[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYZloMtJac[/embedyt]
I have definitely appreciated the words of encouragement I’ve received regarding my trip to Wet’suwet’en territory. It’s been a challenging week and I thank you for your support.
The Wet’suwet’en have a rich and beautiful culture and I was honoured to have the opportunity to learn more about it from their hereditary chiefs.
My trip began at the Office of the Wet’suwet’en in Smithers, BC. Following interviews with the media, Hereditary Chief Na’Moks showed me the map of their territory and how the various parts were governed by the five clans and 13 houses.
We then went out on the land. Following the Morice River, our first stop was at a new camp being constructed just a few hundred metres from the RCMP controlled access point at 27 km. After a brief visit with the people constructing the camp, Na’Moks took me through the RCMP checkpoint to the Gidimt’en camp, which is approximately 10km further into the territory. That is where I met Hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl.
We shared words about our flawed system of resource management and the importance of collaboration between governments. We agreed that respecting our life-sustaining ecosystems through sustainable resource management is the only way forward for our province.
On Sunday, I met with the RCMP at the Smithers detachment and spoke about the need for a peaceful approach to this conflict.
I am grateful that Hereditary Chief Knedebeas met me at the airport for a brief visit before we left the territory on Sunday evening. In addition to meeting three of the hereditary chiefs, I want to raise my hands to Gary Michel. As the Wet’suwet’en Ranger who spends many of his days patrolling the territory, he offered important insights into the ongoing stewardship efforts of the Office of the Wet’suwet’en.
The hereditary chiefs are clear what the next step is: they want government to government dialogue between their leaders and the leaders of the provincial and federal governments.
In my role as an MLA and as the interim leader of the BC Green Party, I am bringing this message to my colleagues in government. I will share what I learned and the importance of dialogue for moving forward.
There are no simple solutions to this conflict; this trip could not have changed that. But I hope it demonstrated that respect, humility, an open mind, and a willingness to learn are critical elements of reconciliation.
We have inherited a colonial legacy and the heartbreaking issues that come with it. We all have a responsibility to our children that we lean in and work out our differences so that the next generation does not inherit these issues.
I am prepared to begin writing our new legacy as a province.
It has begun by establishing a framework with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). Now we must do the difficult but vital work of following through.
This will take patience and compassion. It will take a fundamental shift in our mindset and a commitment to actually transitioning the economy, not just talking about it. It will take dialogue.
While you may not see everything I do on the evening news, please know that everyday I am meeting with people and working to bring people together in the name of reconciliation and love.
Hard to think that meaningful discussions can take place with construction underway.
Hi Adam, thank you for the respect you have shown thus far in regards to indigenous issues.
What I believe would be more beneficial than focusing on an issue by issue basis of injustices done to all people, indigenous, minorities and most everyone else, is the fact that they all stem from the same source, elite capitalist power and control structures. This is speaking truth to power. And a truth all Canadians need to be educated on so we can change the foundation from which such injustices spring from. I believe in governing from a holistic perspective, embibing the truths that all things are interconnected, and as our place within the world, we must move away from the dominate free market capitalist economic theory and put forth the discussion and necessity of radical change. People, Planet and Economy must be in balance for the best quality of each going forward. Triple botom line accounting and other initiatives are being bandied about, but not so much in the halls of power. The old ways of trying to challenge each issue individually is not sufficient, we need to cleanse the system of the neoliberalism and capitalists virus, not keep applying bandaids as temperal solutions. Please give the report, link included in this post, on Regenerative Capitalism.
On another note, please ensure that the RCMP will not be used to protect Corporations over People and Planet. Private militias have for years been hired by corporations the world over, in the US, the infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency, among others, was retained to break up, go to war and suppress the labour movements there for well over 50, until corporation got tired of paying for them, so they turned over their entire milits to the government to become public police systems, paid for by the general tax payers with a written agreement that they would come to the aid of corporations in times of need. Little has changed.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/21/regenerative-economy-holism-economy-climate-change-inequality
Really appreciate your blog and wise perspective and the time you have taken to visit the north this past week.
I has been my 60 year experience, Adam, that dialogue and resolution, respect and inclusive evolution are certainly possible when, as you suggest, both sides talk and walk the walk together in each others shoes if you will. Sadly, it has been my more recent experience, that for those of us committed to reconciliation and participating equally in the family of man, there is limited acceptance of responsibility and no sharing of shoes. In that regard I find your blogs most interesting.
Adam, your commitment to dialogue and interest in solving historically difficult issues is admirable. This reminds me of what you said about Forest lot conflict on Galiano Island … This conflict must be resolved so the community can put the divisive issue to bed so that we can begin to heal and work together. Please keep at it.
The province of BC is very fortunate to have you and your dedication to reconciliation and the environment. Thank you for your service.
Hi Adam. I’m concerned with what John Horgan said about “our law” (DRIPA?) not being retrospective and therefore not applying to the CGL pipeline. As I read Art. 28 of UNDRIP, it’s distinctly retrospective in how it declares that Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent. Do you know if DRIPA has somehow managed to undo this retrospective quality of UNDRIP?
In another sense it shouldn’t really matter if it does. Judith Sayers recently reminded us that the Tsilhqot’in decision says provincial and federal governments need to be prepared to cancel already approved projects if First Nations establish title to the land and oppose them. We know that no one but John Horgan appears to have given up on the need for free, prior and informed consent before ploughing through the CGL pipeline.
That must have been a super informative trip.
Thank you, Adam. I appreciate your diplomacy. We truly need to illuminate the facts that the CGL pipeline not only would be a major and illegal trespass but it is really not economically or ecologically viable. There is only one reason for building it and that is greed of a few. That is not a good reason.
I’m with you Adam! Please INCREASE your blogs on the historic status of Hereditary leadership, emphasizing their recognition that man is just another animal and depends on all other species to guarantee his own survival.
I agree with you, the way this provincial agreement was done is top-down governmental procedure which is 20th century ham-handed thinking & too far out of step with what is needed in negotiating recource agreements.
Excellent work. Thank you Adam. Soon we will all live in ways resembling the traditional ways of First Nations People caring about our world by giving and not just taking, caring for the well being of all those living around us as much as we care about our selves.
Thank you for starting the bridge building process. You are being the change!
Thank you Adam