B.C. government says it isn't responsible for Wet'suwet'en divisions, arrests of Coastal GasLink activists
WAIT, WHAT?
'It is not the government of the day that directs police to do
their work,' says Indigenous affairs minister
B.C. Indigenous Affairs Minister Murray Rankin is defending his government's approach to working with the Wet'suwet'en Nation on land management after RCMP officers were deployed to arrest opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project being built in northwest B.C.
Coastal GasLink has signed agreements with multiple elected band councils along the pipeline route.
But the company has failed to gain approval from the majority of hereditary chiefs within the Wet'suwet'en who, in the landmark Delgamuukw case, were recognized as having authority over the land that predates the establishment of elected band councils created by Canada's Indian Act.
Still, the provincial government, under the B.C. Liberals, approved the project in 2014 and it continues to be supported by the governing NDP.
For this reason, B.C. Green MLA Adam Olsen has accused the province of leveraging division between elected Wet'suwet'en chiefs and councillors and Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to protect corporate interests.
"This government has been exploiting divisions in our communities created by the Indian Act," Olsen said this week.
"This government soaks in the accolades of passing the [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act], but then are unwilling to change the racist government structures that have created the conflict that we face today instead of the much assured reconciliation."
But Rankin says his government remains committed to reconciliation.
"My reaction is that it is entirely an unfair characterization," he said in an interview with CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk.
"The community is divided as a result of the impacts and trauma of colonialism — it is the federal government that created [the] Indian Act," he said. "It is absolutely unfair to say we are exploiting those divisions — we're trying to unify the nation."
In Feb. 2019, the B.C. NDP government began a reconciliation process with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. This April, the government reached a three-year agreement with the chiefs to provide them $7.2 million in support of their efforts to reunify members of the Wet'suwet'en Nation in order to implement their rights and title.
But Rankin said that process has been slowed by a number of factors including COVID-19.
"My hope is that we can get back to that table to do that long overdue work," he said.
When asked why RCMP were deployed to Wet'suwet'en territory to make arrests during a provincial state of emergency in southern B.C., Rankin said that was a decision made by police, and that politicians do not and should not have any say over their operations.
"The province did not bring that injunction … It was the company who sought the assistance of the court through an injunction to allow it to do work that it had the legal right to pursue," he said.
"In our democracy, it is not the government of the day that directs police to do their work."
B.C. Liberal MLA Ellis Ross, who signed an agreement supporting Coastal GasLink when he was chief councillor of the Haisla Nation, also spoke up about the pipeline this week, arguing the project has created economic prosperity for First Nations.
He also says activists acting in support of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs are being disrespectful to the Wet'suwet'en First Nation's elected band chiefs and councils who support the pipeline project.
"Everybody's manipulating First Nations for their own purposes and their own agenda, and it's wrong, especially when you think about what these elected leaders [have been] trying to achieve for the last 15 years at least — they were trying to get their people out of poverty, away from suicide, away from imprisonment," Ross said on CBC's On The Coast.
But hereditary chiefs and their supporters say they will continue to act to prevent the pipeline from being built.
"It is Cas Yikh territory. That means we're the stewards," Chief Woos, one of the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation, said in an interview on CBC As It Happens this week. "We're the ones that make decisions as to who can go on our territory. And it's not up to [Coastal GasLink]. It's not up to a court system to decide that. It's not up to them."
With files from Daybreak North, On The Coast and The Canadian Press
Montrealer's demonstrate at RCMP building in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en
By Dan Spector Global News
Posted November 27, 2021
WATCH: People gathered in Montreal on Saturday to show solidarity with the people of the Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nations territory in British Columbia and to denounce the actions taken by the RCMP. Dan Spector reports.
Hundreds of people gathered for a loud protest at the RCMP’s Quebec headquarters in Montreal on Saturday afternoon.
They were demonstrating in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people who oppose a natural gas pipeline project that would run through the First Nation’s territory in northern British Columbia.
“How would you like it if each of you went home today and the RCMP is saying, ‘No, you can’t go in here,'” said Montreal-based Wet’suwet’en elder Marlene Hale, who played a drum to kick off the protest.
Just over a week ago the RCMP arrested 15 people, including two journalists.
The RCMP was enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court-ordered injunction that stops opponents from impeding access to Coastal GasLink’s activities, permitted under Canadian law.
“Shame on you! Go away!” the crowd yelled in unison.
Archie Fineberg said at almost 80 years old, it was the first protest he’d ever attended.
“It’s time that the Indigenous people in Canada stop being abused and it’s time for the Canadian people, starting with the government, to respect the commitments they have made,” he said.
Environmentalists and other groups also joined the rally, which was watched closely by a large contingent of Montreal police in riot gear. They kept the demonstrators from getting close to the doors of the RCMP building.
“I came down from Kanesatake,” said Alan Harrington. “To show solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation against the trespassing and the terrorism that the RCMP is doing on our on our Indigenous people.”
After some spirited speeches, the rally turned into a march through downtown Montreal.
RELATED NEWS
Montreal police were out in force and the demonstration was declared illegal at about 4 p.m.
Author of the article:Frédéric Tomesco
Publishing date:Nov 28, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
About 100 people braved the bitter cold in Westmount on Saturday to express support for British Columbia’s Wet’suwet’en nation and voice their opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Wet’suwet’en members Marlene Hale and Eve Saint spoke to the crowd for close to an hour, underlining their people’s determination to defend its land. They also railed against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the RCMP.
“We will get this done,” Hale said, eliciting cheers
The demonstration is one of several across Canada that have followed an RCMP raid of the Gidimt’en checkpoint in Wet’suwet’en territory earlier this month. RCMP officers arrested land defenders who have been blocking access to the worksites of the 670-kilometre pipeline, part of which would run through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. The pipeline is being constructed to transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a marine port in Kitimat.
“A protest like this is needed,” Al Harrington, a native of Shoal Lake, Ont., who now resides in Kanesatake, told the Montreal Gazette before the start of the protest. “There are Canadian laws being broken by the Canadian government and the RCMP. They’re not respecting our rights, and this needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. We came here to show solidarity and to let them know that this won’t be tolerated.”
“Land back,” “No consent, no access,” “No pipelines on stolen native land,” “The crimes of colonization cannot be buried” and “Wet’suwet’en Strong” read some of the signs held aloft by protesters. Mohawk, Palestinian and
NO EXPLANATION FOR WHY THE POLICE DECLARED THE MARCH ILLEGAL!
Four people were arrested in connection with the protest, Montreal police department spokesman Raphaël Bergeron said Sunday. Three of the arrests were for obstructing police work, while the other one was for assault on an officer and obstructing police work. The individuals were released on a promise to return to court at a later date, he said.
Organized by an anti-capitalist collective called Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes, the event also drew participants from organizations such as Independent Jewish Voices and the pro-Marxist group Fightback.
“What we’re trying to do is to build bridges between the labour movement in Canada and the Indigenous struggle,” said Connor Bennett, a Concordia University student who is part of Fightback. “Inherently, both are struggles against these major corporations and both are struggles against capitalism. So we’re trying to make a united struggle of workers, Indigenous people and all oppressed people in Canada against what we believe to be the source, which is capitalism.”
Other protests may follow because anger at the RCMP is growing across Canada, said Aaron Lakoff, who was holding a banner that read “Justice, paix et solidarité” together with colleagues from the Independent Jewish Voices group.
“Look at what happened in February 2020, after the last RCMP raid,” Lakoff said. “There was a movement of people all across the country working to shut down Canada , and that put pressure on the government to reckon with the violence they were perpetrating. More and more people are questioning Canada’s relationship with First Nations people. They want to have better relations that are based on nation-to-nation friendship.”
That improved dialogue starts with education, said Harrington, who walked from Kanesatake to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., this summer to raise awareness about the 215 Indigenous children whose remains were found at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
“When we were out there meeting people, a lot of them didn’t know the story,” he said. “They heard about it on the news, but they didn’t go any further. So what’s needed is more education in the school system, and truth. Truth is No. 1.”
ftomesco@postmedia.com
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