The uprising across Canada in support of Wet’suwet’en First Nation land defenders shows no sign of stopping. As of February 11, ports, bridges, rail lines, highways and roads have been blockaded across much of the country by solidarity protesters, who have also occupied the offices of politicians and at least one bank.
The images and stories coming out of the the RCMP raids on Wet’suwet’en are disheartening, disturbing and reflect a certain dishonesty about Canadian officials’ self-described commitment to Indigenous rights and reconciliation.
Names are important. Terms are important. We need to use them more carefully and precisely than ever in this current era of spin, obfuscation, fake news and outright lies that comprise a larger and larger proportion of both our social and mainstream media.
Solidarity Statement from Professors and Scholars in Support of the Wet’suwet’en people
****UPDATE: This solidarity statement was originally sent around and signed in February 2019. But in February 2020 it started circulating again and is gaining many more new signatories in response to the RCMP raid on Wet’suwet’en territory which has happened in the past weeks. Hundreds more academics are signing daily.****
