March 6 Rally at Smithers Courthouse
Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs Call Out BC Supreme Court Corruption Following Contempt of Court Ruling
8:30-10:00 am
Meet at parking lot beside Sunshine Inn, 3880 Fourth Ave. –
the Barracks of RCMP C-IRG.
Then walk to the BC Supreme Court, 3793 Alfred Ave.
Organized by: Gitxsan Huwilp Government
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Alarmed Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs will rally at the Smithers Court House March 6, 2024 to protest the ongoing corruption of industry-led BC Supreme Court injunctions that lean on illegal trespass by RCMP Community-Industry Response Group to enforce injunctions on Indigenous traditional territories, says Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Negotiator Gwiiyeehl.
This Gitxsan rally (the third of its kind) is in response to a February 21st BC Supreme Court ruling that traditional Wet’suwet’en trespass law cannot “coexist” with injunction orders handed down by the same court. The court decision also found Wing Chief Stachys, of the Likhts’amisyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation guilty of criminal contempt.
“Our Hereditary Gitxsan Huwilp Government (GHG) have been fighting the BC Supreme Court for three years. We contend the Court and RCMP C-IRG are in the pockets of corporate interests looking to benefit from traditional territory resources and using the only militarized wing of the RCMP in Canada to intimidate our people when we try to protect our Laxyip (lands) and Annat(waters),” Gwiiyeehl says.
After a plethora of civil complaints were revealed by media in 2023, RCMP C-IRG – which is funded by close to $100 Million in unaccounted-for monies over five years – are under review by the RCMP federal watchdog agency regarding their operational tactics during Indigenous blockades on traditional lands.
“Justice Michael Tammen used 30 years of Canada/BC inertia at the negotiating table to contend the law of trespass cannot coexist with the law of injunctions. The court failed in its role to reconcile the two, weaponizing the law of injunction to extinguish Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan wilaloo (way of life) and connection to the lands,” explains Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Moolaxan.
This following the historic 1997 Delgamuukw v. British Columbia – SCC Cases (lexum.com) that found the Province has no authority to extinguish the Gitxsan or Wet’suwet’en wilaloo and that the land issues must be addressed in negotiations rather than litigation,”
Moolaxan says. “The Gitxsan Huwilp Government position is clear. These are illegal injunction orders used by industry and the BC Supreme Court to enable RCMP C-IRG to eradicate our people – if we oppose, they will kill or jail us — but they will never erase us,” say Moolaxan.
The Gitxsan protest will take place at the Smithers Court House March 6, 2024, beginning at 8:30 am, in anticipation of the 9:00 am sentencing of Chief Dsta’hyl.
About the Gitxsan
The Gitxsan people made history and headlines in 1997 when, they sought the first comprehensive account of Aboriginal rights and title in Canadian the Delgamuukw court decision. The Gitxsan Nation covers 35,000 sq. km in Northwest BC; it is estimated that there are 18,000 people of Gitxsan heritage throughout the world.
Media Contact: Ruby Gill 778-888-0514 0r info@alliesinaction.ca
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