Last year the Wet’suwet’en were violently raided by the RCMP when they stood up to protect their land from the Coastal GasLink LNG pipeline – a project being rammed through their territory without their consent.
The stand-off has continued, and now the RCMP is poised to act again. British Columbia recently brought the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) into law, making it a requirement for government to seek free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous rights and title-holders before building projects on their land. But in direct violation of UNDRIP, we are now witnessing yet another case of Indigenous people being denied the declaration's protections on their own land.
For nearly ten years, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Leaders have made it clear they want no pipelines on the Wet’suwet’en Yintah – the Wet’suwet’en traditional territory. The Nation had the rights over its traditional lands confirmed in a landmark 1997 ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada.
At stake is a proposed 670km-long pipeline running fracked natural gas from Northeastern BC fracking fields to what would be Canada’s largest LNG terminal in Kitimat on the BC Pacific Coast. Passing through Wet’suwet’en territory, it and all other oil and gas pipelines have been unanimously rejected by all Wet’suwet’en Clan Houses.
Use this tool to tell Premier John Horgan and his government to implement UNDRIP and call off the RCMP.