Updated on August 16, 2020
THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER!
- The RCMP and CGL are still on Wet’suwet’en territory without the nation’s consent
- The new agreement to talk with the BC and federal governments will not stop the pipeline
- CGL is still working despite having been served a “cease and remedy” order from BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) for clearing the way for the pipeline through hundreds of wetlands without environmental fieldwork, and
- NEW The EOA has granted Coastal GasLink permission to begin pipeline construction near the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre, the scene of the RCMP attack and arrests in February, despite CGL’s repeated violations of its environmental assessment certificate. CGL has announced it will start building the pipeline from both ends at the beginning of August.
TAKE ACTION NOW BELOW!
(If you need more info before taking action, please scroll down to the Background section)
For all updates from the frontline:
NEW Sign up for the Unist’ot’en newsletter!
Follow Unist’ot’en at facebook.com/unistoten/ and on Twitter @UnistotenCamp
Gidimt’en Access Point at facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong; on Twitter @Gidimten & on Instagram @gidimten_checkpoint
TAKE ACTION
1. Sign and share petitions:
Let’s get our petition to 150,000 signatures!!
+ Tell PM Trudeau and Cabinet: Don’t bail out big oil, protect workers instead
+ No public money for the Coastal GasLink pipeline!
+ Tell Justin Trudeau to Invest in People, Not Big Oil
+ Tell KKR: Don’t invest in the Coastal GasLink pipeline and respect Indigenous rights now!
+ AIMCo is one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, and they could be purchasing 65% of the CGL pipeline despite their own “climate goals.”
🌿Email AIMCo today with this messaging tool: https://bit.ly/messageaimco
🌿Sign your name to the petition calling for AIMCo to divest from CGL: https://bit.ly/2TtixY7
Click here for more info and actions (call, Twitter).
2. Send an email to the prime minister (x2); the BC premier (x2); the BC RCMP; the BC ministers of public safety, Indigenous relations and reconciliation, Energy, mines and petroleum, Forests, lands & MLA on Wet’suwet’en territory, Environment and Climate Change Strategy; the BC Attorney General; the federal ministers of health, public safety, Northern affairs, crown-Indigenous relations, natural resources, environment and climate change, justice, Indigenous services; and to your MP:
pm@pm.gc.ca; justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca; premier@gov.bc.ca; john.horgan.mla@leg.bc.ca; bcrcmp@rcmp-grc.gc.ca; PSSG.Minister@gov.bc.ca; IRR.Minister@gov.bc.ca; EMPR.Minister@gov.bc.ca; FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca; ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca; AG.Minister@gov.bc.ca; omc-bcm@hc-sc.gc.ca; Patty.Hajdu@parl.gc.ca; phac.covid19.aspc@canada.ca; Bill.Blair@parl.gc.ca; Dan.Vandal@parl.gc.ca; carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca; Seamus.ORegan@parl.gc.ca; Jonathan.Wilkinson@parl.gc.ca; David.Lametti@parl.gc.ca; Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca; indigsol@riseup.net and find your MP’s email address (and phone number) at https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en
Email template – Feel free to use and modify it:
UPDATED Subject: 88,300+ people urge you to get RCMP and CGL off stolen land!
Hello,
I’m writing you today to urge you to do the following:
- Get RCMP and CGL off Wet’suwet’en territory.
- Stop supporting corporations who are stealing resources and condemning our children to a world rendered uninhabitable by climate change. The federal government must not bailout of the oil and gas sector.
When those urgent asks are fulfilled, do the following:
- BC Public Safety minister Mike Farnworth must resign for lying repeatedly about the province lacking jurisdiction or authority over RCMP actions in Wet’suwet’en territories after authorizing additional RCMP resources and redeployment.
- All charges must be dropped against the more than 50 arrestees who were acting in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en all across “Canada”.
Don’t think you should be doing this? Here are the reasons why you should:
- 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. Canada should respect this decision, especially as it is wanting a seat back on the UN Security Council.
- The BCEAO has served a “cease and remedy” order after CGL cleared the pipeline’s way through hundreds of wetlands without environmental fieldwork. CGL also broke BC regulations more than 50 times. It has continued working anyway – it cannot be trusted to respect its latest assessment regarding construction near the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre.
- 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. [For more details, read The Wet’suwet’en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law: An Explainer]
More than 88,300 people have signed this petition asking for the same things as me: https://www.change.org/p/bc-canadian-governments-stop-the-attack-on-the-wet-suwet-en-nation
Time for you to act!
[Your name]
[Your country]
[Your postal code if living in Canada]
3. Call the prime minister’s office and leave a message at 613-992-4211 (Parliamentary office) and/or at 514-277-6020 (Montreal constituency office), and call the BC Premier, John Horgan, at 250-387-1715 (Parliamentary office) and/or at 250-391-2801 (Victoria constituency office).
+ Call BC Ministers to revoke Coastal GasLink permits
+ Use this click to call tool to call you MP!
+ Call BC government ministers!
4. Donate to the Unist’ot’en camp, the Gidimt’en Access Point, and the Likhts’amisyu camp
Donate specifically to the criminalized land defenders fund and to support the Wet’suwet’en new legal challenge
Donate to individual supporters from the frontlines and who were at the BC legislature + Donate to the legal fund for the Toronto rail blockaders
5. Send messages to CGL and investors
Send a message to Coastal GasLink demanding they respect the Wet’suwet’en eviction order.
Contact KKR, an NYC private equity firm, to tell them not to invest in the CGL pipeline
- Email KKR today by using an easy messaging tool.
- Call KKR at 1-888-593-5407
- Tweet at @KKR_Co. Get some sample tweets and talking points in this Facebook event’s description.
Contact CIBC, BMO and JPMorgan Chase to demand that they divest from the CGL pipeline. Share these Instagram posts & find all contact info and talking points here
6. Share on all social media and invite friends to take action: tag the PM, the BC premier, the Public Safety minister, the Health minister, Dr. Theresa Tam, the RCMP, the RCMP commissioner, the BC RCMP, the BC RCMP Deputy Commissioner, CGL, and your MP:
@JustinTrudeau @CanadianPM @jjhorgan @Safety_Canada @BillBlair @PattyHajdu @CPHO_Canada @rcmpgrcpolice @CommrRCMPGRC @BCRCMP @RCMP_GRC_EDIVCO @CoastalGasLink
#unistoten #wetsuweten #wetsuwetenstrong #UNDRIP #alleyesonwetsuweten #cdnpoli #bcpoli #RCMP
Follow Unist’ot’en on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/unistoten/
Twitter: @UnistotenCamp
And Gidimt’en Access Point social media:
https://www.facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong/
Twitter: @Gidimten
https://www.instagram.com/gidimten_checkpoint/
Subscribe to the Unist’ot’en newsletter
7. Organize your own online actions
Do a virtual art build, organize virtual Facebook watch parties with videos from the Unist’ot’en and Gidimt’en Facebook pages, take a selfie (or a photo of your cat, dog, fish, plant, etc.) with a sign saying “RCMP & CGL off Wet’suwet’en land!” and post on social media calling your friends to do the same. Add a link to this action page for people to take more online actions: tinyurl.com/ISOaction
Get creative at home with this amazing Wet’suwet’en solidarity art kit shared by Christi Belcourt!
If you have more ideas and have organized cool online actions, send them our way at indigsol@riseup.net or via our social media so we can inspire others.
Check out the Wet’suwet’en Supporter Kit 2020 and the Gidimt’en website for more action ideas!
8. Share our handouts on social media and via email
ISO has put together a handout (shown in the pictures below) for Wet’suwet’en solidarity. Feel free to use it in creative ways!
It explains the situation and includes a short link that leads to this webpage for people to take action.
Handout folder – includes PDF for printing, DOC of just the text, JPG files of world/eye graphic, and printing instructions.
BACKGROUND
JANUARY 2020
Unceded and sovereign Wet’suwet’en land is under attack.
On December 31, 2019, BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church granted an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en nation who have been stewarding and protecting their traditional territories from the destruction of multiple pipelines, including Coastal GasLink’s (CGL) liquified natural gas (LNG) pipeline.
Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected Church’s decision, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of CGL’s workers from the territory. The last CGL contractor was escorted out by Wet’suwet’en Chiefs on Saturday, January 4, 2020.
January 7, 2020, also marked one year since the RCMP violently raided the Wet’suwet’en territories and criminalized the nation for upholding their responsibilities towards their land. We also learned recently, through reporting by The Guardian quoting official documents, that RCMP commanders instructed officers, for the January 7, 2019 attack, to “use as much violence toward the gate as you want” and said that “lethal overwatch” – which describes the deployment of an officer who is prepared to use lethal force (including snipers) – was required.
On January 13, 2020, the RCMP set up an “Exclusion Zone” at 27 km of the camp’s only access road to control the flow of food, supplies, supporters and media, in violation of Wet’suwet’en sovereignty (and mobility rights and press freedom in Canadian law).
On January 20, 2020, the RCMP – after lying about it (who is surprised?) – finally admitted they are monitoring the camp by air.
THE RCMP ATTACKED AGAIN ON FEB 6, 2020
After much worries and many efforts to prevent a second raid on Wet’suwet’en camps and land defenders, the RCMP started its attack on February 6, 2020. Here is a summary of the events of the raid:
– Thursday Feb 6: RCMP launched a morning raid on the first Wet’suwet’en camp at Kilometre 39. 6 were arrested. Footage can been seen here.
– Friday: Armed officers moved on to Gidimt’en Camp (Kilometre 44) and arrested 4 more land defenders. They also extended the exclusion zone. Video can be seen here . The Canadian Association of Journalists spoke out against police interference with journalists and media on site. Video: RCMP terrorizes land defenders at Gidimt’en Access Point
– Saturday: RCMP arrested 11 more land defenders at Kilometre 27. Two helicopters brought officers to the Unist’ot’en healing centre around 11 a.m. Unist’ot’en chiefs and house members hold a cremation ceremony for Canadian/Indigenous reconciliation; RCMP leave after a half hour.
– Sunday: bulldozers and RCMP arrive at the bridge to Unist’ot’en as ceremony is taking place. The BCCLA and UBCIC have updated their complaint against the RCMP.
– Monday Feb 10: the RCMP moved on the Unist’ot’en camp, and arrested 3 Unist’ot’en Matriarchs while they were holding ceremony to call on ancestors and to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two spirit people (MMIWG). The RCMP also arrested 4 land defenders, and took down the red dresses hung during ceremony to remember the spirits of MMIWG. Video: Reconciliation is Dead: Unist’ot’en Women Arrested in Ceremony
There has also been amazing organizing all over Canada and beyond: rallies, occupation of offices, and blockading of ports and trains in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation. And they are still happening – check out this link to join one of them!
MARCH 2020
The BC and federal governments, and billionaire oil and gas CEOs see the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to push through whatever they can when the world is looking the other way. We must remind them that we are still watching!
The mainstream media has done a bad job of covering what is actually happening and has given a false impression that everything is fine now. Here are the simple facts:
1. The proposal between the Wet’suwet’en and the federal government has to do with Aboriginal title – NOT the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline.
2. The Wet’suwet’en still oppose all pipelines and still don’t want the RCMP and its guns on their unceded territory.
3. As people around the world are taking measures to keep their communities safe from COVID-19, CGL and the RCMP continue to bring in workers from all over Canada during a pandemic putting hundreds of workers, their families, and entire local communities with limited medical staff at grave risk. At the same time, Canada is preparing to give billions in bailouts to the oil and gas industry as the crash in oil prices has made much of their production unprofitable.
4. Pipelines are stockpiled, while RCMP escort workers through Unist’ot’en, Gidimt’en and Likhts’amisyu territory to clear the pipeline right of way, without the Wet’suwet’en’s consent. Likhts’amisyu clan Chief Dtsa H’yl shows us images of the huge amount of pipeline pieces brought in:
“We’re not resting, we’re not giving up, we’re not standing down, we’re not asking other people to stand down. This is the time to keep pushing. This is the time to realize our hopes and dreams of liberation.” – Tsake’ze Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham) from the Gidimt’en clan
APRIL & MAY 2020
265 academics to Trudeau: No bail out for oil and gas in response to COVID-19
Coastal GasLink pipeline construction continues during pandemic — and so does resistance
GOOD NEWS – BUT WE MUST KEEP FIGHTING!
The Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with B.C. and Canada that sets the path for negotiations on legal recognition of their title to 22,000 sq km of traditional territory.
Effective immediately, the MOU commits Canada and B.C. to recognize that rights and Aboriginal title are held by house groups within the Wet’suwet’en Nation, under their system of governance.
Aboriginal title means:
1) Use and Occupation of the Yintah (territory/land)
2) Right to decide on the uses of the Yintah subject to constraint to protect future generations.
The agreement doesn’t have any impact on the CGL pipeline that is currently under construction and which led to the MOU discussions in the first place. Wet’suwet’en leaders are proceeding with legal action against CGL and fundraising is still ongoing.
We must then continue to fight against CGL – whose workers are putting people’s lives at risks! No means no! Please take action above now!
JUNE & JULY 2020
CGL and the RCMP continue to harass the Wet’suwet’en people and to destroy the land
Canada is undermining its own climate goals by supporting pipelines through investments of hundreds of millions from Export Development Canada
Security Camera Captures Heavily Armed RCMP at Wet’suwet’en Cultural Site
AUGUST 2020
Coastal GasLink Gets Green Light to Start Pipeline Work Near Unist’ot’en Healing Centre
RESOURCES & NEWS
Unistoten Camp (updates, resources & more ways to support)
On the BC Supreme Court injunction decision
Eviction notice to pipeline company
Canada police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists, documents show
Indigenous people outraged at Canada police’s possible use of lethal force
RCMP Admits It’s Monitoring Wet’suwet’en Camps by Air Now
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) says CGL pipeline construction must stop and RCMP must leave Wet’suwet’en territory
Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs Call For UN Intervention
Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs Urge Diplomacy From Premier Horgan In Coastal GasLink Dispute
British Columbia becomes 1st Canadian province to pass UN Indigenous rights declaration
Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Lacks BC EAO Final Permits For Construction In Wet’suwet’en Territory
Resources on the law and Indigenous sovereignty
Video: Coastal Gaslink Continues Pipeline Construction on Wet’suwet’en Territory
Unist’ot’en Camp: Coastal Gas Link Continues Work Despite COVID 19
Jobsites are not mass gatherings: B.C. officials
[2020 Update] Who’s banking the Coastal GasLink pipeline?
Release order bars woman from voicing support for Wet’suwet’en online
This Is Not Over – Message to Supporters from the Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory
Video: It’s Not Over, featuring Tsake’ze Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham) from the Gidimt’en clan
Work on Coastal GasLink pipeline to resume, but impasse on pipeline remains
First Nation deal won’t stop pipeline, BC premier Horgan says
Coastal GasLink Lacks EAO Permits on Wet’suwet’en Territory
CGL broke BC pipeline rules more than 50 times
Coastal GasLink environmental assessment report rejected
Explosive Letter Revealing BC Solicitor General Authorizing RCMP Deployment, Contradicting Public Statements
Dr. Lynn Gehl: With Wet’suwet’en, Media Has to Move Beyond Colonially-Constructed False Dichotomies
Benefits agreement asks First Nation to discourage members from hindering B.C. pipeline project
The Wet’suwet’en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law: An Explainer
Canada: International law obligations to suspend construction of pipeline and stop use of force against Wet’suwet’en | Legal Brief by Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Wet’suwet’en Reading List – by the First Peoples Law firm
Pipelines, man camps and murdered Indigenous women in Canada
INDIGENOUS SOLIDARITY OTTAWA 