Seconded By: Vladimir Karamazov
Wet’suwet’en have been living in balanced relationship with this glacial river as well as the salmon, the bear, moose and berries that depend on it, for at least 6000 years. The Canadian courts have recognized the territory as un-ceded—meaning Wet’suwet’en have never given it up and no treaty was ever signed.
But, while Canadian discourse speaks to “reconciliation” for 150 years of colonization, a fracked gas pipeline project, and police enforcement, threatens this ancient Wet’suwet’en relationship.
Hereditary chiefs have not consented to the pipeline, but Canada’s national police enforced its construction at gunpoint.
Over 60 people have been arrested from the Wet’wuet’en territory. It is the same police force that arrested and harried modern Wet’suwet’en’s ancestors onto reserves and into residential schools to clear the way for logging, mining and historical settlement.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs gather to close the road to industrial traffic, January 4, 2020. Hereditary chiefs are the ones who the Canadian courts recognized as the stewards of Wet’suwet’en traditional territory—they have never consented to the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Militarized police breach a locked tiny house with axes and chainsaws at Coyote Camp in Gidimt’en territory near Houston, BC on Friday, November 19, 2021. The Gidimt’en clan held Coyote Camp, adjacent to the Coastal GasLink pipeline right of way and a drill pad site, since September 25th 2021. Coastal GasLink has had an injunction since December of 2019 protecting access to their worksites and the public forestry roads.
Gitxsan supporter Wilpspoocxw Lax Gibuu (Shaylynne Sampson) and Wet’suwet’en Sleydo (Molly Wickham) rest in a Tiny House at Coyote Camp, occupying a Coastal GasLink pipeline site in Gidimt’en territory near Houston, BC on Thursday, November 18, 2021. Police arrested the women the next day, and detained Sleydo for a week.
Wet’suwet’en women, along with a Denesuline and Gitxsan supporter sing at the sacred fire outside of the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre near Houston, B.C. on Tuesday, January 21, 2020. Over the last decade, the camp has evolved into a three story building with running water supplied directly from the river, showers, and electricity.
Freda Huson behind the original cabin where she has lived since 2011 at Unist’ot’en camp near Houston, British Columbia on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Huson has been the spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en clan for most of the last decade and has only recently been asked to step aside after a court granted an injunction against her.
Haudenosaunee supporters Logan Staats, left to right, Teka’tsihasere, or Corey Jocko and Skyler Williams ride a CGL excavator as they help to close the road in Gidimt’en territory near Houston, BC on Sunday, November 14, 2021. Hereditary chiefs served a mandatory evacuation order for all CGL workers and sub-contractors. Chief Woos gave an 8 hour window for everyone to depart and granted a two hour extension but of the over 500 workers at two camps, only a small handful of pickup trucks left.
Haudenosaunee supporter Teka’tsihasere Corey Jocko, aka Jayohcee, whoops in response to a Coastal GasLink worker reading the injunction in Gidimt’en territory near Houston, BC on Sunday, November 14, 2021.
A supporter uses a flare to mark a road closure in Gidimt’en territory near Houston, BC on Sunday, November 14, 2021. Hereditary chiefs served a mandatory evacuation order for all CGL workers and sub-contractors. Chief Woos gave an 8 hour window for everyone to depart and granted a two hour extension but none of the over 500 workers at two camps left.
Sabina Dennis stands her ground as police dismantle the barricade to enforce the injunction filed by Coastal Gaslink Pipeline at the Gidimt’en checkpoint near Houston, British Columbia on Monday, January 7, 2019.
A red dress, which represents the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, hangs at Unis’tot’en camp in Wet’suwet’en territory near Houston, B.C. on Friday, February 7, 2020. Opponents to the pipeline draw a parallel between un-consenting development on the land, and the violence of rape and murder perpetrated against Indigenous women.