Organizers and attendees of the Wet’suwet’en Benefit Concert aimed to provide fundraising, awareness, and respite for protectors of Wet’suwet’en land in British Columbia.
Held at Barrymore’s on Bank Street on Jan. 27, the event was organized by the Wet’suwet’en Ottawa Benefit Committee, a group of Indigenous activists and allies.
Jocelyn Wabano-Iahtail, one of the organizers of the event who is of Cree descent, said this was the fifth event the Ottawa group has held in support of the Wet’suwet’en movement.
Wabano-lahtail said many artists approached the committee and offered to perform for the relief concert following the RCMP’s arrests on Wet’suwet’en territory on Jan. 15.
“Whatever the spirit moves us to do, we come together in prayer and light the pipe and ask the spirits to guide us,” she said.
The show featured performances by hip-hop artist Cody Coyote, spoken word poetry, and traditional Indigenous throat singing.
Wabano-Iahtail said the importance of these events exists outside of just raising money.
“We’ve had to deal with a lot of high-intensity emotions, a lot of fear and concern for our brothers and sisters,” she said. “There’s been a lot of fear, concern and anxiety. So our teachings are about having a balance, so we need to balance it out with bringing up our endorphins, and this gives us that balance, balancing the storm.”
Money was raised through ticket sales and merchandise sold with a logo designed by a relative of one of the 14 people arrested by the RCMP on Jan. 15, which featured the hashtag #NoTrespass.
Scott Macleod, chief of the Nipissing First Nations and a performer at the event, said the benefit of these events is two-fold.
“Tonight, there’s going to be some money raised for those camps to continue the protection of their traditional lands,” he said. “But I think, even more so, the secondary outcome of this is to raise awareness and to have the people of Canada asking the questions and under- standing what the issues are.”
Avery Velez, who is of Mi’kmaq heritage, said being involved with these kinds of movements can be draining, and events such as the benefit concert provide respite from that.
“It’s really important to have spaces and events to come together that aren’t angry, that aren’t so emotionally raw and draining,” they said.
“Having an event like this where we can come together and just laugh, and have fun and get to know one another—it’s important for how we feel about being involved in the movement.”
Macleod said what’s important for people who are looking to show support for Indigenous populations on these issues is educating themselves.
“When you start to peel back the layers of the issue, you start to see the bigger picture of some of the systemic problems that we have in Canada and how Indigenous peoples are always the ones to bear the brunt,” Macleod said. “By all rights, Indigenous people should be the wealthiest people in the country, but we’re the poorest.”
A similar event is planned for Feb. 6 in Montreal. As for the Ottawa group, Wabano-Iahtail said there are more actions forthcoming.
“We plan on continuing—the more [they] step up to attack our brothers and sisters, the more we need to step up too,” she said.
