Canada Must Respect the Right of Indigenous Nations and Peoples to Sovereignty and Self-Determination
The decision of a British Columbia Supreme Court
hearing in Prince George on December 31, 2019, concerning the
decades-long struggle of the Wet'suwet'en Nation to affirm their
hereditary rights once again underscores that the problem lies in the
refusal of the Canadian state to recognize Indigenous sovereignty and
nation-to-nation relations.
The plaintiff in this case, Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. (CGL), was
seeking another court injunction to prevent any obstruction to the
building of the CGL pipeline through the unceded territory of the
Wet'suwet'en. The company claimed that it had met all the regulations
and requirements and furthermore, had secured the agreements from 20
different first nations along the planned route of the pipeline, so
everything is "legit."
The defendants, according to the court documents, are Freda Huson,
Warner Naziel, John Doe, Jane Doe and "all other persons unknown to the
plaintiff occupying, obstructing, blocking, physically impeding or
delaying access at or in the vicinity of the area in and around the
Morice River Bridge or the area accessed by the Morice West Forest
Service Road."
 Among other
things in her judgment in favour of the plaintiff, Justice Marguerite
Church wrote: "The Indigenous legal perspective in this case is further
complicated by the fact that the Wet'suwet'en people have both
hereditary and Indian Act band council governance
systems and there is dispute over the extent of the jurisdictions of
each of those governance systems."
By introducing the notion that there are two governance systems and
that there is a "dispute" and writing further "...there is considerable
disagreement among members of the Wet'suwet'en nation with respect to
the Pipeline Project and there are many in the community who support
the Pipeline Project and are of the view that it will have substantial
benefits to the Wet'suwet'en nation as a whole," Justice Church betrays
the colonial outlook of the Canadian state and its court system in the
service of private interests. In fact, there is only one legitimate
governing system for Indigenous peoples and that is the one which they
determine for themselves as sovereign peoples. The entire band council
system was imposed at the point of a gun through the Indian
Act by the Canadian colonial state in order to establish
control and dictate over the Indigenous nations and steal their lands
and resources.[1]
From the get-go Indigenous peoples resisted the imposition of the band
council system which has been the direct cause of their displacement
and impoverishment. Furthermore, in the case of British Columbia, the
vast majority of the lands were never subject to treaties. The band
council's jurisdiction only extends to Indian Act lands,
not the traditional lands. The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs' quarrel
is not with the Wet'suwet'en band council. Their quarrel is with the
illegal and criminal actions of the Canadian state and with Coastal
Gaslink.
What is also important is that throughout this period it is the
Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who have upheld the rule of law and
fought for the interests of their people by asserting their laws and
authority. In this they have the support of the Canadian people who
have stepped up their support for the legitimate stands and claims of
the Wet'suwet'en and Indigenous peoples of Canada, and are taking up
their social responsibility to work with the Indigenous peoples to find
solutions to their common problems stemming from a Canadian state which
does not represent their interests.
Actions took place across Canada under the banner "All Eyes on
Wet'suwet'en" earlier this month marking the first anniversary of the
blockade at Unist'ot'en, to serve notice to the state and its police,
and to tell the whole world that the Canadian and Quebec people are
standing by the Wet'suwet'en and their hereditary chiefs.
Turning the legitimate concerns and demands of the Wet'suwet'en people
into law and order matters is unacceptable. The decision of the BC
Supreme Court shows that the courts and governments are not interested
in finding a just solution to the problems but are instead intent on
imposing their dictate. It is the Wet'suwet'en and their hereditary
chiefs who have attempted to affirm their claims through diplomacy
within the framework that their sovereignty and territorial rights are
non-negotiable. There can be no access to their lands without their
free, prior and informed consent.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 1 - January 25, 2020
Article Link:
Canada Must Respect the Right of Indigenous Nations and Peoples to Sovereignty And Self-Determination
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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