An independent solidarity rally will be held for the Wet’suwet’en this Saturday at 1pm in front of the Kelowna Law Courts on Water Street, on unceded Syilx territory. Unceded and sovereign Wet’suwet’en land is under attack. An injunction has been passed against members of the Wet’suwet’en nation who have been stewarding and protecting their territories from the destruction of multiple pipelines. Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church’s injunction, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of Coastal GasLink’s (CGL) workers from the territory. The last CGL contractor was escorted out by Wet’suwet’en Chiefs this past Saturday, January 4th.
By passing this injunction, TransCanada as well as the provincial and federal governments are openly violating Wet’suwet’en, Canadian law, and international law (most notably UNDRIP). Land defenders at the Gitdumt’en checkpoint have experienced disproportionate violence and aggression from the RCMP.
Each clan within the Wet’suwet’en Nation have full jurisdiction under their law to control access to their territory. This has been upheld in previous court cases (Delgamuukw). The Wet’suwet’en Nation is demanding that the provincial and federal governments take action and immediately revoke the permits for the LNG pipeline until standards of Free Prior and Informed Consent under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) are met.
Meet in front of the Provincial Court of British Columbia at 1pm this Saturday, and organizers welcome and encourage you to bring along creative signs, drums, and noise makers.
