STORY posted on February 12, 2010 by dawn
Stand beside us in defense of the land: Wet'suwet'en
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Toghestiy (Warner Naziel) traveled from Smithers to Vancouver on Thursday in order to add his voice to the chorus of Olympic resistance.
He came with a message for activists gathered in Vancouver: he thinks the pressure for corporate development on Wet'suwet'en territory, which encompasses 22,000 square kilometers in central British Columbia, will increase when the B.C. government has to start paying down the deficit accrued because of the 2010 Games.
“When the time comes for them to actually pay off that bill, we know they’re going to start making their way into our territories, as well as other First Nations’ peoples territories that aren’t ceded yet, and they plan on paying off that bill by extracting resources from our lands, and doing it as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” he said.
There are two proposed oil pipelines that would cut through Wet'suwet'en territory: the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, and a separate Kinder Morgan pipeline, both of which to carry tar sands bitumen from Alberta to the BC Coast. The Wet'suwet'en have expressed their absolute and unconditional rejection of pipelines in their lands.
“The Wet'suwet'en want to protect our land, we want to protect it from any type of pollution, any type of industrial development, because we need to make sure the lands are available for our children and our unborn children,” Toghestiy told the Vancouver Media Co-op.
In the context of building post-Olympic movements in Vancouver, Toghestiy said that the Wet'suwet'en would like to have the support of people in the city as part of their struggle to defend their lands. “We’re looking at developing a larger network of people who can and will stand beside us,” he said.
The Wet'suwet'en nation withdrew from the B.C. Treaty process last October, after spending 16 years at the table with the provincial government.
“Now that Treaty is dead in our territory, one of the discussions that the clan groups had, we’re made up of five distinct clans, and one of the discussions that the clan groups have been having is ‘what are we going to do about occupation,’” said Toghestiy. “We need to go out and begin actually occupying our lands again.”
One of the ways that the Wet'suwet'en are reoccupying their lands is through a cabin building project, where a group people are learning to cut trees, mill them, and build log cabins. “They’re building them out in our territories, without permits or licences or anything like that from the government.”
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Comments
We can't let this happen
former Smithers resident and supporter
As a white former-Smithereen, I just want to thank the Wet'suwet'en for doing the work we should all be doing to take care of the land. I live overseas now but am watching with appreciation for the work of the first nations, especially. Thanks, Toghestiy!
NO to PIPELINES
We will stand firm in our no. As the Delgamuukw Court case that was won says; Chief and House members. Chief and House members are the ones that Industry needs to deal with. Not the Aboriginal Bands or Treaty Offices. You can't proceed by giving Aboriginal Bands or Treaty Offices a few dollars saying you've got our approval. We the title holders of land SAY NO.