Statement of Indigenous Youth Standing in Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en
 
Youth hold press conference on the steps of the BC Legislature,
February 26, 2020.
These are demands for Canada, for BC, for
Canadian
officials. We are Indigenous youth from nations across Canada
standing independently in solidarity with all five clans of the
Wet'suwet'en nation who have unanimously rejected the Coastal
GasLink (CGL) project. In standing with our Wet'suwet'en relatives we
will occupy Ministry offices, rail lines and legislative and
parliamentary precincts in order to hold all levels of the
Canadian government responsible for their perpetuation of
Canada's genocidal legacy. We are committed to holding Canadian
officials accountable. This means continually returning to the
spaces of governance and law until Canada abides by Wet'suwet'en
traditional governance and law. It is our inherent responsibility
as Indigenous youth to resist injustice and defend Wet'suwet'en
sovereignty. We recognize that the Wet'suwet'en upholding their
responsibilities to lands, waters and climate justice protects
our collective futures.
Indigenous youth stand in solidarity with all
Indigenous
peoples defending their lands across Canada, from Wet'suwet'en to
Tyendinaga. We resist the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and
Ontario Provincial Police violently criminalizing Indigenous
peoples for demanding a bare minimum of Canada. Through these
shameful arrests the world has witnessed the colonial façade
of
reconciliation come crashing down to expose the Canadian reality
of Indigenous genocide that has never been interrupted or
reconciled. Indigenous youth across the country declare that
reconciliation is dead. We condemn the coercive tactics employed
by CGL, the lack of meaningful dialogue from the Canadian state,
and the overall attempted erasure of Indigenous rights, title and
law.
The situation on Wet'suwet'en territory has
revealed the true
nature of Canada's predatory consultation practices. It has been
made clear that the Indigenous nations do not have the right to free,
prior and informed consent. The ongoing raid against the
Wet'suwet'en shows that saying NO results in a paramilitary
invasion. Good faith negotiations do not look like seizing
Indigenous lands at gunpoint while simultaneously denying
critical programs and services for our communities. Not only is
the RCMP raid of Wet'suwet'en territories a coercive force on
behalf of Coastal GasLink, but so is the systemic treatment of
Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Our communities should not be subject to predatory
consultation practices that exploit cycles of poverty that Canada
intentionally maintains, meanwhile generating immense wealth from
our territories since colonization. Boil water advisories, near
extermination of traditional foods like wild salmon, caribou and
buffalo, as well as underfunded social, health and education
programs accessed by regular Canadians are all coercive
conditions for negotiations with industry. This is the
inescapable economic component of ongoing colonization. There is
undue pressure for Indigenous nations to engage in impact benefit
agreements/mutual benefit agreements with environmentally
destructive projects. The economic oppression of colonization is
leveraged by corporate interests and supported by the government.
The impact benefit agreements negotiations are a corrupt process.
This is not equivalent to true consent.
Our human rights as Indigenous peoples are
inherent and cannot
be contingent upon a transaction and annihilation of our lands.
As Indigenous youth we will do everything in our power to protect
our future and Wet'suwet'en lands from destruction. It's time for
Canadian officials to do the same. If you do not stand with us
you are complicit in ongoing injustice. Our generation and all
future generations of our nations will remember those who took a
stand against genocide. We will also not forget those who were
complacent in ongoing colonial acts of violence.
We demand that the leadership of British Columbia
and Canada
enter into nation-to-nation discussions with the Wet'suwet'en
hereditary chiefs. In order for these discussions to take place
in good faith and without duress, the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police must be withdrawn from Wet'suwet'en territories. All
ongoing RCMP patrols and surveillance must also cease. The
removal of the Community Industry Safety Office will not satisfy
this requirement unless all RCMP activities are discontinued.
Coastal GasLink must cease activity and withdraw personnel from
Wet'suwet'en territories in accordance with the eviction [order] that
was
issued by Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs on January 4, 2020.
Canada must critically examine how the systemic treatment of
Indigenous peoples in Canada is a coercive factor in negotiations
with industry. There can be no free, prior and informed consent
while many Indigenous nations in Canada still have boil water
advisories. British Columbia must revoke all permits granted to
CGL, especially in light of the BC Environmental Assessment
Office's rejection of CGL's technical data report. British
Columbia must also cease its defamation and criminalization of
Indigenous leaders and governments. The inflammatory rhetoric of
the BC Premier only serves to incite hate and violence against
Indigenous peoples standing up for our inherent rights and
livelihoods. Canada must cease the criminalization of all
peaceful Indigenous solidarity actions and blockades that exist
because of Canada's failure to adhere to diplomacy and meet with
Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. Call off OPP from Tyendinaga
Mohawk territory. It is time for you to act upon your
responsibilities.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 6 - February 29, 2020
Article Link:
Statement of Indigenous Youth Standing in Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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