Toronto350 condemns the actions of the RCMP, the Canadian government and Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. with regard to the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and their territory. We fully support the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in their determination to prevent what amounts to an invasion of their unceded hereditary lands and sacred sites.

Toronto350 condemns the actions of the RCMP, the Canadian government and Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. with regard to the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and their territory. We fully support the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in their determination to prevent what amounts to an invasion of their unceded hereditary lands and sacred sites.

This invasion and the BC court injunction that enabled it are clearly in direct violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Wet’suwet’en law, and other international human rights. The Canadian government, the RCMP and the agents of businesses like Coastal GasLink have no authority over the territory of the Wet’suwet’en. How can the indigenous people be evicted from their own land by what amounts to external forces?

Last year, the BC Legislature voted formally to implement UNDRIP. The current treatment of the Wet’suwet’en shows no evidence of this. In 2016, Canada finally removed its decade-long objector status to the declaration at the UN, thus becoming signatory to this international agreement. And yet the RCMP is acting in direct violation of many of the principles outlined in UNDRIP. Much more significantly, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed Wet'suwet'en sovereignty in 1997 with the Delgamuukw v. B.C. decision. The present actions being brought to bear against the Wet’suwet’en flout this decision.

The risks and harms of pipelines and the fossil fuel products that they carry are undeniable and visible everywhere. We see the damage, degradation and disaster demonstrated on a sickeningly frequent basis. In stopping pipeline development, which could easily damage or destroy their ancestral lands and water, the Wet’suwet’en stand for sane stewardship of the Earth.

Those who initiate, fund and support these pipelines have one main goal: the simple but unconscionable desire to make short-term profit over the long-term health and integrity of the planet. A just transition to a liveable future powered by renewable energy, a future that respects Indigenous rights and self-governance, and leaves no one behind is the only path forward.

The Wet’suwet’en have lived successfully and respectfully on their lands for countless generations. They stand as a model for all of us who deeply desire to secure a livable world and a sustainable future.

We demand that British Columbia withdraw its RCMP troops from Unist’ot’en land. This is a crucial first step to prove that it fully respects the sovereignty of the Wet'suwet'en people and meets the demands of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.