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Affirm Indigenous Rights -- Stand
with Wet'suwet'en
Governments Cannot Hide from Their Responsibility to Abandon Colonial Relations and Act with Respect for Indigenous Rights
- Barbara Biley -
Since the talks between the Wet'suwet'en
hereditary chiefs and others with Federal and
Provincial Ministers concluded on March 1,
discussions have been taking place within the
Wet'suwet'en nation on the tentative agreement.
The agreement does not address the presence of
Coastal GasLink on the traditional territory,
which does not have the consent of the hereditary
chiefs, nor the continued presence and unlawful
actions of the RCMP. The RCMP has repeatedly
threatened, harassed and intimidated Wet'suwet'en
land defenders, legal observers, press and
supporters of the land defenders, with two major
assaults, in January 2019 and February 6-10, when
at least 20 people were arrested.
 BC Premier Horgan
and other BC government spokespersons have
repeatedly disclaimed any responsibility for the
actions of the RCMP, implying that since the RCMP
is the provincial police force, their presence and
activities on Wet'suwet'en territory are somehow
"routine" and "normal," have nothing to do with
the political stand of the Horgan government that
"that pipeline is being built," and that no
direction was given to the police by the
government.
This claim that there was no political direction
to the RCMP was exposed as a blatant lie on March
6 when the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, the BC
Civil Liberties Association and the Union of BC
Indian Chiefs made public a letter sent on January
27 from BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor
General Mike Farnworth to RCMP Deputy Commissioner
Jennifer Strachan. In their press release the
three organizations state "In the letter,
Farnworth declared a "provincial emergency" under
the Provincial Police Service Agreement and
explicitly authorized the "internal redeployment
of resources within the Provincial Police
Service." Article 9 of the Provincial Police
Service Agreement stipulates that, if in the
opinion of the Provincial Minister an Emergency in
an area of provincial responsibility exists, then
the Provincial Police Service will be redeployed
at the written request of the Provincial Minister
and the Province will pay the costs of the
redeployment."
The hypocrisy of the governments of Canada and
British Columbia seems to be boundless. There was
much talk of 'respect' during the talks held
between February 27 and March 1 that gave rise to
the tentative agreement, but actions speak louder
than words. What is going on over the period of
time during which discussions are taking place
within the Wet'suwet'en nation shows the character
of the respect shown by representatives of Canada
and British Columbia towards the Wet'suwet'en and
the talks. Efforts are continuing to discredit the
hereditary leaders and to present the issue as one
of an internal dispute. Much media coverage has
been given to Wet'suwet'en supporters of the
Coastal GasLink Pipeline, particularly Teresa
Tait-Day who speaks on behalf of the Wet'suwet'en
Matrilineal Coalition (WMC). On March 10, at the
invitation of one of the parties which presented
her as an "Indigenous expert," Tait-Day addressed
the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern
Affairs in Ottawa where she said that "As female
Wet'suwet'en members and community leaders, we
want to be heard." Tait-Day said, "Many of the
male hereditary chiefs are acting out of
internalized historical oppression. We face
patriarchal domination."
On March 11, the Martlet, the student newspaper
at the University of Victoria, published an
article entitled "Wet'suwet'en Matriarchal
Coalition funded by B.C., Coastal GasLink to
'divide and conquer'." The Martlet
reports "The WMC is not, and was not ever, an
independent Indigenous body or governance
structure but rather a group founded with the BC
government and CGL to sway Wet'suwet'en public
opinion in favour of the pipeline, according to
documents obtained in a 2017 Freedom of
Information request.
In 2015, the WMC was incorporated as a
corporation, without consultation with the
Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. Documents obtained
from the BC government show the WMC was a joint
project between CGL, the Ministry of
Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation, and the
three founding members -- Gloria George, Darlene
Glaim, and Tait-Day.
In a resignation letter from Glaim, she says the
group was "formed with the intent to negotiate a
benefit agreement for Clan/House members with
[CGL]," and that in 2017 the hereditary chiefs
explicitly called the WMC a strategy used by the
government and CGL to disunite their people.
 The article further reveals that the
BC government and Coastal GasLink each donated
$60,000 to WMC to carry out workshops to present
the economic benefits of LNG, and that besides
promoting the pipeline there is "an agreement
between the government and WMC, stating their goal
to bring Wet'suwet'en people together to 'discuss
decision-making processes for economic development
opportunities, specifically natural gas
development as that was identified as a gap in the
decision-making process.'" In other words, to
undermine the authority of the hereditary chiefs
which has been an obstacle to the smooth progress
of the CGL pipeline.
The more the treachery of those in power is
revealed the more it is clear that the problem is
not one of supporting or opposing this or that
project, or confusion over who has authority over
what, but a matter of bringing into being new
arrangements in which Indigenous hereditary rights
are enshrined in a modern Constitution, a matter
of concern to all Canadians.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 8 - March 14, 2020
Article Link:
Affirm Indigenous Rights -- Stand
with Wet'suwet'en: Governments Cannot Hide from Their Responsibility to Abandon Colonial Relations and Act with Respect for Indigenous Rights - Barbara Biley
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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