International Solidarity With Wet’suwet’en

#wetsuwetenstrong #notrespass #thetimeisnow

TUESDAY JANUARY 8, 2019

On January 4, members of the RCMP’s Aboriginal Police Liaison met with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and indicated that specially trained tactical forces will be deployed to forcibly remove Wet’suwet’en people from sovereign Wet’suwet’en territory.

The RCMP’s ultimatum, to allow TransCanada access to unceded Wet’suwet’en territory or face police invasion, is an act of war. Despite the lip service given to “Truth and Reconciliation”, Canada is now attempting to do what it has always done – criminalize and use violence against indigenous people so that their unceded homelands can be exploited for profit.

The RCMP were advised that there are children, elders, and families visiting and present at the Gidimt’en Access Point, to which they did not respond.

Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.” Any removal of Wet’suwet’en peoples by the RCMP, or any other authoritarian forces, will directly violate UNDRIP and the Trudeau government’s promise to implement UNDRIP.

We are now preparing for a protracted struggle. The hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and the land defenders holding the front lines have no intention of allowing Wet’suwet’en sovereignty to be violated.

In the words of Dr. Karla Tait and Anne Spice, “The dispute over the pipeline is, at heart, a struggle over the meaning of Aboriginal title and the rights of Indigenous peoples to determine the use of their unceded, unsurrendered ancestral territories.”

In plain language, the threat made by RCMP to invade Wet’suwet’en territories is a violation of human rights, a siege, and an extension of the genocide that Wet’suwet’en have survived since contact.

We are responding to and echoing a call on all people of conscience to act in solidarity through an international day of action on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019.

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Main event listing:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2225649537692362/

Read the full Action Alert from Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidumt’en Territory:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=226308738314920&id=212798726332588

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* ACTION PROTOCOLS:

Take action against the provincial government in B.C, federal government of Canada, and Canadian consulate internationally.

Demand that the provincial and federal government uphold their responsibilities to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law).

The Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidumt’en Territory are conducting peaceful actions as sovereign peoples on their territories, and ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the traditional laws of other Indigenous Nations.

Hashtags: #timeisnow #Notrespass #Wetsuwetenstrong

* Gidimt’en Access Point

The creation of the Gidimt’en Checkpoint was announced in the Wet’suwet’en feast hall, with the support of all chiefs present. Under ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law) all five clans of the Wet’suwet’en have unanimously opposed all pipeline proposals. TransCanada lawyers have argued that the Unist’ot’en are essentially a rogue group without a rightful claim to Aboriginal title. The Gidimt’en intervention shows that the Unist’ot’en Camp are not alone, and that the hereditary chiefs of all clans are prepared to uphold Wet’suwet’en law in refusing Coastal GasLink access.

Canada knows that its own actions are illegal. The Wet’suwet’en fought for many years in the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa court case to have their sovereignty recognized and affirmed by Canadian law. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Wet’suwet’en people, as represented by their hereditary leaders, had not given up rights and title to 22,000km2 of Northern British Columbia. Knowing that further litigation would be prohibitively expensive to Indigenous plaintiffs (and that pipeline construction could be completed before any significant legal issues could be further resolved) TransCanada and the provincial and federal governments are openly violating this landmark ruling.

The 22,000 sq km of Wet’suwet’en Territory is divided into five clans and 13 house groups. Each clan/house group manages the use of their own territory. Unist’ot’en homestead sits on Gilsteyu Dark House Territory and manager of this territory is house group better known as Unist’ot’en. From the Widzin Kwa bridge at 66 km passing the bridge going down to 44 KM it becomes Gitdumt’en Territory. No Clan can make decisions regarding another Clans Territory; that would be against Wet’suwet’en Law.

For guiding principles on how to support, and a fact sheet on the Gidimt’en Access Point, visit: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=225163691762758&id=212798726332588

Donate to Gidimt’en Access Point: https://www.gofundme.com/gitdumt039en-access-point

Donate to Unist’ot’en Legal Fund: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/unistoten-camp-legal-fund