Early in the morning on February 6, the RCMP raided the supporter camp down the road from Gidimt’en and Unist’ot’en, in Wet’suwet’en territory.
At the time of writing this, up to six people have been arrested. The Unist’ot’en camp lost radio contact with Gidimt’en after receiving reports that the RCMP smashed the window of the radio vehicle. There are reports some RCMP had their guns drawn – not pointed at people – but guns in hand.
The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs issued an eviction notice to Costal GasLink (CGL) on January 4, 2020 that applied to “Camp 9A” on Dark Horse territory, as well as the neighbouring Gidimt’en, Tsayu and Laksamshu clan territories.
Since then, CGL has refused to comply with the eviction notice. British Columbia has not upheld its commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or removed its RCMP from sovereign Wet’suwet’en land.
It’s time to speak up and show up in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation as they continue to assert sovereignty on their traditional territories in the face of state violence. We need to ramp up the political pressure on the ground to stop this shameful attack on land defenders and their rights.
The Council of Canadians is supporting an International Day of Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en from Friday, February 7 to Tuesday February 11, organized by our friends at Indigenous Climate Action, Idle No More and the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Show the B.C. and federal governments that you will not sit idly by while Wet’suwet’en land defenders face state violence for protecting their lands and the planet in the climate crisis. Click on the links below for the solidarity events in your area:
- Calgary (Monday, February 10)
- Edmonton (Friday, February 7)
- Edmonton (Monday, February 10)
- Halifax (Monday, February 10)
- Halifax (Saturday, February 8)
- Kamouraska (Saturday, February 8)
- Kingston (Sunday, February 9)
- London (Tuesday, February 11)
- Massett – Old Massett – Haida Gwaii (Youth Walk Out, Friday February 7 at 1:15 PM, RCMP office)
- Montreal (Friday, February 7)
- Montreal 2 (Friday, February 7)
- Nanaimo (Saturday, February 8)
- Ottawa (Friday, February 7)
- Peterborough (Friday, February 7)
- Red Deer (Downtown. Monday February 10 from 11 AM – 1 PM, corner of Ross and 49 Ave)
- Regina (Saturday, February 8)
- Saskatoon (Friday, February 7)
- Tofino (Monday, February 10)
- Toronto (Friday, February 7)
- Toronto (Saturday, February 8)
- Vancouver (Sunday, February 9)
- Victoria (Friday, February 7)
- Victoria 2 (Friday, February 7)
- Victoria (Sunday, February 9)
- WInnipeg (Friday, February 7)
- Yellowknife (Friday, February 7)
Check this event for updated solidarity actions as the weekend goes on. If there is not currently an event in your community, use the Wet’suwet’en Supporter Toolkit to organize your event and add Idle No More, Indigenous Environmental Network and Indigenous Climate Action as co-hosts so they can help to amplify.
