We Stand with the Unist’ot’en
The Unist’ot’en camp and community are currently on high alert. The RCMP recently visited the Unist’ot’en camp, and the RCMP and federal government have continuously targeted the Unist’ot’en camp for surveillance. We are deeply and gravely concerned to learn from a variety of sources that the RCMP appear to be on the verge of executing a highly provocative and dangerously reckless operational plan to make arrests.
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, express our support for the Unist’ot’en Camp and denounce any attempt by the federal government, provincial government or RCMP to interfere in the rights of the Unist’ot’en to occupy, manage or maintain their lands.
In accordance with Wet’suwet’en law, entry into Unist’ot’en territory is controlled by checkpoints at two locations on Unist’ot’en Territory. Free, prior and informed consent protocol is conducted at checkpoints on the Wedzinkwah (Morice River) at the 65 KM mark on Moricewest Forest Service Road. Another checkpoint is at 29.5 KM on the Chisolm Road.
Successive Supreme Court of Canada decisions, such as Delgamuukw and Tsilhqot’in, also recognize that Aboriginal title includes the right to use, manage, possess land, and to decide how the land will be used. Furthermore, Aboriginal title means that governments and others must obtain consent to use the land.
As the Unist’ot’en Declaration, signed unanimously by five Unist’ot’en chiefs on August 6, 2015 states, “Exercising our unbroken, unextinguished and unceded right to govern and occupy these lands, the Unist’ot’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have enacted the Unist’ot’en Declaration as official statement and law governing Unist’ot’en territory… Now enacted as law through the inherent jurisdiction of the Unist’ot’en Clan, all activities, development and actions undertaken by government or industry within Unist’ot’en territory must be consistent with the terms of this declaration.”
We support the inherent and constitutional rights of the Unist’ot’en to govern and protect their traditional territories in accordance with their laws. We assert the necessity of the work that is being done through the building of the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre, and caution against any intrusions that disrupt or violate the healing of the people and the land. We expect any and all actions taken by the federal and provincial government, industry and policing agencies to be consistent with the Unist’ot’en Declaration and the jurisdiction of the Unist’ot’en Clan.
The Unist’ot’en are a remote community in northwestern B.C that authorities may mistakenly assume has minimal support. We are local, national and international organizations monitoring these developments closely and we affirm that the Unist’ot’en are not alone.
Undersigned,
350 – Portland
Aboriginal Community Equity Services
Active Pass Freight
Activism beyond the Interface – The Sandbox Project
Adam Olsen, Interim-Leader BC Green Party
Anti Colonial Committee of the Law Union of Ontario
Anti-Racist Printmakers’ Alliance
BC Assembly of First Nations
BC Green Party
BC-Yukon KAIROS Rolling Justice Bus initiative
Beyond Boarding
Binghamton University Food Sustainability
Blue Mountain Métis Nation
Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion-BROKE
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 718
Council of Canadians
Creative Witness
Creativity Commons Collective and Press
David Suzuki, environmentalist and author
Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society
Defenders of the Land
Downstream: Re-imagining Water
Dr. Erin Glanville, Pastor
Dr. Glen Coulthard (Yellowknives Dene First Nation) Assistant Professor, UBC
Dr. Tim Dickau, Reverend, Grandview Calvary Baptist Church
Earthkeepers: Christians for Climate Justice
Eastvan environmentallists
Economics for the Anthropocene -McGill Graduate Research Partnership
Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada
First Nations Summit
Forest Action Network
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Golden Ears Farm
Greenpeace Canada
Heartwood Community Cafe
Idle No More
Indigenous Feminism Rising
Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSMO) – Ottawa
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Joie Warnock, Unifor Western Director
Kathara Pilipino Indigenous Arts Collective Society
Lasqueti Island Fighting for the Environment
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Anishinaabe writer and academic
McGill University Radical Law Student Community
Migrant Workers Dignity Association
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network
Missoula Community Food Co-op
Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything
Native Youth Sexual Health Network
Natural Care Reflexology
No More Silence
No One Is Illegal – Toronto
No One Is Illegal – Vancouver Coast Salish Territories
Oakland SOL – Sustaining Ourselves Locally
Ocean Holistics
Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, Sovereign Catholicate of the Inland Seas
Palestine Solidarity Action Group
Pastor Joy Banks
Pedestrians United
Peninsula EcoVision
Peoples’ Action for Rights and Community
PipeLeaks
Radical Access Mapping Project
Reverend Mark Glanville
Rising Tide – Toronto
Rising Tide – Vancouver Coast Salish Territories
Rittenhouse: A New Vision
Roll for Initiative
Sanctuary Health
SFU Institute for the Humanities
ShitHarperDid
Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group
Smart Change
Social Housing Alliance
Spokane Rising Tide
Steve Heinrichs, Director of Indigenous Relations, Mennonite Church Canada
Streams of Justice
subMedia.tv
System Change Not Climate Change
Teri Young Paxar Technologies Corp
The Ad Hoc Committee Against Racial Profiling and Violence
The Centre for Race, Autobiography, Gender and Age Student Networks
The Institute For Culturally Restorative Practices
The Story We Be, Community Writing Institute
Toronto 350
Toronto Rejects Energy East
Union of BC Indian Chiefs
University of Waterloo Students for Palestinian Rights
Vancouver Comuna of the Indigenous Popular Council of Oaxaca Ricardo Flores Magón
Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group
Vancouver Status of Women
We Love This Coast
Wolf Patrol
Women Fight Back
Youth and Arts Society of Surrey
