Tag: Ontario

Hamilton,ON: Blockade in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

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Cross-posted from Wet’suwet’en Strong: Hamilton in Solidarity

pics via https://twitter.com/RisingTideTor

BREAKING: Rail and Road Block in Hamilton in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

Dish With One Spoon Territory
Victoria St & Birge St

Hamilton, ON:“If we are serious about Indigenous rights and reconciliation, then we find ourselves in a time where we must position ourselves against the government to resist the state’s ongoing colonial practises. Unfortunately the state is corrupt and only understands money. Since we don’t have any, we must aim to cost them some.”

Those were the words of Trish Mills before approximately 100 people began blocking a key road and rail artery on Victoria Ave. N. this morning.

The group of more than a hundred Wet’suwet’en supporters began the day at JC Beemer Park before taking to the streets.

The Wet’suwet’en are at the centre of a dispute with industry as well as the provincial and federal government over the development of their lands. The Wet’suwet’en have never ceded nor surrendered their land, and point to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling (Delgamuukw v British Columbia, [1997]) that recognizes the sole discretion of territorial development belongs to the traditional Hereditary Chief and clan system – not band councils.

CGL has only obtained consent from band councils which were established by Canada under the Indian Act, often under duress.

On December 31, 2019 Justice Marguerite Church granted an interlocutory injunction, effectively criminalizing any individual trying to prevent industry from accessing or developing the territory. The RCMP has since set up an exclusion zone, controlling who can enter the area – including an attempt at restricting air space.

“Injunction and provincial permits aside, Canada has no jurisdiction or authority on unceded lands. Their interference with the Wet’suwet’en Nation on behalf of industry is appalling,” said Natali Montilla, one of the media spokespeople for the event. “We support the Chief’s demands: the Coastal GasLink project needs to be permanently stopped, and the RCMP must leave the territory immediately.“

As group members began settling in, sound equipment and food tables were set up as organizers promised hot food and drinks, live music, and public discussions and teach-ins for the afternoon.

Makwa, a media liaison for the event who is Nahua and Anishinaabe (Bear Clan), pushes for an even broader understanding: “Indigenous Nations across Turtle Island have been subjected to the same abuses, violence, and corruption that the Wet’suwet’en are facing now, so we’re also here to push for reparations for every single Indigenous Nation who has been subjected to colonial interference and violence.”

Guelph, ON: Community Members Occupy Royal Bank of Canada in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

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cross-posted from NorthShore Counter-Info

From Dee Colonize (Facebook page)

The Wet’suwet’en Nation is currently engaged in an ongoing struggle to protect their unceded, sovereign territory from the Coastal Gaslink pipeline project (CGL) and the Canadian State. Although the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have not consented to the CGL pipeline, the BC Supreme Court has violated Wet’suwet’en Law by allowing the RCMP to invade Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory to pave the way for Coastal Gaslink’s construction of a natural gas pipeline. In an era of so-called “reconciliation” the Canadian state continues to occupy unceded Indigenous lands while violating and dismissing Indigenous sovereignty.

One year after the Wet’suwet’en people experienced a violent, militarized RCMP raid of their territory, there are threats of another raid. Updates from the Unist’ot’en Camp have revealed that the RCMP are blocking media, food, medicines and important winterizing gear from entering the camp as well as not allowing Wet’suwet’en people and their allies to leave the camp. Now more than ever we must stand with the Wet’suwet’en Nation as allies and accomplices in their resistance against industry. Following a call for solidarity actions from the Wet’suwet’en Nation in what we now know as Northern British Columbia, around 40 community members occupied RBC in protest of its role in financing CGL and fueling the ongoing violence on the Wet’suwet’en Nation and their lands.

The aim of occupying this space is to send a clear message to RBC, as well as all other financial institutions involved, those being TD and HSBC, to stop funding the violence and destruction that Coastal GasLink and the RCMP are inflicting upon Wet’suwet’en people on their unceded lands. We know that RBC, TD and HSBC are currently acting as financial advisers to the shareholders of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Project. By helping to fund the CGL pipeline project, RBC, TD and HSBC are directly implicated in and responsible for the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders, the violation of Wet’suwet’en law, the RCMP’s ongoing attacks and the destruction of unceded Indigenous lands.