Defend the Hereditary Rights of the Indigenous Peoples!
No Consent, No Pipeline!
On January 7, the RCMP broke down the barricades at a checkpoint on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory on the Morice River road arresting more than a dozen people. They were acting on an illegal BC Supreme Court injunction issued in December 2018. This outrageous RCMP action violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, violates Wet’suwet’en governance and law, and violates the Wet’suwet’en nation’s constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights under s. 35 of the Canadian Constitution. The hereditary Wet’suwet’en leadership has not consented to any oil or gas pipeline being built in their territory.
On January 5 the Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidumt’en Territory issued an International Call to Action for Gidimt’en Access Checkpoint. In it they called for a day of action on January 8 and stated:
“[January 4], members of the RCMP’s Aboriginal Police Liaison met with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and indicated that specially trained tactical forces will be deployed to forcibly remove Wet’suwet’en people from sovereign Wet’suwet’en territory. Police refused to provide any details of their operation to the Dini’ze and Tsake’ze (hereditary chiefs) including the number of officers moving in, the method of forcible removal, or the timing of deployment. By rejecting the requests for information by the Dini’ze and Tsake’ze the RCMP indicated that they intend to surprise and overwhelm the Wet’suwet’en people who are protecting their territories on the ground.
Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.” Any removal of Wet’suwet’en peoples by the RCMP, or any other authoritarian forces, will directly violate UNDRIP and the Trudeau government’s promise to implement UNDRIP. We are now preparing for a protracted struggle. The hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and the land defenders holding the front lines have no intention of allowing Wet’suwet’en sovereignty to be violated. In plain language, the threat made by RCMP to invade Wet’suwet’en territories is a violation of human rights, a siege, and an extension of the genocide that Wet’suwet’en have survived since contact.”…
“The Wet’suwet’en have laid out a path toward the implementation of UNDRIP, and the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent requirement of international law. Canada has chosen to ignore this path toward reconciliation. We call on all people of conscience to act in solidarity through an international day of action on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019.”
Join in the more than 50 events and solidarity actions happening January 8 across Turtle Island and around the world, from Smithers to Whitehorse to Italy.
For full event listings and additional events as they are announced:Facebook