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‘This is not what reconciliation looks like’

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Just a thought on pipeline protest
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo

At least 30 supporters demonstrated outside MP Michael McLeod’s office in Yellowknife on Tuesday to show solidarity with the Unist’ot’en Camp after RCMP forcibly removed people and raided the Gidimt'en Access Monday, arresting 14 people including one elder.

Two checkpoints are established — one at the Gidimt'en Access Point and another at Unist'ot'en camp to stop pipeline workers from entering Wet’suwet’en territory without their consent.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs were also initially blocked from their own unceded territories, states a Jan. 7 news release from Unist’ot’en Camp.

RCMP broke through the Gidimt’en checkpoint established to blockade access to a pipeline right-of-way. Tactical police officers were deployed to enforce a court injunction to allow construction of Coastal GasLink’s natural gas pipeline.

“To use taxpayer dollars to invade unceded traditional lands in corporate interests for the pipeline just boggles my mind," said Kiera-Dawn Kolson, who organized the rally. "I hope and pray that as the warriors are released today, they see the images and hear the solidarity."

The rally was one of nearly 70 planned across the country — as far as New York City and Stockholm, Sweden — to protest the removal of the Gidimt'en blockade and in solidarity with Unist’ot’en.

Kolson asked that MP Michael McLeod hold the government accountable for the use of RCMP to remove Indigenous peoples from their territory, which she said breaks Article 10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

It states that "Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories."

In May 2016, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs announced Canada as a full supporter of UNDRIP "without qualification."

RCMP clear Gidimt'en checkpoint

On Monday, representatives from Coastal GasLink visited the blockade at the Morice River bridge to request access to the public bridge and access road, states a Jan. 7 news release from the company.

“After attempting to have another meeting with the hereditary chiefs, which took place on site today with RCMP, we were unable to come to a resolution to gain access across the bridge,” the company stated.

The checkpoint controls access to Cas Yikh House territory within the larger Gidimt'en clan territory. House Chiefs represent house groups within the five clans of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. Each house group is made up of family networks and holds distinct territory within the clan, states a fact sheet shared by the Wet'suwet'en Access Point Facebook page.

On Dec. 16, the House Chiefs ratified their decision to support the Gidimt'en access point.

In an open letter Jan. 8 Rick Gateman, Coastal GasLink President said "The outcome of the impasse at the Morice Bridge River crossing is not one we wanted ... It’s unfortunate that RCMP were forced to take this action to ensure the re-establishment of lawful access to this public bridge and road that leads to our pipeline right of way."

The company successfully sought a court injunction that allows police enforcement and financial damages against anyone occupying, obstructing, physically impeding or delaying the company’s access to the land.

The pipeline will meet "rigorous environmental standards" and bring an estimated 2,500 construction jobs, many of which are with First Nations contractors, said Gateman.

The hereditary chiefs maintain that any entrance into their territory requires their express consent. Workers from GasLink attempting to pursue a natural gas pipeline from Dawson Creek, B.C. to a coastal facility in Kitimat are denied entry.

The 1997 Supreme Court of Canada Delgamuukw ruling found that the Wet’suwet’en had never ceded title to 22,000 square kilometres of territory.

TransCanada has signed agreements with First Nations along the $40-billion LNG pipeline route, but 13 hereditary chiefs stand in unanimous opposition to the project. The hereditary chiefs maintain that while the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s elected chief and council signed an agreement approving the pipeline, only hereditary chiefs have jurisdiction over the traditional territory.

"Supporting chiefs do not have the authority to speak on behalf of the entire clan," states a fact sheet from the Gidimt'en checkpoint.

Northerners rally in solidarity

Kolson said she was asked to bring support from the North and has a close friend who was arrested on the front line.

“They’re stepping on people to step over the barricade. These are women. These are elders. These are leaders. What’s happening is completely illegal,” said Kolson, who spoke fiercely to a crowd of 30. “This is not what reconciliation looks like.”

Demonstrators in Yellowknife hoped to alert McLeod that constituents in Denendeh “do not agree with what is happening in Unist’ot’en,” said demonstrator Melaw Nakehk’o.

“Canada using military tactical force to remove hereditary chiefs from their traditional territory is terrifying, because they can do it everywhere,” said Nakehk’o.

“We think we’re in this time now where people are getting ‘woke.’ There’s reconciliation. We’re having these conversations and people are doing traditional territory acknowledgements, but it’s still a colonial state. It’s still systemic racism. If regular Canadians can’t f***ing see that then you are part of the problem. It doesn’t matter, if you are watching traditional hereditary chiefs being removed from their territory and you don’t say anything,” said Nakehk'o

“As an Indigenous person who is a hide tanner and land user, it’s fear. I’m terrified. I cannot imagine being forcefully removed from my traditional territories, where I am able to be a Dene person and to try to protect my land and to practice my culture and way of life,” she said.

MP Michael McLeod's office did not stop demonstrators as they pasted their messages of support for people at Gitidimd'en and at Unist'ot'en camp, where people fled after Monday's conflict. During the rally, McLeod was travelling to announce federal infrastructure funds.