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I keep hearing about all the non-Indigenous people that are upset by the Wet’suwet’en peaceful protests. How they are being inconvenienced by the protests and how some are upset they can’t get home or to work.
The Wet’suwet’en have been greatly inconvenienced in being denied access to their homes and territory. How would you feel if you went to head home and RCMP denied you access to your home but let complete strangers (e.g. ice fisherman) go on to your land with no issue while you remained locked out?
Other Indigenous people have been inconvenienced in not being able to go home or to their work (which also sustains them – feeds them, etc…) these past five centuries being placed on reservations that are small tracts of inhospitable land away from their homelands and often in remote locations.
How inconvenienced have Indigenous people been having their land stolen and/or having their sacred sites and their ancestor’s bones being destroyed?
How about the inconvenience for the Indigenous people with boil water advisories of over a quarter of a century?
I read in the news how the rail lines being blocked may prevent chlorine getting to the cities and how we may not have clean drinking water. That we may get to experience firsthand what some Indigenous people have been living with for far too long. Ironic.
How many Indigenous parents have been inconvenienced in having their children stolen from them by the Canadian govt?
There are more Indigenous children in govt custody today than at the height of Indian Residential School.
How about the inconvenience for some Indigenous women who are emotionally blackmailed into having forced sterilizations (yes it’s still happening today!) before they are allowed to ever see their children again?
How about the inconvenience of Indigenous children having thousands of dollars less (vs. non-Indigenous kids) allocated to them per year for education?
How about the inconvenience of the issue of over 3,000 missing murdered Indigenous women, girls, trans, two spirit that isn’t being addressed in a meaningful way?
How about the inconvenience of going hungry when food costs up north are easily ten times the amount they are in the major cities?
How about the inconvenience of laws put in place to prevent hunting for seal when it is a needed food source and the govt’s inability to acknowledge that it is a necessary income stream for Inuit to be able to pay for gas, etc that enables them to hunt to get food?
I can go on but sometimes it takes something like these peaceful protests and Indigenous people protecting their land and water resulting in some being inconvenienced in order to get the public to pay attention to the reality that is happening in their own back yard.
Inconveniencing people is not the focus of the protests – the protests (mainly the railways) are intentional to interfere with the economy as money seems to be the only language the govt seems to speak or consider and yes, in that process some people are being inconvenienced, but there’s really no comparison to what Indigenous people have had to endure nor the attempted genocide we endure daily.
Also, for those confused about the Wet’suwet’en protests and that may have seen some ads by CGL with some indigenous supporting the pipeline:
-The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs that are peacefully protecting their land are responsible for the majority of the land that will be negatively impacted by the pipeline and for making decisions about their land per the SCOC (Supreme Court of Canada) ruling:
“The Wet’suwet’en people have already put forward their hereditary chiefs to speak for the territory, during the 1997 case Delgamuukw v The Queen. They were also recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada as the representative of the collective land rights holders in that decision, the first comprehensive account of Aboriginal title in the country.”
Source: Macleans The Wet’suwet’en are more united than pipeline backers want you to think
In order to resolve this issue the RCMP must leave Wet’suwet’en territory and there needs to be real action and equal Nation (Indigenous) to Nation (Canada) discussion.
The Canadian govt needs to respect Indigenous governance and stop refusing to meet and talk. I see in Ontario at the railway blockade the govt has finally agreed to meet. Let’s be clear, they aren’t even blocking the rails, they are just beside them.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are protecting their land that the SCOC acknowledges and their rights are the Indigenous rights that are a part of the Canadian Constitution Section 35 per UNDRIP (The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) that dictate the govt has the duty to consult with Indigenous people. Please remember, this land is unceded.
Lastly, people need to wake up to the possibility that this pipeline would put aquifers and the ocean at risk.
We all need clean water to drink and air to breath – the ocean provides every second breath you take (from ocean algae) so these peaceful actions are to protect our planet and thus they are for all of us, not just for Indigenous people.
This pipeline will put the last surviving coastal rainforest, the dwindling salmon populations, as well as the southern resident orca whales (that are almost extinct) all at risk.
There’s a reason the Canadian govt wouldn’t allow the two year examination on the risks of this pipeline as recommended and instead cut it short with ridiculously tight deadlines not providing any time for the Wet’suwet’en people to respond with all the facts that were needed.
There is no plan(et) B.
Edited Feb. 21, 2020 to add how the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and traditional governance system works – source: https://youtu.be/y0vOg72mhaE
Per *Gidimt’en spokeswoman, Molly Wickham, there are 5 clans of the Wet’suwet’en that are opposed to the pipeline. The 5 hereditary chiefs represent and are speakers on behalf of these 5 clans.
There are 13 house chiefs (4 of those positions are vacant) that represent 5 clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.
The rest of the hereditary chiefs have unanimously and transparently, and with accountability gone up in their feast hall (according to Wet’suwet’en law) with the whole community in attendance and have stated over and over again that they are opposed to this pipeline specifically and to all pipelines throughout their territory.
It’s not some small rogue group (e.g. mainstream news reporting it’s just 5 people) that some are trying to suggest and to say this proves that the govt isn’t recognizing/respecting their inherent Indigenous governance systems.
It is a matter of who has the authority to speak and all hereditary chiefs and house chiefs (the speakers for the houses) have been united on this in their feast hall.
*Gidimt’en is 1 of the 5 clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation that is opposed to the pipeline.
Update May 15, 2020
Clear Wind Blows Over the Moon 