BY CHELSEA PERRY
GUEST OPINION
“No relationship is more important to Canada than the relationship with Indigenous Peoples,” said PM Justin Trudeau on June 21, 2017.
However, after the RCMP made 14 arrests on Jan. 7, including an elder, and forcefully entered a checkpoint on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in northern B.C., Canadians are calling Trudeau’s bluff. Molly Wickham, spokesperson of Gitdumden Clan, has been arrested along with others who will be brought to Prince George to stand before a Justice of the Peace.
The permanent Unist’ot’en camp and the Gidimt’en checkpoint are part of an ongoing effort by Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders and community to protect unceded territory from environmentally detrimental construction.
The $6.2-billion pipeline being constructed by CoastalGasLink, a subsidiary of TransCanada, would ship natural gas from Dawson Creek, B.C., to the coast of Kitimat, as part of a $40-billion initiative. Its route runs about one kilometre south of the Unist’ot’en camp. TransCanada insists its only access route to begin pre-construction work is the bridge over the Morice River, which is the region where the checkpoints are.
“The proposed pipelines are a threat to the watershed, as well as the plants, animals and communities that depend on them,” the Unist’ot’en camp says on its website.
“The Unist’ot’en are fighting for the future health of the land. They are protecting the traditional hunting, trapping, and fishing territories to ensure that the natural beauty and bounty of the earth will be enjoyed for generations to come.”
Monday’s arrests were “not an ideal situation,” explained Trudeau Wednesday morning, urging compliance with the law.
But Trudeau’s pleas of compliance are misplaced, and need be directed at his own government. TransCanada has said it signed agreements with all First Nations along the coast who would be impacted by pipeline construction. However, hereditary leaders are fighting back saying those agreements don’t apply to traditional territories.
Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.” Any removal of Wet’suwet’en peoples by the RCMP, or any other authoritarian forces, has directly violated UNDRIP and the Trudeau government’s promise to implement UNDRIP.
This is what reconciliation looks like under the Trudeau government. It is ignorance to the meaning of Aboriginal title, and clear violation of Anuk Nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), which predates provincial and federal law. Once again the government is monopolizing land usage of the unsurrendered, unceded ancestral territory of the aboriginal people for monetary gain. These arrests are based upon a discriminatory and outdated legal system that no so long ago condoned the forced removal of aboriginal children from their families, in the name of progress.
There has to be a better way to resolve conflict. Canada can do better.
- Chelsea Perry is the managing editor of The Cadre, UPEI's student newspaper
