[News] ‘Reconciliation is dead and we will shut down Canada,’ Wet’suwet’en supporters say

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/02/11/reconciliation-is-dead-and-we-will-shut-down-canada-wetsuweten-supporters-say.html 



  ‘Reconciliation is dead and we will shut down Canada,’ Wet’suwet’en
  supporters say

By Alex Ballingall - Feb. 11, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

OTTAWA—The federal government is getting dragged into a spiralling 
protest movement as blockades and demonstrations 
<https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/02/11/wetsuweten-shutcanadadown-supporters-vow-to-block-bc-throne-speech.html> 
of solidarity with Wet’suwet’en chiefs in British Columbia spread across 
the country, snarling passenger train traffic and the shipment of goods.

Facing sit-ins at their offices in Toronto and Ottawa, Liberal ministers 
Carolyn Bennett and David Lametti separately spoke with demonstrators 
about their demands in support of Indigenous leaders in northern B.C. 
who oppose construction of the already-approved Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Lametti said he would bring demonstrators’ demands to the federal 
cabinet, even as the government insists the pipeline project and actions 
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 
<https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2020/02/10/rcmps-dastardly-defiling-of-reconciliation-on-wetsueten-lands-cannot-be-undone.html> 
to arrest people blocking its construction fall outside Ottawa’s control.

Cricket Guest, an Anishinaabekwe Métis who demonstrated with Indigenous 
youth and climate change 
<https://www.thestar.com/topic.climate_change.html> activists in Toronto 
on Tuesday, said disruption of traffic and business goods is “absolutely 
necessary” to bring attention to the injustices inflicted by the 
government and police on Wet’suwet’en in B.C.

“We’ve been resisting for 500 years and we’ll be resisting for 500 more 
if that’s what it takes to earn the respect and have a real 
nation-to-nation relationship,” Guest said.

“Reconciliation is dead and we will shut down Canada until Canada pays 
attention and listens to and meets our demands.”

Guest said those demands include implementing the United Nations 
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the federal level, 
suspending the court injunction against blockades of the Coastal GasLink 
and calling on the RCMP in the region to stand down.

But Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Tuesday that it was 
“dangerous and illegal” for Indigenous groups and their supporters to 
block rail lines near Belleville, Ont., Halifax, Montreal and New 
Hazelton, B.C.

Garneau said the disruption of railways across Canada can have a huge 
impact, as more than $300-billion worth of goods are transported over 
the network every year.

The rail disruption has forced already cancelled Via Rail traffic for 
more than 24,000 travellers, the company said Tuesday, while CN Rail 
released a statement saying it has cancelled “hundreds of trains” since 
the blockades began Feb. 6. The company said the blockades are “harming 
the country’s reputation as a stable and viable” trading partner, and 
warned it could be forced to shut down “significant parts” of its 
Canadian network as parked trains fill available space with containers 
of perishable food, fuels like coal and propane, de-icing fluid for 
airports, and other goods.

The company also said it has been granted court injunctions against the 
blockades in Ontario and B.C. and is working with local authorities to 
enforce them.

Garneau told reporters in Calgary that it is up to the provinces to 
enforce those orders. “It’s a complex issue and hopefully we will be 
able to resolve this as quickly as possible,” he said.

Tensions over the Coastal GasLink project flared up in recent weeks 
after the company building the natural gas pipeline, TC Energy, obtained 
an injunction 
<https://www.coastalgaslink.com/siteassets/pdfs/about/regulatory/2020-01-07-order-re-interlocutory-injunction.pdf> 
against any construction blockades from B.C.’s top court. While all 20 
elected First Nations band councils from the region have signed 
benefit-sharing deals connected with the project, hereditary chiefs of 
the Wet’suwet’en nation have claimed the pipeline can’t proceed through 
unceded traditional territory without their consent.

The 670-km pipeline would carry natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a 
port in Kitimat, where a conglomerate of companies is building a 
$40-billion export terminal that Ottawa has boasted as the largest 
private-sector project in Canadian history.

As RCMP in B.C. enforced the court order to clear demonstrators blocking 
the pipeline construction, arresting 21 people in recent days, 
demonstrations in support of the Wet’suwet’en sprung up across the 
country, sparking questions about Ottawa’s commitment to Indigenous 
reconciliation and calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet 
<https://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/index/articles/432.php> with the chiefs 
opposing the project.

In Victoria, hundreds of protesters blocked entrances to the B.C. 
legislature, chanting “shame” and “shut down Canada.” The government 
there was forced to cancel parts of the ceremony surrounding its throne 
speech scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Outside Belleville, the blockade of CN tracks near Tyendinaga Mohawk 
Territory continued for its sixth day, while demonstrators from the 
Kahnawake Mohawk community south of Montreal blocked commuter trains 
into Quebec’s biggest city. More Wet’suwet’en supporters blocked traffic 
along the CN line in B.C. between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

Some federal ministers are facing protests of their own, as Indigenous 
youth protesters staged sit-ins Tuesday at the justice department near 
Parliament Hill, where they met with the minister’s chief of staff, and 
at Bennett’s constituency office in north Toronto.

In a written statement, Bennett’s office confirmed she met with 
demonstrators Tuesday, but reiterated that police action and the 
pipeline are under B.C.’s authority. “The Minister will continue having 
important conversations with concerned members of the community about 
their priorities, including the climate change emergency and 
reconciliation with Indigenous peoples,” the statement said.

Speaking in Vancouver, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson echoed 
the federal government’s stance that the Coastal GasLink disagreement is 
a provincial matter — and that RCMP officers making arrests are doing 
their jobs.

“At the end of the day we do, though, expect Canadians to abide by the 
law, and the RCMP is enforcing a court order,” Wilkinson told reporters.

/*Correction - Feb. 13, 2020:* This article was edited from a previous 
version that mistakenly said the pipeline would carry liquified natural 
gas. /

With files from The Canadian Press

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