Support for
Wet'suwet'en People's Defence of Their
Hereditary Rights
End Colonial Injustice!
RCMP Out of Wet'suwet'en Territory
High School and university students in Vancouver
walk out of class January 27, 2020, in solidarity
with Wet'suwet'en land defenders.
Throughout British Columbia and beyond, workers
and youth have stepped up their actions in the
past week to demand that the federal and BC
governments recognize the right of the
Wet'suwet'en people to free, prior and informed
consent with regard to the building of the Coastal
GasLink pipeline on their territory.
Hundreds of high school and university students
walked out of classes in Vancouver on January 27,
rallied outside Vancouver City Hall and then
marched to the constituency office of BC
Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister
George Heyman. In Victoria on January 21,
Indigenous Youth for Wet'suwet'en Solidarity
occupied the office of the Ministry of Energy,
Mines and Petroleum Resources. The Minister
refused to meet with the youth, who were forcibly
removed from the office by police. Victoria City
Council, on January 24, passed a resolution in
which it "calls on the Governments of British
Columbia and Canada to suspend permits authorizing
construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and
commence good-faith consultation with the
Wet'suwet'en People." It also calls on "the
Governments of British Columbia and Canada to end
any attempt at forced removal of Wet'suwet'en
People from their traditional territories and
refrain from any use of coercive force against
Wet'suwet'en People seeking to prevent the
construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline
through non-violent methods." In large and small
communities throughout the province there have
been film screenings and discussions, pickets and
other actions.
Vancouver students picket constituency office of
Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister
George Heyman.
On February 3, the provincial cabinet is meeting
in the Comox Valley. An ad hoc group
called Unist'ot'en Support Brigade (USB), is
organizing a "welcome" at the location of the
dinner that will be attended by the premier and
government ministers, to demand that the BC
government meet with the hereditary chiefs, uphold
their responsibility to defend the Wet'suwet'en
people's right to free, prior and informed
consent, and withdraw the RCMP from Wet'suwet'en
territory.
Foremost in the demands being raised is an end
to the criminalization of the Wet'suwet'en Land
Defenders, which includes the removal of the RCMP
checkpoint and an end to the RCMP occupation of
Wet'suwet'en territory. The presence of the RCMP
and their arbitrary treatment of journalists,
lawyers, legal observers, members of the
Wet'suwet'en nation and others bringing food, and
medical and other supplies, as well as the
continuous aerial surveillance is meant to
intimidate and carries the constant threat of
escalating police violence.
On January 30, a press conference was held in
Vancouver to announce the filing of a complaint to
the RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission
to request that the Complaints Commission
chairperson "launch a chairperson-initiated
complaint and public interest investigation
regarding the improper and unlawful actions of the
RCMP in implementing and enforcing a checkpoint
and exclusion zone on Morice West Forest Service
Road in Wet'suwet'en territory." The press
conference was called by the BC Civil Liberties
Association (BCCLA), the Wet'suwet'en hereditary
chiefs and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, and
supported by West Coast Environmental Law, and
Pivot Legal Society. The director of the BCCLA,
Harsh Walia, was quoted by The Tyee, as
saying at the press conference: "The RCMP
checkpoint, which is at the 27-kilometre mark,
lies completely outside the scope of the
enforcement power granted to the RCMP by the
injunction," and "RCMP officers at the checkpoint
have cited a range of inconsistent and shifting
policies and procedures to those who are turned
away, all of which are arbitrary."
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip speaks at January 30,
2020 press conference.
At the press conference Grand Chief Stewart
Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian
Chiefs, bluntly stated "I would like to publicly
call on Premier John Horgan to get off his high
colonial horse and honour the Wet'suwet'en
hereditary chiefs with his personal presence." He
said, "The hereditary chiefs have been asking for
a face-to-face meeting with Premier Horgan and he
has absolutely refused." On January 27, Premier
Horgan appointed Nathan Cullen, formerly an NDP
Member of Parliament whose riding included the
Wet'suwet'en territory, as government liaison.
Cullen tweeted, "Today it was announced that I am
to help facilitate dialogue and act as a liaison
for the ongoing controversy surrounding the
proposed CGL gas pipeline through Wet'suwet'en
territory."
On January 30, the Office of the Wet'suwet'en
issued a media release saying, in part:
The Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs
have agreed to enter a discussion with the
Province of British Columbia, for a period of
seven days, in an effort to de-escalate the
ongoing conflict surrounding the Coastal Gas
Link project.
The discussion table will be known as
'Wiggus', the Wet'suwet'en word for respect. In
the landmark Supreme Court Decision of Delgamuukw
Gisday'wa Wiggus it was defined as
"respect for all living-beings, starting with
oneself.
Media reports indicate that the Premier
will not participate in those discussions and has
publicly declared what the outcome will be. The Prince George
Citizen, reporting on a January 29 news
conference given by the Premier in that city,
quoted him as saying of the discussions: "I don't
expect the leadership to say tomorrow that they
love the pipeline. That's not my expectation. But
there needs to be a legitimate understating that
the majority of the people in the region are going
to benefit for this, and that's what dialogue will
produce."
 
Youth picket RCMP detachment in Toronto,
January 24, 2020 and post a notice on the door
evicting them from Wet'suwet'en territory.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 2 - February 1, 2020
Article Link:
:
End Colonial Injustice! RCMP
Out of Wet'suwet'en Territory
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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