Over 150 people attended a Wet’suwet’en sovereignty solidarity rally in front of Parliament Hill on Sunday afternoon, advocating for the RCMP and Coastal Gaslink company to leave Wet’suwet’en territory.
Organized by Extinction Rebellion Ottawa (ERO), speakers at the rally included Eve Saint and Jocelyn Alec, sisters and daughters of Hereditary Chief Woos, and Gidimt’en Checkpoint spokesperson Sleydo’ Molly Whickham. Wet’suwet’en matriarch Marlene Hale also spoke.
“Build a pipeline in your own backyard and while you are there, drink a glass of oil instead of water,” Hale said. “See what it is like.”
The rally followed a recent increase in police action to enforce a B.C. Supreme Court injunction that grants Coastal Gaslink access to the pipeline site in the Wet’suwet’en nation’s traditional territory, which is west of Burns Lake in the central interior of B.C. Within this region lies 22,000 square kilometres of unceded land.
Saint said RCMP officers arrived to arrest her and three other land defenders during the February 2020 raids at the Gidimt’en Checkpoint while she was pregnant. The arrests were documented by a Ricochet photographer.
Video provided to the CBC, taken by land defender Denzel Sutherland-Wilson, showed an RCMP officer holding a rifle in the direction of him and three others.
The RCMP said they did not brandish a rifle against anyone that day, and that the magnifying scope attached to the gun was used exclusively for visibility purposes. Sutherland-Wilson was arrested alongside Saint, according to a Gidimt’en press release.
Saint said helicopters and members of the canine unit surrounded her on that day.
“They want to pull that trigger on us. You see, how they break down that door and point their snipers at Sleydo’. We had the same experience,” Saint said.
Alec was also arrested on Nov. 18 along with Sleydo’ and nine others, according to a Gidimt’en press release. Video by documentary journalist Michael Toledano showed the RCMP breaching a cabin at the camp with a chainsaw, and his subsequent arrest.
“My sister got dragged out of her cabin on her knees with snipers pointed at her and K-9 dogs ready to attack her,” Saint said. “[RCMP officers] smirked at her. They laughed at her. They wanted to fucking shoot her because she is Wet’suwet’en.”
Saint encouraged everyone to “stay within the law” and peacefully resist the “desecration” of Wet’suwet’en land.
Delphus, who goes by one name, is an activist who has stayed at contested development sites on Indigenous territories in B.C. He was congratulated by Hale for his work as a front-line land defender at Fairy Creek and in Wet’suwet’en territory.
“We need to shine a light on what is happening in Wet’suwet’en territory and to really reflect on what Canada really stands for,” Delphus said.
Hale said there is difficult work to be done engaging every legislature and within the Wet’suwet’en nation because of the incentive to seek employment with Coastal Gaslink.
“It is not easy, because we are a divided people right now,” Hale said. “I can’t even talk to half of them because there is such a divide. Some want the jobs. Others do not. They refer to it as our land, not our jobs.”
Disagreement among relatives is difficult and sometimes hurtful, Hale said. She said she tries to follow her own advice to think about how words can hurt others.
“When I tell the prime minister we need to pick and choose our words carefully, I have to figure out the right way to deal with issues in our own territory,” Hale said.
After speakers finished, the group marched to the RBC Banque Royale on Sparks Street, chanting and singing. According to activists, the RBC has invested in a significant portion of the $6.8 billion project finance loan which supports the pipeline construction.
“We have to take care of the billionaires. We have to tax them big time,” Hale said during her speech. “It’s called chasing the money.”
Christian Wright, a coordinator for Rainbow Ottawa Student Experience and a student at Carleton University who attended the rally, said it is important for people who are marginalized to show up for one another in solidarity.
“Militarized police squads are invading the Wet’suwet’en sovereign and independent territory to try to protect private corporate interests,” Wright said. “It is so important that we as queer people come out to these events as well, because all oppression is interwoven.”
Although she encouraged action against environmental harms, Hale emphasized the RCMP’s use of force against land defenders and media personnel is a national shame.
Saint said the police presence on Wet’suwet’en territory despite the forest fires in the summer and floods in the fall shows that B.C. leadership has prioritized Coastal Gaslink’s interests over regular people.
“There is a lot wrong here. If you disobey and disrupt it, it actually changes,” Saint said. “Look at [Sleydo’] Molly [Whickham]. They had to stand their ground. They did it peacefully, unarmed.”
“That is all it takes,” Saint said.
Featured image by Spencer Colby
