[Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders Are Heading To The Colonial Courts For Multiple Trials Starting This

Chuffed

Wet'suwet'en Yintah Defence Legal Funds

Wet’suwet’en land defenders are heading to the colonial courts for multiple trials starting this summer for civil and criminal cases — both

[Wet’suwet’en land defenders are heading to the colonial courts for multiple trials starting this summer for civil and criminal cases — both in defence of our right to protect our territory from the unlawful trespass and property damage caused by TC Energy’s project Coastal GasLink, and to pursue a civil suit against the RCMP, Coastal GasLink, and Forsythe Security for waging a daily campaign of intimidation and harassment against Wet’suwet’en people and supporters.

The same colonial judiciary that recognized Wet’suwet’en sovereignty in 1997 is now attempting to criminalise land defenders rightfully protecting our sovereign land and water from an illegal fracked gas pipeline. Help support Gidimt’en Checkpoint land defenders in the colonial court of so-called British Columbia — chip in to the legal fund now to help Wet’suwet’en people continue to stand up for our rights and authority over our own territory and keep us out of jail!

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Criminal Proceedings:

Alleged criminal contempt charges (breach of the injunction) - 8 people facing these charges, each will have to go to trial

Abuse of process trial, will commence with criminal trials

Upcoming court for arrests (alleged obstruction) in August 2022 and March 2023

Civil Proceedings:

Harassment, intimidation and collusion against the RCMP/Department of Justice, CGL and Forsythe Security

In 2020, and 2021 people across the Turtle Island blocked railways and shut down Canada in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline that never received Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.

The global media attention and outrage that followed galvanized widespread support for the Wet’suwet’en, from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to celebrities in Los Angeles issuing statements in solidarity.

The backlash forced the governments of BC and Canada to sign what was hailed as a “landmark” agreement to formally recognize the rights and title of Wet’suwet’en people. They set a timeline of 12 months to complete this work. But the governments of so-called British Columbia and Canada have not followed through on their commitments with Wet’suwet’en leaders to this date, more than three years later.

The UN has issued two additional rebukes to these colonial governments, not only for their failure to consult, but for the use of force and violence on Wet’suwet’en peoples by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the special “Community-Industry Response Group” (now rebranded to the Community Response Unit after intense backlash).

Now, Wet’suwet’en land defenders are being charged as criminals for defending our land and water within their rights as a sovereign nation, as recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2007. On top of this, Wet’suwet’en people continue to suffer police intimidation, harassment, and surveillance. Despite the civil suit against the RCMP, CRU (previously CIRG) and security company Forsythe for colluding to harass Wet’suwet’en people and supporters, police are still using intimidation tactics including nonstop surveillance of camp, going to Sleydo’’s house and peering in the windows, pulling vehicles over and disrupting daily activities like collecting drinking water and firewood.

"The fact that Canada has a special task force — C-IRG — to assure industry free access to our lands and to criminalize us for exercising our rights to our thousands of year old governance system indicates to the world that Canada and B.C. maintain an abusive relationship toward Indigenous people," said Sleydo' (Molly Wickham), spokesperson for Gidim'ten Checkpoint of the Wet'suwet'en.

“The Wet’suwet’en people, under the governance of their Hereditary Chiefs, are standing in the way of the largest fracking project in Canadian history. Our medicines, our berries, our food, the animals, our water, our culture, our homes are all here since time immemorial. We will never abandon our children to live in a world with no clean water. We uphold our ancestral responsibilities. There will be no pipelines on Wet'suwet'en territory.”

Stand in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en people as we head to the colonial courts starting this summer to assert our sovereign right to protect our lands under the governance of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, and to hold the colonial state-sanctioned police accountable for tactics of intimidation and harassment. Donate to the Wet’suwet’en legal fund now.]