By Jeff Shantz, January 12, 2020
Wet’suwet’en people and land are under attack by the combined forces of the RCMP, British Columbia Courts, and the BC government. These forces are acting on behalf of the interests of extractive resource capital, Coastal GasLink and its project to build a fracked gas pipeline across unceded Wet’suwet’en land. These are the ongoing forces of colonialism—the state (the RCMP founded to dispossess, displace, and control Indigenous people) in the service of capital.
In January of 2019, the RCMP violently attacked Wet’suwet’en people defending their own lands. This included a military show of force (the RCMP has always been a military force) and 14 arrests. On December 19, 2019, The Guardian newspaper in England reported that, “Canadian police were prepared to shoot Indigenous land defenders blockading construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia.” Accessing notes from an RCMP strategy sessions, Guardian journalists Jaskiran Dhillon and Will Parrish reported that snipers with shoot to kill orders (“lethal overwatch”) were deployed against Wet’suwet’en at a land defense camp. Commanders instructed officers to “use as much violence toward the gate as you want.” In another document, an RCMP officer, using a familiar colonial language, asserts that arrests would be necessary for “sterilizing [the] site”.
This news made clear to people outside of Wet’suwet’en the severe threat the land defenders faced. It showed allies the need to step up solidarity actions to support Wet’suwet’en people defending their lands against state-corporate violence. The hashtag #wouldyoushootmetoo circulated on social media as non-Indigenous activists, especially environmental and climate justice activists, pointed to the disparate, and more extreme, violence directed at Indigenous people and communities.
On December 31, 2019, the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction on behalf of Coastal GasLink against members of the Wet’suwet’en nation. In response, Wet’suwet’en Chiefs escorted that last CGL contractors from the land on Saturday, January 4, 2020.
With a grim sense that RCMP will soon act to enforce the injunction on behalf of Coastal GasLink, Wet’suwet’en land defenders put out the call: “All Eyes on Wet’suwet’en: International Call for Week of Solidarity!” This week of actions would take place in locations across the Canadian state and around the globe from January 7 (anniversary of the 2019 RCMP raid) to January 12.
On January 11, hundreds of people gathered in Vancouver (unceded Coast Salish Territories) for a march through the city’s downtown and a rally at Victory Square on Hastings Street. Participants called for respect for Wet’suwet’en sovereignty and Wet’suwet’en law, the removal of the RCMP from unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, and the end of corporate-driven state violence and the corporate violence of extractives projects inflicted on Wet’suwet’en people and land. It was pointed out the none of the BC government, RCMP, or Coastal Gaslink have any legitimate authority or standing on Wet’suwet’en territory.
On January 7, 2020, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, representing all 5 clans, released a statement: “No Access Without Consent.”
The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have issued the following demands:
That the province cease construction of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project and suspend permits.
That the UNDRIP and our right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) are respected by the state and RCMP.
That the RCMP and associated security and policing services be withdrawn from Wet’suwet’en lands, in agreement with the most recent letter provided by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimiation’s (CERD) request.
That the provincial and federal government, RCMP and private industry employed by CGL respect our laws and our governance system, and refrain from using any force to access our lands or remove our people.
There is no access to Wet’suwet’en territory without our consent. We are the title holders, and the Province must address the issue of our title if they want to gain access to our lands.
