Tentative Agreement Reached to Ensure Safety of Wet’suwet’en Members on Their Territory
A tentative agreement was reached on January 9 between hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en and the RCMP as a measure to ensure the safety of Wet’suwet’en members on their unceded territory. Coastal GasLink, which seeks to build a pipeline on their territory, was invited by the chiefs to sit in on the discussion to ensure the company is on the same page.
The agreement came two days after the raid by RCMP officers to enforce a court injunction to dismantle the Gidimt’en checkpoint and give the company access. Chief Na’moks, speaking on behalf of the hereditary chiefs, was unequivocal that they will continue to fight the project and that the agreement is in no way a “consultation or accommodation of any sense.”
“We are still here and we’re upholding our rights, our title our law, our way,” he said at the press conference following the agreement. “We are the people here. We are not invading them. We are here to protect our land, our people, our culture.”
Under the agreement, Wet’suwet’en people are no longer constrained by an RCMP blockade. Coastal GasLink is given access to the territory through the Unist’ot’en checkpoint to conduct surveying.
No further charges are being sought against Wet’suwet’en people, and those who were charged for standing their ground during the January 7 RCMP raid are returning home. Their court dates are pending. They have the full support of the hereditary chiefs, Chief Na’moks said. “They are our people,” he said. “They did what they did on our behalf. We will stand with them.”
Each Wet’suwet’en clan is made up of a number of houses, also headed by hereditary chiefs. The house chiefs unanimously supported a decision to block Coastal GasLink from entering their territory, citing Article 10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. That article says Indigenous peoples must not be “forcibly removed” from their territories.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, warned that the matter is far from settled. It is neither “adequate nor substantial” for companies and governments to deal with the elected band councils and then turn around and say we have done our consultation work, he said.
Rick Gateman, President of Coastal GasLink, thanked the hereditary chiefs for their hospitality and the invitation to discuss ways to move forward. “I can say that our discussions were extremely respectful and extremely productive,” he told reporters. The company seeks to build a 675-kilometre pipeline to transport natural gas from Dawson Creek to Kitimat. The National Energy Board will shortly begin hearings that will go until at least March to determine if the pipeline falls under federal jurisdiction. If so, the board would have to hold environmental hearings.
(APTN, agencies)
