The Real War Facing the Wet’suwet’en Nation

allthecanadianpolitics:

As the RCMP arrested some of my extended family members at the Gitdimt’en checkpoint near the Unist’ot’en Camp Monday night I couldn’t help but feel guilt. As a Laksilyu clan member I felt guilt for not being there on the land with them because I live and work in Vancouver. And I felt guilt for my small role in the horrendously flawed community consultation process that eventually led to my elected band council signing an agreement in support of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The divide between our nation’s elected and hereditary leadership has compromised the efforts both sides make to serve our people and unity is needed at this critical moment in Wet'suwet'en history.

For thousands of years the Wet’suwet’en have stewarded our 22,000 square kilometres of traditional territory under a matriarchal clan system. We have five clans and 13 house groups within those clans. Each of the 13 house groups have a head hereditary chief whose ancestral name is associated with that house group’s traditional territory and is responsible for protecting the territory for future generations. The elected band council system was introduced under the Indian Act as part of a suite of colonial policies aimed at eradicating traditional governance systems. The band councils are responsible for managing reserve lands, while the hereditary system is what governed the broader traditional territory which is what the pipeline is proposed to cross.

What many fail to understand about the Unist’ot’en Camp is that it is not a protest camp. Nor is it a blockade. It is a reoccupation of traditional territory and an assertion of Aboriginal title and rights to land that have been proven at the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1997 Delgamuukw decision to never have been extinguished by the Crown. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on CBC Radio Wednesday that the arrest of protesters is not ideal, but that the rule of law must be respected. But what about Anuk Nu’at’en, traditional Wet’suwet’en law? It hasn’t been followed by Canada, the RCMP or even by some of our own people.

Continue Reading.

Source: Vice Magazine

narendur:

“Listening to the radio yesterday it was hard not to be irate with the oversimplifications being spouted by the media.

If the narrative is “protesters” verses a “pipeline”; remember to put this fossil fuel pipeline in context with the climate change-ravaged world we live in and the direction we need to go.

If you believe this is solely between the Hereditary versus Elected leaders of the Wet’suwet’en, then don’t forget to contextualize colonialism’s long history of divide and conquer and the legacy of the Indian Act. The Band Council is a colonial construct whereby every 2 years the people elect the band leaders but those leaders must answer to the federal government first. Most bands are chronically and systemically underfunded leaving them vulnerable to money offered by industrial projects. The Hereditary system was working for thousands of years before the colonizers came.

If this was simply about RCMP doing their job, ask yourself if there’s ever been an RCMP expenditure like this when it comes to addressing health, equity or climate issues. Also be aware of the contrast between the gentle way white protesters were handled by the police at the Kinder Morgan protests versus the aggressive weaponized assault that we see so often with Indigenous protests (Oka, gustafsen lake)

If it were about Law and Order, what about enforcing the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous People(International declaration signed by Canada), Section 35 (Canada’s constitution) & countless court cases (Calder, Delgamuuxw, Disdaywaay, Sparrow and others)

On that note, if it was about ‘unproved’ or ‘proved’ rights & title to the land, ask yourself why Canada doesn’t have to prove title & acquisition of the land to the Wet’suwet’en courts and feast hall? The Wet'suwet'en lived on (and therefore owned) their lands for thousands of years, Canada has only been here for 150 years. They are the interlopers.

If it’s about a court injunction being enforced, remember that injunctions are a modern colonial tool that corporations can use to legalize the dispossession of indigenous people off their land in the age of reconciliation.

I can’t help but think that most historical injustices were “legal” until people rose up in protest and demanded change (womens suffrage, slavery, civil rights). From what I have learned from my times at Unist’ot’en, it is that the concept of Responsibility has existed long before the recent concept of ‘rights’.

We all carry a responsibility to protect the land, water and air for our very survival and for the generations to come.

How we, individually and collectively, enact our responsibilities to support the Unist’ot’en and Gidumt'en, by turning our thoughts into actions, will directly shape the kind of world we want to live in.”

Posted on FB by Tamo Campos (David Suzuki’s grandson) today

https://unistoten.camp/support-us/donate/

(via allthecanadianpolitics)

Source: narendur

radicalgraff:

Graffiti in Montreal in solidarity with the Unist'ot'en anti-pipeline blockade. Canadian police raided the camp on January 8, arresting 14 land defenders. 

Solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en Land Defenders, and against TransCanada and their destructive pipelines (including the Coastal Gas Link in BC & Gazoduq in Quebec)

(via allthecanadianpolitics)

Source: radicalgraff