Uphold Indigenous Hereditary
Rights -- Stand with Wet'suwet'en
Federal Government Cannot Escape Its Responsibility to Indigenous Peoples
- Barbara Biley -
Indigenous Youth for Wet'suwet'en set up
ceremonial space on the BC legislature lawn,
March 4, 2020 and call on the premier and BC
government to be accountable and come out
and meet with them. (T. Coste)
There is much speculation about the contents of
an agreement reached between representatives of
the federal and provincial governments and
Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and others when
they met in Smithers in northern BC, from February
27 to March 1. Former NDP MP Nathan Cullen was
hired by the BC government to facilitate the
talks. Reports indicate that the meetings resulted
in an arrangement between the Wet'suwet'en and the
federal and provincial governments with regard to
the recognition of hereditary rights and title.
The Wet'suwet'en will not release details of the
agreement pending discussion within the
Wet'suwet'en nation, which is to take place soon.
Reports indicate that the agreement did not deal
with the outstanding issue of the Coastal GasLink
Pipeline, which does not have the consent of the
hereditary chiefs for construction and operation
on the territory for which they are responsible.
Since early January, the hereditary chiefs had
been asking Prime Minister Trudeau and BC Premier
Horgan to meet with them, as equals, on the basis
of nation-to-nation relations, a request which has
been repeatedly denied by the prime minister and
the premier. One of the youth who spoke at a press
conference at the BC Legislature on February 26
nailed the explanation. She said "There's a reason
why John Horgan and Trudeau won't meet with these
chiefs, because as soon as they meet with these
chiefs they affirm that they are the leaders and
the rightful owners of their own territories. We
all know that economically it doesn't make sense
for Trudeau and Horgan to not meet with these
chiefs and so we have to ask ourselves 'Why is
that?' And the root of this issue is that they
don't want to give our people the recognition that
we own our own territories, because every other
project that they are going to try to push through
our lands, we'll be able to say no to."
Trudeau, with solidarity actions and disruption
across the country continuing, keeps insisting
that his government wants a "peaceful and lasting
solution," but fails to recognize the root cause
of the problem which he claims to want to solve.
When asked in the House of Commons on February 26
by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh whether he would
commit to meet with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary
chiefs, Trudeau put the blame for the current
situation on the Wet'suwet'en. He said, "I
explained that there were many voices within the
Wet'suwet'en community: some hereditary chiefs,
some elected chiefs and some leaders within the
community as well. The work they need to do,
without outside interference, to determine their
path forward would be interfered with by a prime
minister sitting down with one group too quickly.
I am of course open to engaging constructively,
but in the right way."
Trudeau's suggestion that the problems exist
because the Wet'suwet'en are divided and they need
to get their own act together, ignores the
crucial issue that the federal government created
a so-called third level of elected government to
keep the decision-making power out of the hands of
the people. Those it calls elected representatives
represent the Crown, not the people. Their role is
to make sure the people put up and shut up and it
is all done in the name of democracy. As for
business leaders and leaders of other special
interests, nobody ever chose them to be
spokespersons for the people. The two systems of
governance -- the hereditary law on the unceded
territory and the elected band councils imposed by
the Indian Act
on reserves -- are not compatible because the
former is not recognized and the latter is an
integral part of the dispossession of the
Indigenous peoples, which needs to be scrapped
altogether because it is part of the colonial
legacy.
As for differences of opinion, they exist
throughout Canadian society on issues related to
resource development and how to maintain and
humanize the natural and social environment. So
long as governments at different levels will not
permit discussion to take place in such a manner
that the people can explore their options from
their perspective and by establishing their
reference points, these differences cannot be
sorted out and the people are set at loggerheads
even though they all want the same thing --
livelihoods, sustainable development, a healthy
natural and social environment. Instead of
actually permitting discussion and permitting the
people to formulate warranted conclusions, the
government of British Columbia is pushing through
the Coastal GasLink pipeline in spite of the fact
that the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have not
consented to the pipeline route through the
territory for which they are responsible. The
provincial government has issued the permits for
Coastal GasLink in spite of the company not having
that consent. It has enforced that decision by
means of a militarized RCMP occupying force which
unlawfully harasses and interferes with the people
who live and work on the territory and have twice
violently assaulted and removed Wet'suwet'en
people from their own land. It is the height of
arrogance to suggest that "the problem" is
"divisions within the Wet'suwet'en" and that
Trudeau, as the leader of the Canadian government,
is helping the situation by "not sitting down with
one group too quickly."
When Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Horgan
speak of reconciliation they mean that Indigenous
peoples should reconcile themselves to the
unfettered access to their land by the resource
companies with the federal and provincial
governments as their agents and the RCMP as the
enforcer. As long as this is the outlook that they
bring to the table, the fundamental issues will
not be addressed and the fight of Indigenous
peoples to affirm their rights will persist.
The agreement reached in Smithers has kindled
hope that the federal government and the province
have recognized the hereditary rights of the
Wet'suwet'en, 23 years after the Supreme Court
decision in Delgamuukw, which called on
the provinces and the federal government to reach
a political settlement on the historical denial of
the hereditary rights of Indigenous peoples.
Whether or not the agreement reached in Smithers
will be endorsed by the Wet'suwet'en, the problem
remains of the immediate issue of the Coastal
GasLink Pipeline. Work had been suspended by
Coastal GasLink while the talks were taking place
but restarted on March 2 although the hereditary
chiefs and the land defenders at the Unist'ot'en
Camp continue to declare their opposition. The
RCMP, which stood down during the talks, has also
recommenced patrols on Wet'suwet'en territory.
The rail blockades in Ontario and Quebec came
down in the last week but actions in support of
Wet'suwet'en claims, including student walkouts
across the country on March 4, continue. In one
action hundreds of students joined the Indigenous
youth who have occupied the steps of the BC
Legislature to show their support for the just
stand of the Wet'suwet'en land defenders.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 7 - March 7, 2020
Article Link:
Uphold Indigenous Hereditary
Rights -- Stand with Wet'suwet'en: Federal Government Cannot Escape Its Responsibility to Indigenous Peoples - Barbara Biley
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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