Protests were planned worldwide in solidarity with a First Nations group fighting against the construction of a pipeline through Wet'suwet'en territory. (Photo: Unist'ot'en Camp/Facebook)
Jan 07, 2019
More than 50 protests have been planned for across the globe on Tuesday in solidarity with a First Nations group fighting against the construction of TransCanada's Coastal GasLink through unceded Wet'suwet'en territory, with the number of protests rising overnight after Canadian police broke down a checkpoint gate erected by Indigenous land protectors and arrested more than a dozen people.
\u201cThe moment RCMP came over the gates and started making arrests to enforce the Coastal GasLink injunction.\u201d— ChantelleBellrichard (@ChantelleBellrichard) 1546926516
Reacting to footage of the "invasion" by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), author and activist Naomi Klein said it was "a shameful day for Canada, which has marketed itself as a progressive leader on climate and Indigenous rights."
Klein condemned the government's raid on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory and the arrest of First Nations land defenders, "all for a gas pipeline that is entirely incompatible with a safe climate."
\u201chttps://t.co/mLfhU9stER Unist'ot'en spokesperson Freda Huson: "I am here in my home, on my land...Without water, no human will survive and these projects like TransCanada\u2019s Coastal Gaslink threatens the water. We are the land, the land is us.\u201d #unistoten #nopipelines #undrip\u201d— Unist'ot'en Camp (@Unist'ot'en Camp) 1546916150
People at the Gidimt'en camp have been anticipating the arrival of the RCMP, who are enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction that came last month in response to another camp on the territory formed by another Wet'suwet'en clan, the Unist'ot'en, in opposition to the fossil fuel company's proposed route for the fracked gas pipeline.
"This is Canada's response to unarmed Indigenous defenders asserting their own rights on their own territory."
--Mike Hudema, Greenpeace
"Camp members faced both uniformed RCMP and camouflage-wearing Emergency Response Team tactical unit officers through the barbed wire," according to the Toronto Star. "Police climbed a ladder over the top of the gate, circumventing a secondary blockade formed by the bodies of the camp members themselves. Then they began to arrest people."
The Mounties established a "temporary exclusion zone," and said in a statement that "there are both privacy and safety concerns in keeping the public and the media at the perimeter, which should be as small as possible and as brief as possible in the circumstances, based on security and safety needs." The statement noted that "during the arrests, the RCMP observed a number of fires being lit along the roadway by unknown persons, and large trees felled across the roadway."
\u201cToday was a difficult day to witness. RCMP enforced an injunction to force them to give access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline that would deliver natural gas to the $40 bill, under construction expansion terminal in Kitimat. #wetsuweten #aboriginaltitle #pipeline\u201d— Amber Bracken (@Amber Bracken) 1546919612
Journalists and supporters of the land defenders posted updates from the scene to social media and called out Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the clear contrast between his claims that he wants to build a legacy of "reconciliation" with First Nations and how his government has responded to objections from the Wet'suwet'en people over the pipeline.
\u201cIs this a normal way to respond to Indigenous people who are peacefully protecting their drinking water from fracking pipelines? @JustinTrudeau @jjhorgan is this the reconciliation you have talking about? #WETSUWETENSTRONG #NOPIPELINES\u201d— Michael Toledano (@Michael Toledano) 1546912067
\u201cThis is Canada\u2019s response to unarmed Indigenous defenders asserting their own rights on their own territory.\n\nShame on you @JustinTrudeau. \n\n#cdnpoli #bcpoli #Wetsuweten #WetsuwetenStrong\u201d— Mike Hudema (@Mike Hudema) 1546920320
As Common Dreams reported Monday, although TransCanada claims it has signed agreements with First Nations leaders along the pipeline routes, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs were not consulted, and say that those who signed off on the pipeline, which is set to cut through traditional lands, were not authorized to do so under Indigenous laws.
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More than 50 protests have been planned for across the globe on Tuesday in solidarity with a First Nations group fighting against the construction of TransCanada's Coastal GasLink through unceded Wet'suwet'en territory, with the number of protests rising overnight after Canadian police broke down a checkpoint gate erected by Indigenous land protectors and arrested more than a dozen people.
\u201cThe moment RCMP came over the gates and started making arrests to enforce the Coastal GasLink injunction.\u201d— ChantelleBellrichard (@ChantelleBellrichard) 1546926516
Reacting to footage of the "invasion" by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), author and activist Naomi Klein said it was "a shameful day for Canada, which has marketed itself as a progressive leader on climate and Indigenous rights."
Klein condemned the government's raid on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory and the arrest of First Nations land defenders, "all for a gas pipeline that is entirely incompatible with a safe climate."
\u201chttps://t.co/mLfhU9stER Unist'ot'en spokesperson Freda Huson: "I am here in my home, on my land...Without water, no human will survive and these projects like TransCanada\u2019s Coastal Gaslink threatens the water. We are the land, the land is us.\u201d #unistoten #nopipelines #undrip\u201d— Unist'ot'en Camp (@Unist'ot'en Camp) 1546916150
People at the Gidimt'en camp have been anticipating the arrival of the RCMP, who are enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction that came last month in response to another camp on the territory formed by another Wet'suwet'en clan, the Unist'ot'en, in opposition to the fossil fuel company's proposed route for the fracked gas pipeline.
"This is Canada's response to unarmed Indigenous defenders asserting their own rights on their own territory."
--Mike Hudema, Greenpeace
"Camp members faced both uniformed RCMP and camouflage-wearing Emergency Response Team tactical unit officers through the barbed wire," according to the Toronto Star. "Police climbed a ladder over the top of the gate, circumventing a secondary blockade formed by the bodies of the camp members themselves. Then they began to arrest people."
The Mounties established a "temporary exclusion zone," and said in a statement that "there are both privacy and safety concerns in keeping the public and the media at the perimeter, which should be as small as possible and as brief as possible in the circumstances, based on security and safety needs." The statement noted that "during the arrests, the RCMP observed a number of fires being lit along the roadway by unknown persons, and large trees felled across the roadway."
\u201cToday was a difficult day to witness. RCMP enforced an injunction to force them to give access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline that would deliver natural gas to the $40 bill, under construction expansion terminal in Kitimat. #wetsuweten #aboriginaltitle #pipeline\u201d— Amber Bracken (@Amber Bracken) 1546919612
Journalists and supporters of the land defenders posted updates from the scene to social media and called out Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the clear contrast between his claims that he wants to build a legacy of "reconciliation" with First Nations and how his government has responded to objections from the Wet'suwet'en people over the pipeline.
\u201cIs this a normal way to respond to Indigenous people who are peacefully protecting their drinking water from fracking pipelines? @JustinTrudeau @jjhorgan is this the reconciliation you have talking about? #WETSUWETENSTRONG #NOPIPELINES\u201d— Michael Toledano (@Michael Toledano) 1546912067
\u201cThis is Canada\u2019s response to unarmed Indigenous defenders asserting their own rights on their own territory.\n\nShame on you @JustinTrudeau. \n\n#cdnpoli #bcpoli #Wetsuweten #WetsuwetenStrong\u201d— Mike Hudema (@Mike Hudema) 1546920320
As Common Dreams reported Monday, although TransCanada claims it has signed agreements with First Nations leaders along the pipeline routes, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs were not consulted, and say that those who signed off on the pipeline, which is set to cut through traditional lands, were not authorized to do so under Indigenous laws.
More than 50 protests have been planned for across the globe on Tuesday in solidarity with a First Nations group fighting against the construction of TransCanada's Coastal GasLink through unceded Wet'suwet'en territory, with the number of protests rising overnight after Canadian police broke down a checkpoint gate erected by Indigenous land protectors and arrested more than a dozen people.
\u201cThe moment RCMP came over the gates and started making arrests to enforce the Coastal GasLink injunction.\u201d— ChantelleBellrichard (@ChantelleBellrichard) 1546926516
Reacting to footage of the "invasion" by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), author and activist Naomi Klein said it was "a shameful day for Canada, which has marketed itself as a progressive leader on climate and Indigenous rights."
Klein condemned the government's raid on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory and the arrest of First Nations land defenders, "all for a gas pipeline that is entirely incompatible with a safe climate."
\u201chttps://t.co/mLfhU9stER Unist'ot'en spokesperson Freda Huson: "I am here in my home, on my land...Without water, no human will survive and these projects like TransCanada\u2019s Coastal Gaslink threatens the water. We are the land, the land is us.\u201d #unistoten #nopipelines #undrip\u201d— Unist'ot'en Camp (@Unist'ot'en Camp) 1546916150
People at the Gidimt'en camp have been anticipating the arrival of the RCMP, who are enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court injunction that came last month in response to another camp on the territory formed by another Wet'suwet'en clan, the Unist'ot'en, in opposition to the fossil fuel company's proposed route for the fracked gas pipeline.
"This is Canada's response to unarmed Indigenous defenders asserting their own rights on their own territory."
--Mike Hudema, Greenpeace
"Camp members faced both uniformed RCMP and camouflage-wearing Emergency Response Team tactical unit officers through the barbed wire," according to the Toronto Star. "Police climbed a ladder over the top of the gate, circumventing a secondary blockade formed by the bodies of the camp members themselves. Then they began to arrest people."
The Mounties established a "temporary exclusion zone," and said in a statement that "there are both privacy and safety concerns in keeping the public and the media at the perimeter, which should be as small as possible and as brief as possible in the circumstances, based on security and safety needs." The statement noted that "during the arrests, the RCMP observed a number of fires being lit along the roadway by unknown persons, and large trees felled across the roadway."
\u201cToday was a difficult day to witness. RCMP enforced an injunction to force them to give access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline that would deliver natural gas to the $40 bill, under construction expansion terminal in Kitimat. #wetsuweten #aboriginaltitle #pipeline\u201d— Amber Bracken (@Amber Bracken) 1546919612
Journalists and supporters of the land defenders posted updates from the scene to social media and called out Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the clear contrast between his claims that he wants to build a legacy of "reconciliation" with First Nations and how his government has responded to objections from the Wet'suwet'en people over the pipeline.
\u201cIs this a normal way to respond to Indigenous people who are peacefully protecting their drinking water from fracking pipelines? @JustinTrudeau @jjhorgan is this the reconciliation you have talking about? #WETSUWETENSTRONG #NOPIPELINES\u201d— Michael Toledano (@Michael Toledano) 1546912067
\u201cThis is Canada\u2019s response to unarmed Indigenous defenders asserting their own rights on their own territory.\n\nShame on you @JustinTrudeau. \n\n#cdnpoli #bcpoli #Wetsuweten #WetsuwetenStrong\u201d— Mike Hudema (@Mike Hudema) 1546920320
As Common Dreams reported Monday, although TransCanada claims it has signed agreements with First Nations leaders along the pipeline routes, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs were not consulted, and say that those who signed off on the pipeline, which is set to cut through traditional lands, were not authorized to do so under Indigenous laws.
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