SURJ Toronto Statement of Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders

“Reconciliation is not at the barrel of a gun”
- Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks of the Tsayu (Beaver) Clan

Toronto, ON - Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Toronto extends solidarity to the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders who are resisting Coastal GasLink’s incursion into their lands, and condemns the recent militarized RCMP raids on Gidimt’en clan territory. We call on the RCMP to stand down, and for no pipeline construction to proceed without consent on unceded territory.

SURJ Toronto is a GTA-based grassroots organization. Believing that no one is free until everyone is free, we collaborate with Black, Indigenous, and racialized organizers, and move white people to take action to dismantle white supremacy and colonialism. We have an urgent responsibility to amplify, resource, and support Indigenous land defenders, and we are responding to the call to action from Gidimt’en Checkpoint without hesitation.

Land defenders on the west coast have been reclaiming their ancestral territory, blocking the Coastal GasLink pipeline from drilling beneath Wedzin Kwa, Wet’suwet’en sacred headwaters. On November 14, they issued notice of a blockade to enforce the eviction, under Wet’suwet’en law, of Coastal GasLink workers from Gidimt’en clan territory.

Four days later, dozens of RCMP officers, escorting Coastal GasLink workers and heavy equipment, began violently raiding the camps known as Gidimt’en Checkpoint and Coyote Camp. They arrested land defenders including elders, legal observers, and Gidimt’en Checkpoint spokesperson Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, who was subsequently released with the condition that she stay at least 75 metres from Coastal GasLink worksites and equipment. Journalists have also been arrested.

A Gidimt’en Checkpoint news release describes the November 19 raid on Coyote Camp: “Police were deployed in military garb, armed with assault weapons and dog teams, and enforced a media and communications blackout at the site.” Without showing warrants, RCMP entered cabins using axes and chainsaws, and deployed snipers aiming at the doors. It was later reported that - in a longstanding tactic of colonial violence and dispossession - the cabins were burned to the ground.

As the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs pointed out in their statement on the raids, “RCMP should be assisting flood victims and communities, not out invading our Territory and arresting our peaceful people and supporters.”

The heavy-handed, militarized response to Indigenous land defenders asserting their rights is contrary to Indigenous law, international law, and the principles of reconciliation Canadians often proclaim to hold dear.

We urge our fellow settlers, in the wake of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the revelations of thousands of unmarked graves this summer, to make the connections between residential schools and resource extraction and to take action. We call on progressive voters to state unequivocally to their representatives that Indigenous land defenders must be protected - state violence in the name of resource extraction must end now!

Here are three ways to support Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders resisting Coastal GasLink:

• Express your outrage! Gidimt’en Checkpoint is calling for political pressure on BC Attorney General David Eby, BC Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, and Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino.

• Move some money to the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders legal fund.

• Amplify land defenders’ voices and respond to their calls to action. Follow @Yintah_Access on Instagram, @WetsuwetenStrong on Facebook, and @Gidimten on Twitter.

Go to yintahaccess.com to learn more about how to take action and spread the word. #ShutDownCanada #AllOutForWedzinkwa #WetsuwetenStrong