Category: Wet’suwet’en

juxtaposition

It is a juxtaposition to see the rapidly accelerating, multiple effects of environmental devastation and chaos versus the struggles of Indigenous peoples trying to protect their pristine lands and waters. Such as the work of the Wet’suwet’en peoples in British Columbia.

I use the word pristine (in its original condition; unspoiled) when I think and write about the Wet’suwet’en because I am so moved by the beauty I see there. It makes me ill to think of the desecration of those lands and waters that would occur, is occurring there by pipeline construction.

I’ve often written about this photo I took and developed (in a darkroom) of Long’s Peak, in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. When this farm boy from Iowa moved to Indianapolis in 1970, I was horrified by the filthy air (this being before catalytic converters hid the damage). I was devastated by the thought of my beautiful mountains obscured by smog. This led me to live without a car.

Long’s Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park

To save a wilderness, or to be a writer or a cab driver or a homemaker — to live one’s life — one must reach deep into one’s heart and find what is there, then speak it plainly and without shame.

Because It Is So Beautiful: Unraveling the Mystique of the American West by Robert Reid

This video, INVASION, shows many things. Most significantly for me are the images of the beautiful lands and waters. As soon as I saw it, I was drawn to the Wet’suwet’en struggles as if by a powerful magnet. And have done what I could in support since.

Also shown are the violent, militarized invasions (multiple) by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police). And testimony at the United Nations permanent forum on Indigenous issues.

Everybody needs to stand up, not just Indigenous people. Everybody needs to stand up the political powers that be that they need to change. And quit making legislation and policies to make us look like criminals when we’re just trying to protect what is ours. It’s not just this little court house, the whole world is watching what Canada is doing. What the province of BC is doing. They haven’t done their job. They’re skirting the responsibility over to industry. I know I’m doing the right thing.

It’s inspiring to see the support world wide that we have and it’s not just our Indigenous people that are standing up. It’s people all around the world are concerned about the environment. And concerned because they know it impacts them no matter where they live.

(The United Nations) The fifth meeting of the 18th session of the permanent forum on Indigenous issues is called to order.

I am Freda Huson of the Unis’ot’en Wet’suwet’en people of Canada. I am here today to express concerns for human rights violations happening to my people. This year a pipeline company forced a court injunction on us. And if we stop them from entering our territory because they don’t have consent we face arrests.

They are trying to erase us from our own land. All these acts that continue are the acts of genocide. I am here today to make UN aware of our continuous genocide happening in Canada. And to demand that our Indigenous rights and laws are respected.

We’re wondering why our own people weren’t standing up besides us and the more and more we realize that a lot of my family that are standing up, all the females in my family. We’ve done a lot of healings in our lives, we’ve gone through the same trauma as everybody us in our reservations. That’s the reason why we’re able to stand up and stand up against what we know is wrong. So that’s what we identified, that other people aren’t able to stand up, because they’re still stuck in their trauma and oppression. And everything that comes with being oppressed and living in a system that discriminates against you.

Partial transcript from the video INVASION.

The struggles continue. This Thursday there will be an emergency Wet’suwet’en solidarity call out event.

SOUND THE ALARM
Emergency Wet’suwet’en solidarity call out event, featuring Sleydo’
Thursday, May 26, 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Drilling underneath the sacred waters of the Wedzin Kwa could begin any day on Wet’suwet’en territory. On Thursday May 26, join us for “Sound the Alarm for Wet’suwet’en ” a live zoom meeting at 4pm PT / 7pm ET. 
With Sleydo’ Molly Wickham of Gidimt’en Checkpoint, together we’ll understand the situation on the ground and strategize together about how to #KillTheDrill.

https://bit.ly/3LnPld7 
https://bit.ly/3LnPld7

#KillTheDrill

Emergency Wet’suwet’en solidarity call out event

I have been working to support the Wet’suwet’en peoples in British Columbia in their struggles to stop the construction of the Costal GasLink pipeline through their pristine lands and waters since January 2020. See: https://landbackfriends.com/?s=wetsuweten+wet%27suwet%27en

SOUND THE ALARM
Emergency Wet’suwet’en solidarity call out event, featuring Sleydo’
Thursday, May 26, 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Drilling underneath the sacred waters of the Wedzin Kwa could begin any day on Wet’suwet’en territory. On Thursday May 26, join us for “Sound the Alarm for Wet’suwet’en ” a live zoom meeting at 4pm PT / 7pm ET. 
With Sleydo’ Molly Wickham of Gidimt’en Checkpoint, together we’ll understand the situation on the ground and strategize together about how to #KillTheDrill.
 REGISTER NOW  
Dear friends, allies and comrades,

While we try to live out our daily lives and conduct cultural practices with our elders and children, police barge into our homes without permission — everyday, with at least six officers — intimidating us, surveilling us, illegally arresting, and detaining people on our own lands. 

It’s a story as old as the colonial violence against Indigenous Peoples to steal land, resources, and wealth. The sad truth is, it’s what’s happening right now: They want to intimidate us off our land so Coastal GasLink can start drilling in less than one month under our sacred headwaters, Wedzin Kwa. 

In March 2020, thousands of you took to the streets, railways, ports and highways to stand with Wet’suwet’en and demand Coastal GasLink cease construction. We made global headlines — forcing Justin Trudeau and John Horgan to commit to entering into discussions with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary chiefs. [1]

But they haven’t made any progress with us on those title discussions, haven’t stopped construction and haven’t pulled RCMP or CIRG off of our territories.  In fact, things have gotten worse. The UN has issued yet another letter to the so-called governments of Canada and BC, calling for an end to police violence and to halt construction. [2] 

We need your help to stop the drilling and make them listen, and we want to give you an update with all the information you need to act. Will you join me and Sound the Alarm for Wet’suwet’en on Thursday May 26 at 4 pm PT / 7pm ET on Zoom? In this call, you’ll hear from me and other Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and learn about what you can do to support us in our fight against CGL. 
[YES] 
Here are the details: 
What: Sound The Alarm For Wet’suwet’en 
When: Thursday May 26, 4 pm PT/7 pm ET 
Where: https://bit.ly/3LnPld7 
 
The Supreme Court of Canada, under the Delgamuukw v. British Columbia legal case, recognized that the Wet’suwet’en people never ceded our title to our land. [3] Yet over and over, both the so-called governments of British Columbia and Canada have paid lip service to reconciliation, claiming they respect Indigenous peoples’ rights. 
 
And now, we face losing our land, our water, our way of life. It’s why I’m reaching out now, because we need to raise the alarm so people everywhere know what is at stake, and rise up in massive opposition to help stop the drilling. 

Will you join the call to Sound the Alarm for Wet’suwet’en on Thursday May 26 at 4 pm PT / 7 pm ET to learn how you can help stop the drilling and stand with Wet’suwet’en?
[YES] 

[Can’t make it? Help promote the event!]
The amount of pressure and stress I feel everyday knowing that my people and our land is under threat is made worse by the constant police presence — showing up at my house unannounced and questioning us for living our lives. My children are 2, 6 and 10 years old. They shouldn’t have to bear this burden — and they’ve done nothing to deserve this treatment. 

At the same time, I feel immense hope. I believe in the thousands of people who have shared their outpouring of love and support for Wet’suwet’en. I’m energized by the beauty I see in the Wedzin Kwa river, everyday, and grateful for how the land provides for me, my family, and my community.  Will you stand with me and join the call to Sound the Alarm for Wet’suwet’en on Thursday May 26? 
[YES] 
With gratitude, 
Sleydo’, 
Spokesperson for Gidimt’en Checkpoint, Cas Yikh House, Wet’suwet’en 
 
Sources
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-urges-patience-pipeline-dispute-1.5484087

[2]https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/un-committee-elimination-racial-discrimination-indigenous-coastal-gaslink-trans-mountain-1.6407798
[3] https://www.bctreaty.ca/sites/default/files/delgamuukw.pdf
We want to keep you up-to-date
Gidimt’en Checkpoint is a reoccupation site of Cas Yikh (Grizzly Bear House) territory where Wet’suwet’en people are asserting their jurisdiction over their unceded land. 
The Coastal Gaslink pipeline and associated LNG terminal is the largest private fracked gas investment in Canadian history. The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have been resisting the construction of the fracked gas pipeline on their territories for more than a decade, and the hereditary chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have refused to give their consent to the project.
After a decade of fierce resistance, Coastal GasLink is getting closer to drilling under the Wedzin Kwa, the sacred headwaters of the Wet’suwet’en since time immemorial. Now is the time to come together and demand drilling stop.
 COME TO CAMP  
 REGISTER FOR WEBINAR  

Our Latest Iowa Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Event

On December 22, 2021, we went to Chase bank in Des Moines to protest the bank’s funding of fossil fuel projects. In support of the Wet’suwet’en’s calls for solidarity.

#KillTheDrill