With respect to the ongoing situation in the Wet’suwet’en territory the primary imperative and responsibility of all should be to find a just, peaceful, and respectful resolution. I and my BC Green Party colleagues remain committed to doing whatever we can to help make that happen.
This situation is a legacy of Canada’s colonial history. Growing up as an Indigenous person (W̱SÁNEĆ) in Canada I know directly how strong and destructive that legacy can be. It has shaped where and how we live, how decisions are made, how lands are stewarded, and where power lies and the purposes for which it is used.
I have come to learn that addressing that legacy and building true reconciliation, respect and partnership requires new patterns of thought and action that are bold, courageous, and innovative. If we are to confront this colonial legacy in ways that are just and principled, everyone has a responsibility and role to play in finding just and peaceful solutions that break from destructive colonial patterns.
This includes the use of force and violence to achieve an outcome. That approach has not solved the deeper issues in the past, typically it has enflamed them, and it is not a solution for the current situation in the Wet’suwet’en territory. It is not a solution in any future conflict over land and resource management in British Columbia.
The transition from colonization to self-determination is going to take time and a thoughtful approach. As I have said many times in recent months, it will not happen overnight. Many people have worked incredibly hard to advance reconciliation efforts dramatically over the past year. This work was done in a “good way” and it is with this in mind that I respectfully ask everyone to embrace our responsibility to find a just and peaceful resolution to the current impasse in Wet’suwet’en territory.
The Wet’suwet’en peoples have a right to claim a tax on every drop of product that might flow through that pipe through Wet’suwet’en territory. The owners of that pipe would have calculated at most a 15 % tax and at least a 10% tax. That the NDP went and gave away the chance to tax the products flowing through the pipe the Wet’suwet’en’s peoples should be able to tax it. And rightly so for the life of the pipe should also give back something over the life of the pipe. As long as the pipe is there and being built, and if finished the product should be taxed so that generations can benefit from it.Not just settle for a small fraction of a payout of a settlement that the corporation would make back just from the interest of the profit they would make. A 10% tax on the product that flows through the pipe, over the life of the pipe, would be worth billions to the Wet’suwet’en peoples. As they aren’t getting much of a choice as to what mega projects are pushed through their territory they should at least get percentage of the profits that are making other lives better and richer at the Wet’suwet’en peoples expense.
Living now in Ontario, I might have a different perspective. The fear of another OKA situation brings fear of complete breakdown of relations between what I perceive to be the hereditary wisdom of protecting the environment for future generations vs the need to provide for current generation the resources ($) to thrive today. The pipelines have the potential to not only destroy the immediate local environment, but the greater global one. Terrible dilemma for the chiefs of both the local governments who see the poverty of their people, and the hereditary chiefs who are looking into the future. How can we non-indigenous people help?
Echo, echo, echo these thoughts, aspirations, and intentions. Thank you Adam!!
This is true Adam. I hope you are able to convey this—emphatically—to Premier Horgan and the provincial government. All parties involved need to take a breath, step back from the brinkmanship and work towards results that allow long-term, peaceful existence satisfactory to all.
Adam – Is it not true that each band must decide what elected leaders of the band decide/control vs. what hereditary leaders decide/control in particular situations?
So, in the Wet’suwet’en, case, isn’t the government (province) playing elected leaders/ hereditary chiefs and even community members off of each other? And, doesn’t that play right into the hands of the government?
Therefore, isn’t it true that bands must make decisions on their own and among their members PRIOR to the government turning the wheels in its favour? Without making self-governing decisions in advance, bands really leave themselves open to government manipulation.
Now, no doubt, I’m simplifying what the Wet’suwet’en (and other bands) are facing, though I do think the government is just drooling over opportunities that allow it to manipulate bands.
The solution is simple. Re-route the pipeline around Wet’suwet’en traditional, un-ceded lands.
Oh, and when you do that, make sure you don’t go through anyone else’s traditional, un-ceded lands, either.
With a bit of luck and continued low natgas prices, this will result in the pipeline not being built.
I hope and pray that the Wet’suwet’en are not enticed by shiny trinkets, like the Lenape, who sold Manhattan for $24, were. Even billions of dollars are only transient in our modern world, but the land and atmosphere won’t heal just because money changed hands.
We count on the Wet’suwet’en to speak for the land, and not be bought off like the reserve councils, imposed by the racist 1876 Indian Act. Interviews with band council members reveal that they took the money out of desperation, because they believed that if they didn’t, the pipe would go through anyway, and they’d be left with nothing.
I would be with the Unist’ot’en now, if I didn’t have to milk goats twice a day. I offered to send the blockaders some of our cheddar goat cheese, and got the terrifying reply that they were surrounded by RCMP, and this was not a good time to accept the gifts of food that they solicited on their website.
Please, Adam, do anything and everything you can do to get the RCMP thugs to stand down, and let cooler heads prevail. They have blocked the press from monitoring the situation, they have jammed cell phones in the area, and if it comes down to violence, you can bet that the RCMP’s story will be the one that is told.
We can’t afford to count on the British press to let us know what is happening in our own province!
Have you or Sonia been there Adam? It might be a good time for a bit of nation to nation respect….or do they always have to come to Victoria begging? This is meant as a suggestion , not a criticism.
What would be helpful for me and perhaps other British Columbians / Canadians is some education and or helpful online resources in order to understand the legal situation involving the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the provincial and or Canadian government. Having said that, I am opposed to any and all projects that support the continued use of fossil fuels. Building a pipeline implies we will continue using fossil fuel for the next 50 years. We do not have 50 years. We have 11.
From the Unist’ot’en website today, it appears that the RCMP has set up a total blockade, excluding not only press, but supplies. They have also set up a “no-fly” zone, so the Unist’ot’en cannot even receive food via helicopter.
Starve them out. How very 1876 of them.
This is immoral. Please do what you can to make it stop.
The best summary I’ve seen is the letter that the BC Civil Liberties Association sent to politicians, including RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Strachan, Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Government of Canada, Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Government of Canada, Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Province of British Columbia, Scott Fraser, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Province of British Columbia,David Pfeiffer, President, Coastal GasLink, and Tiffany Murray, Indigenous Relations, Coastal GasLink.
It does not have hot links, but includes references to all the appropriate laws and events, which should give you enough to google.
Today, we formally adopted this (with some modifications) as our own statement in support.
Also very helpful in understanding the Wet’suwet’en is the Unist’ot’en website, which has been getting nearly daily updates.
Here is a bit of what happened at the BC Legislature this past Saturday:
https://youtu.be/wHQDMQ2vtXc
The Wet’suwet’en have formally requested intervention by the United Nations, citing increasing activity and surveillance by the RCMP, who have also cut off their food supplies, which is a crime against humanity under international law.
Thank you Adam for addressing this issue and identifying it as part of the ongoing history of colonialism. This is not the first, and certainly won’t be the last time governments ignored the legitimate rights of First Nations, and refused to negotiate as equals in good faith. What is most important, and what will be remembered, is that people spoke the truth and fought for their rights.