We’ve recently learned the bad news that Coastal GasLink (CGL) got the green light to start pipeline work near the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre, the scene of a RCMP attack and arrests in February, although the company does not have the consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs who are overseeing and caring for the territory where the pipeline is planned to pass. In a construction update posted to Coastal GasLink’s website on August 6, the company says it has begun installing pipe at either end of the 670-kilometre pipeline route, in Kitimat and Groundbirch. The relentless capitalism and colonialism of CGL, the RCMP, the BC and federal governments are huge forces to oppose, especially during a pandemic. We need to put all our support behind the Wet’suwet’en nation – for justice, and for the true respect of Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
TAKE ACTION!
Share this petition again: https://www.change.org/p/bc-canadian-governments-stop-the-attack-on-the-wet-suwet-en-nation
Donate: https://unistoten.camp/support-us/donate/ + yintahaccess.com + likhtsamisyu.com
Take other online actions at tinyurl.com/ISOaction
Take other actions from the Unist’ot’en website: https://unistoten.camp/support-us/
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Follow Unist’ot’en at facebook.com/unistoten/ and on Twitter @UnistotenCamp; and follow Gidimt’en Access Point at facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong; on Twitter @Gidimten & on Instagram @gidimten_checkpoint
Watch this video on the Unist'ot'en Healing Centre: https://unistoten.camp/come-to-camp/healing/
Thank you!
Want more updates? Here you go:
- “Preliminary work” has been underway for months, with work camps of hundreds amidst a pandemic, putting countless of people’s lives and communities in danger. But even if preliminary work was allowed to start, CGL broke about 50 BC pipeline rules and was found many times to be in violations of conditions of its environmental assessment certificate, notably regarding work near a trapline, endangered whitebark pine and protected wetlands. CGL have ignored several orders to cease work following those violations. What makes the BC’s Environmental Assessment Office think that CGL will respect any mitigating factors they included in their most recent assessment regarding construciton near the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre?
- The Wet’suwet’en have reached an agreement to discuss title rights. Negotiations are ongoing. It’s a good step in the right direction of the recognition of Wet’suwet’en soverignty – HOWEVER whatever final agreement could be reached, it will not be applied retroactively to the CGL pipeline.
- In June, security cameras captured images of heavily armed RCMP officers approaching a smokehouse located on Gidimt’en territory on the path of the pipeline and within the Morice River Technical Boundary Area.
- Also, in June, Export Development Canada, a crown corporation, has committed to investing hundreds of millions of your tax-payer dollars into the CGL pipeline – going against Canada’s own climate goals.
Reminders:
- B.C. failed to consider the links between man camps and violence against Indigenous women, Wet’suwet’en argue. A formal request for judicial review submitted with the B.C. Supreme Court argues B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office extended permit for Coastal GasLink pipeline without considering the findings of the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
- Band councils were created from the 1876 Indian Act and designed to undermine and replace centuries of traditional governments across Canada. They were, and are extremely limited in their authority and entirely subject to officials in the federal government.
- The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) requires Canada to halt the CGL pipeline project and withdraw RCMP from the territory in order to avoid further violations of Wet’suwet’en, constitutional, and international law.
- The federal and BC governments must respect the principle of free, prior and informed consent for any projects affecting their land as stated in UNDRIP, which Canada has signed and BC has put into provincial law.
- PM Trudeau, the federal government, and the BC government must respect the rule of law, which includes: Indigenous law; Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution; the Supreme Court of Canada decisions; and the Canadian Charter of Right and Freedoms – which means they must respect Wet’suwet’en sovereignty and get the RCMP and CGL out of their territory now!
- Indigenous Solidarity Ottawa
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Sources:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/08/07/Coastal-GasLink-Green-Light/
Noncompliance Order Issued After Coastal GasLink Clears Pipeline Right of Way Through Hundreds of Wetlands Without Environmental Fieldwork: https://unistoten.camp/july62020/
Coastal GasLink Ordered to Cease Work on Unist’ot’en Trapline Due to Non-Compliance With Permits: https://unistoten.camp/coastal-gaslink-ordered-to-cease-work-on-unistoten-trapline-due-to-non-compliance-with-permits/
Agreement to discuss title does not address ongoing conflict with CGL – Gidimt’en Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong/posts/574641196815004
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/06/29/Security-Camera-RCMP-Wetsuweten-Site/
UN CERD: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/CAN/INT_CERD_EWU_CAN_9026_E.pdf
The Wet'suwet'en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law: An Explainer: https://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/index/articles/438.php