COVID 19 Outbreak at Man Camps on Unist'ot'en Territory - Actions

09/12/20
Author: 
Wet'suwet'en Leaders

Dec. 8, 2020

In the last week a COVID 19 Outbreak within the 9A man camp on Unist'ot'en Territory behind the healing center has begun with at least 5 confirmed cases, and one Wet'suwet'en worker hospitalized and in a coma. 

Wet'suwet'en women are calling for an immediate shut down of the man camps to stop community spread. 

Health care workers are signing onto an open letter supporting this demand. 

John Horgan and the NDP's decision to keep these camps open as essential work are putting peoples' lives at risk! Public action is needed to pressure them to shut down these camps and stop community spread!
 
UPDATE FROM UNIST'OT'EN CAMP:

"Coastal Gaslink has informed us that there are now 5 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Camp 9A on Unist'ot'en territory.

As COVID cases surge across the north, hospitals are running out of space. Patients from the north are being shipped as far as Victoria for treatment.

Wet'suwet'en community members who have been infected with COVID-19 while working for Coastal Gaslink have been sent home to self isolate. We are gravely concerned of the risk this poses to our community, as it is not uncommon in our community for several generations to share a household. As schools are still open, there is a great risk of community spread.

We have never consented to the construction of man camps on our territories, and since the earliest days of the pandemic we have expressed concerns about the risk of transient workers bringing COVID 19 into our community. Our Unist'ot'en Healing Centre has been on lockdown for months, with strict COVID 19 self-isolation and quarantine protocols in place for all staff and visitors.

BC continues to protect the LNG industry even as outbreaks and cases rise across their facilities. Northern Health does not include many of these cases in their statistics, when those infected are workers from outside of the region.

We continue to urge Dr. Bonnie Henry to do the right thing and honour the wishes of our Ts’ako ze’ (female chiefs), by shutting down industrial camps until they can operate safely.

We continue to keep our community members in our prayers.
Please read and share the open letter to Dr. Bonnie Henry written by our women: https://unistoten.camp/covidoutbreaks/

Please read and share the open letter from health care workers, written in support of our Tsako'ze: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLScV93GadMxsWS.../viewform
With CGL's reckless actions now getting people sick and initating community spread within Wet'suwet'en communities and the whole northern health region public pressure is needed more than ever to shut down the man camps and keep people safe!

If you are a health care worker please sign onto and share the health worker open letter.

Educate and moblize your community by sharing the Wet'suwet'en letter and this Narwal article with your peers and use the Supporter toolkit to take action together! 

Call John Horgan to demand that the BC government shut down the CGL man camps to stop community spread!

Horgan: 250-387-1715