step toward reconnecting with our roots and culture.

Today, I’m continuing to reconnect with my roots, having nearly completed immersion studies in the Squamish language at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Each day I am immersed in my language, the stronger my connection to the land and my community grows.

The poem “Language,” written by my aunt, Lee Maracle, in the book Talking to the Diaspora, tells a powerful story about she becoming confused when confronted with the truth of the loss of her culture. When I read it, it reminds me of the power of our oral history — how we pass down our teachings in stories and legends. We rely on our community to hold each other up, following in our ancestors’ footprints, each of us carrying a role in the community.

The author, Ocean Hyland. Photo by Nancy Bleck.

In the days, weeks, and years ahead, I will carry on the sacred obligation to protect the water and land as a human on this Earth and a youth from this territory. Since the Watch House was erected, more than 30 Indigenous Land Defenders and supporters have been arrested blockading Kinder Morgan's construction site in solidarity. Actions like this are expected to continue throughout the week ahead, including today, which shines the spotlight on student and youth resistance. Follow the conversation at #ProtectTheInlet.

It’s not if, but when Kinder Morgan’s pipeline or tankers spill: just look at the Dakota Access Pipeline, which, in only six months of operation, has already spilled five times. It is up to us all to protect the sea and the land, and to speak on behalf of the creatures who share this Earth. Water is life. It connects, sustains, and keeps us alive everyday.

My call to action is that we all rise up and speak the truth for the land, for the water. Divest from big oil companies and start supporting communities leading the way toward green energy. They’re out there. If Indigenous peoples can start a solar revolution in the heart of the tar sands, we can do it anywhere.

Support your community and share your gifts with the world so we can create a sustainable life for generations to come.

Related: 6 Pipeline Projects You Need to Know About

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