Unist’ot’en Camp, a reoccupation of Wet'suwet'en Nation land in British Columbia, is calling for the province to halt a pipeline because officials ignored potential harms to a nearby healing centre.
Coastal Gaslink is a 670-kilometre proposed natural-gas pipeline that would run near the camp on Wet’suwet’en territory in northeastern British Columbia, against the opposition of all the nation’s hereditary chiefs and an increasing number of supporters.
[Photo: ‘Is this a scorecard of how many First Nations say yes compared to those who say no? Is that how we measure rights and title?’ Photo by Michael Toledano.]
The commissioner believes Canada is shirking its obligations as a signatory to the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks said letters to the federal and provincial governments requesting meetings “on a nation-to-nation basis” had received no response.
Premier John Horgan has no plans to meet with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs fighting a gas pipeline during a northern B.C. tour this week.
First Nations expected a new era; instead the government has embraced colonialism and ignored UNDRIP law.
It’s the same old story Indigenous Peoples have heard for generations.
B.C. Premier John Horgan tells the public “the rule of law” demands the Coastal GasLink pipeline go ahead. Permits are in place, and the courts have approved construction.
Members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have fought for many years to keep three pipelines from running through their land in northern B.C. At stake, the protesters say, is their way of life, their culture and their system of governance which was recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in the landmark Delgamuukw decision in 1997.
Tensions continue to run high over the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline project, which has been approved by the federal and B.C. governments, as well as by 20 elected First Nations councils along the route.
It's become a defining moment not only in the evolution of Indigenous rights, but in the future of B.C.'s NDP government and Canada's oil and gas industry.
