{"id":19643,"date":"2020-02-14T11:41:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=19643"},"modified":"2020-02-14T11:45:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:45:45","slug":"the-wetsuweten-fight-against-new-pipeline-spreads-across-canada-with-blockades-occupations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=19643","title":{"rendered":"The Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada with Blockades & Occupations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .<\/p>\n

A report from Democracy Now<\/a> (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. )<\/p>\n

A major anti-pipeline struggle continues in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land defenders whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was raided last week and over the weekend by Canadian police. Dozens were arrested in the days-long raid of unceded indigenous territories, where hereditary chiefs have been in a protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of TransCanada\u2019s 400-mile, $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. The raids took place about 700 miles north of Vancouver and sparked outrage across the country. In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a quick resolution to the protests on Wednesday. In New York, protesters on Wednesday gathered for a sit-in outside the United Nations headquarters in solidarity with Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land defenders.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nvideo of Democracy Now broadcast<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

For more, we go to Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en territory, where we\u2019re joined by land defender and matriarch Molly Wickham. Her clan, the Gidimt\u2019en Clan, was raided last week by 60 heavily militarized officers with assault rifles and dogs. And in Toronto, we\u2019re joined by Pamela Palmater, Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick. She is the chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0This is\u00a0Democracy Now!\u00a0I\u2019m Amy Goodman, as we go to a major anti-pipeline struggle in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land defenders, whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was brutally raided last week and over the weekend by Canadian police. Dozens were arrested in the days-long raid of unceded indigenous territories, where hereditary chiefs have been in a protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of TransCanada\u2019s 400-mile, $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. The raids took place about 700 miles north of Vancouver. This is a land defender confronting armed police officers last week.<\/p>\n

LAND\u00a0DEFENDER<\/strong>:\u00a0We are here for humanity, for life! We are unarmed! We are peaceful! You are killers! You are genocidal maniacs! You have your guns pointed at us!<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0The raids have sparked outrage across Canada and the world. In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a quick resolution to the protests on Wednesday. In fact, his offices were occupied.
\nWell, for more, we go to Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en territory, where we\u2019re joined by land defender, matriarch Molly Wickham. Her clan, the Gidimt\u2019en Clan, was raided last week by 60 heavily militarized officers with assault rifles and dogs. And in Toronto, we\u2019re joined by Pamela Palmater, Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, chair of the indigenous governance at Ryerson University.<\/p>\n

We welcome you both to\u00a0Democracy Now!\u00a0Molly Wickham, let\u2019s begin with you. You\u2019re right there at the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Nation. Can you talk about what is happening? Explain what the conflict is around this pipeline.<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0The conflict that has been going on around this pipeline has been going on for years. This isn\u2019t something new. Last year, on January 7th, we were also raided by heavily militarized\u00a0RCMP\u00a0with lethal overwatch and \u2014<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0And let me explain:\u00a0RCMP\u00a0is Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for the non-Canadian audience.<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0Oh, right, yes. And so, this is the second year in a row. And actually, the raid happened on the exact same location a year and a month after the raid that happened last year. And so this has been an ongoing battle. But it\u2019s also a bigger issue around indigenous rights and title and sovereignty of our nation. We have a hereditary system that\u2019s in place, that has never been extinguished. Our traditional governance system is in place, and this is a conflict between that governance system and colonization and the imposition of Indian Act ban systems, which were \u2014\u00a0came in through the Indian Act from the federal government and are being used against our own people to try and undermine our decision-making and our inherent right to make decisions and protect our territory.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Can you explain what happened during the most recent arrests of the matriarchs performing a ceremony for missing and murdered indigenous women? If you can talk about the wearing of the red dresses and exactly what happened? And were you arrested, as well?<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0So, what happened up at Unist\u2019ot\u2019en \u2014\u00a0they\u2019re our neighboring clan. We have five clans within the nation, and each clan is responsible for their territory. And so, they were doing a ceremony because they have a man camp that is built on their territory, which is supposed to house 400 men, 400 foreign workers that are coming from all different parts of so-called Canada and externally, and they\u2019re not from our community. And we have a huge rate of murdered and missing indigenous women, especially in the north here, where our territory lies. The highway that runs through our territory is called the \u201cHighway of Tears\u201d because of the number of murdered and missing indigenous women. And so, they have been bringing attention to that fact, that these man camps bring increased rates of violence, increased rates of murder against our women, increased rates of domestic abuse and violence and drug abuse and alcohol abuse in our communities. And that\u2019s what they were performing there. I was not at the Unist\u2019ot\u2019en Camp. I wasn\u2019t arrested. I was one of the ones that was arrested last year. And currently I\u2019m seven months pregnant and wasn\u2019t permitted to be out on our territory during the raids.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0And can you talk about who owns Coastal GasLink? What is this project?<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0This is a project owned by TC Energy. They changed their name after last year. And they \u2014<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0TC being TransCanada?<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0TransCanada, yeah. And so, they legally changed it to TC Energy. But this project has been ongoing for quite a while. They\u2019ve had different investors, mostly Shell, Shell Canada. And they just received investment, new investment, by AIMCo, just recently, and that\u2019s not quite finalized yet. But it\u2019s very \u2014\u00a0they\u2019re walking a tight line in terms of companies that want to invest in this project.\u00a0LNG\u00a0Canada is one of the biggest investments. And that\u2019s the terminal that is looking to transport and liquefy the natural gas, or the fracked gas. And that project hasn\u2019t gotten off the ground. And so, everybody talks about it as if it\u2019s a done deal, but the actual terminal itself has not been built in Kitimat.<\/p>\n

(Report continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n

Question for this article<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Indigenous peoples, Are they the true guardians of nature?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Report continued from left column)<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. I want to turn to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responding to the solidarity protests.<\/p>\n

PRIME\u00a0MINISTER\u00a0JUSTIN\u00a0TRUDEAU<\/strong>:\u00a0We recognize the important democratic right, and we will always defend it, of peaceful protest. This is an important part of our democracy in Canada. But we are also a country of the rule of law, and we need to make sure those laws are respected. That is why I will be \u2014 I am encouraging all parties to dialogue to resolve this as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0So, that\u2019s the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose own offices were occupied. Pamela Palmater is also with us, the Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, chair of indigenous governance at Ryerson University. Can you talk about the solidarity protests that are taking place across Canada, including directly in the prime minister\u2019s office?<\/p>\n

PAMELA\u00a0PALMATER<\/strong>:\u00a0Yeah. Well, there\u2019s lots \u2014<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0And respond to what he said.<\/p>\n

PAMELA\u00a0PALMATER<\/strong>:\u00a0Yeah, there\u2019s lots of solidarity protests. I mean, it\u2019s the Mohawk, the Haudenosaunee peoples shutting down rails. And there\u2019s lots of people. There was youth and others standing in solidarity at various legislatures, preventing access, occupying minister\u2019s offices, also shutting down ports. There are people shutting down bridges, shutting down highways. Because this is a repeat offense. And you can\u2019t attack indigenous peoples in a worse way than sending in the Royal Canadian military \u2014 Royal Canadian \u2014<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Mounted Police.<\/p>\n

PAMELA\u00a0PALMATER<\/strong>:\u00a0RCMP, yeah, Mounted Police. I can\u2019t get away from the militarized version of them. And how they\u2019re always so heavily armed, how we found out that they were authorized for, quote-unquote, \u201clethal overwatch,\u201d to use as much violence as possible against the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en people to literally remove them from their homes, outside of Canada\u2019s Constitution, in breach of Canada\u2019s so-called rule of law, in breach of Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en law, in breach of international law. And so, indigenous peoples all across the country feel this, because this has happened in Oka, this has happened in Mi\ua78ckmaq territory with Elsipogtog. You know, it\u2019s happened in Standing Rock. It\u2019s happened all over Turtle Island. And so, when the\u00a0RCMP\u00a0attack the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en, they also attack us. So we raised in solidarity. And it\u2019s often categorized as an anti-pipeline protest, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s accurate. It is for some, but for most of us it\u2019s about protecting our indigenous sovereignty and our land rights, which are the two issues that have never been resolved, and they\u2019re always trumped, they\u2019re always breached, despite how many court cases or how many international protections we have.<\/p>\n

And for me, I find it really upsetting that the prime minister, who is not even in Canada, who is actually traveling the world trying to campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, you know, in order to maintain peace and security worldwide, can\u2019t do that or follow the rule of law here in Canada. And as you know, the\u00a0RCMP\u00a0denied media access to record what was happening, to be able to report on what was happening, removed media people, arrested some of the media. So, they\u2019re reaching their own Constitution, their own Charter of Rights, yet they espouse the rule of law. And to my mind, what he\u2019s really talking about is the law of rulers. They pick and choose which laws suit their economic and political purposes, while at the same time continuing to commit genocide against indigenous peoples, because we know from the national inquiry one of the ways to commit genocide against indigenous peoples is to forcibly remove them from their lands, which is something that is completely prohibited under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is now supposed to be law in B.C.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Can you explain how the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en system of governance, how it has affected how hereditary chiefs have tried to engage with the governments of Canada and British Columbia on this pipeline issue? Pamela Palmater?<\/p>\n

PAMELA\u00a0PALMATER<\/strong>:\u00a0Is that a question for Molly? Oh, sorry. Well, I don\u2019t speak for the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en, but what I know from talking to Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en peoples, like Molly and other hereditary leaders, is that, you know, this isn\u2019t new. This is something that \u2014<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Well, let me put that question to Molly Wickham. Molly, if you can explain how the hereditary chiefs work and how that has affected their communication with both Canada and British Columbia and the company?<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0So, we have 13 house chiefs. We have five clans. And our house chiefs are the speakers on behalf of the clans collectively. We\u2019ve maintained this system. Our laws are solidified and ratified in our feast hall, in our potlatch, which was banned by the federal government. And so, this is the way that we have always governed ourselves. This is the way that we are moving forward with this movement, is that it\u2019s our traditional leadership and our hereditary system that are making the \u2014\u00a0speaking on behalf of our decision-makers, which are our clans and our chiefs.<\/p>\n

And so, the company has actively undermined \u2014 the federal government and the provincial government have actively undermined our system of governance by going to elected band councils, which were imposed by the Indian Act and the federal government. And so, we are asserting ourselves, as we always have. We\u2019ve never been \u2014 you know, we\u2019ve always been on our territories. We\u2019ve always occupied our territories. We\u2019ve always used this system of governance and collective decision-making to say and discuss what is and what is not allowed on our territory. And we have very strong trespass laws. And Coastal GasLink, TC Energy, the province and the federal government are providing false authority and false permission, unauthorized permission, on lands that we hold full jurisdiction to, to make decisions on.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN:<\/strong>\u00a0To settle this, can you pronounce, Molly Wickham, \u201cWet\u2019suwet\u2019en\u201d? Can you pronounce your nation?<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0Yes. We are the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Nation, and I belong to the Gidimt\u2019en Clan. It\u2019s one of the five clans of the nation.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0And are the raids over? And what is happening with the actual pipeline being built? And what are you demanding of the Canadian government?<\/p>\n

MOLLY\u00a0WICKHAM<\/strong>:\u00a0We had three raids on Gidimt\u2019en territory alone over the course of five days, and it resulted in 21 arrests of our camps, of our territory, 15 of which are moving forward with charges against our land defenders, heavily militarized police force coming in and removing everybody from the territory. And so, they were not successful in removing our entire camp at Gidimt\u2019en at 44 kilometer, where the raid happened last year, so we still have people that are there. We have people that are moving back in. The tactical teams have left the area, but there\u2019s still a huge\u00a0RCMP\u00a0presence and police presence on our territory. The chiefs have \u2014 they served an eviction notice on February 4th \u2014 or, January 4th to all Coastal GasLink employees on 22,000 square kilometers of our territory. And that eviction notice still stands. And that eviction notice will continue to be enforced by the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en according to Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en law.<\/p>\n

AMY\u00a0GOODMAN<\/strong>:\u00a0Molly Wickham, I want to thank you so much for being with us, land defender, chief, matriarch of the Gidimt\u2019en Clan of Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Nation. And Pamela Palmater, Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer, member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, thank you so much for joining us, as we continue to cover that struggle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . . A report from Democracy Now (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. ) A major anti-pipeline struggle continues in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land defenders whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was raided last … Continue reading The Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada with Blockades & Occupations<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,10],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-19643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-north-america","category-sustainable","tag-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}