[News] Wet’suwet’en Water Protectors Evade RCMP as Police Mobilize For Raid

[Anti-Imperialist News]

counterpunch.org 
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/05/wetsuweten-water-protectors-evade-rcmp-as-police-mobilize-for-raid/> 



  Wet’suwet’en Water Protectors Evade RCMP as Police Mobilize For Raid

January 5, 2022
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Media contact: Jennifer Wickham, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Media Coordinator
yintahaccess at gmail.com

Unceded Gidimt’en Territory, Smithers (BC):Two weeks after Wet’suwet’en 
water protectors evicted Coastal GasLink workers and occupied a key 
pipeline drill site, water protectors executed a strategic retreat to 
avoid arrest and violence at the hands of dozens of militarized RCMP. 
Before a large scale mobilization by police, water protectors vanished 
into the woods, evading police violence and criminalization. We expect 
an imminent assault on our people at the direction of Coastal GasLink as 
we continue to occupy and utilize our yintah.

“Our warriors are not here to be arrested. Our warriors are here to 
protect the land and the water, and will continue to do so at all 
costs,” stated Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), a wing chief of the Cas Yikh 
people.  “Every time that the RCMP, the C-IRG, has come in to enforce 
CGL’s injunction they have done violence against our women. They have 
imprisoned our Indigenous women and our warriors. We will not allow our 
people to be political prisoners.”

For the fourth time in four years, the RCMP appeared to mobilize for a 
large-scale assault on unceded Wet’suwet’en land, booking dozens of 
hotel rooms to bring police from throughout the province to facilitate 
pipeline construction and to assert control over unceded lands at 
gunpoint. Water protectors have blocked drilling beneath Wet’suwet’en 
headwaters for more than 70 days. In the last couple of days there have 
been increased patrols by non-local RCMP, C-IRG, and helicopter 
surveillance over private Wet’suwet’en residences far from any project 
worksites.

After the first 56 day occupation, RCMP made 30 arrests before escorting 
Coastal GasLink workers into Coyote Camp to bulldoze and burn down 
several cabins, homes, and structures. Within a month, land defenders 
retook the site, once again evicting CGL workers and blockading the 
drill pad. Arrests were also made at Gidimt’en Checkpoint, a 
re-occupation of our traditional village site on Cas Yikh yintah that is 
not impeding Coastal GasLink work.

“We know that we have to uphold our responsibilities, and no matter how 
much they try to beat us down we will never forget who we are as 
Wet’suwet’en people. We will always uphold our responsibilities to 
Wedzin Kwa, to our yintah and to all of the future generations,” stated 
Sleydo’.

Wet’suwet’en people have never ceded or surrendered the 22,000km^2  of 
traditional Wet’suwet’en land to British Columbia or Canada, and have 
proven in the Supreme Court of Canada that Wet’suwet’en ownership of 
this land remains unextinguished. Our hereditary chiefs fought for years 
within colonial courts to protect our yintah as they have done on the 
land since time immemorial. Under Anuc nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), 
House Chiefs representing each impacted Wet’suwet’en group have banned 
Coastal GasLink from Wet’suwet’en lands, and in 2020 issued an eviction 
notice to the company that remains in effect.

Since 2019 the RCMP have spent over $20 million criminalizing 
Wet’suwet’en authority over  our lands, deploying in military garb with 
drones, helicopters, ATVs, snowmobiles, mobile command centers, and K-9 
units. RCMP have pointed sniper rifles and assault weapons at unarmed 
Indigenous people, and used physical and psychological torture 
techniques on water protectors engaged in non-violent civil 
disobedience.  To date, police have made 79 arrests, including four 
Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.

“I don’t think Coastal Gaslink, the government, or the police understand 
that the Wet’suwet’en have been here for thousands of years. Despite all 
the money  and effort C-IRG and CGL utilize in an effort to get rid of 
us, we are never going away. Ever,” says Sleydo’.

Media Backgrounder – Wet’suwet’en 101: 
https://www.yintahaccess.com/media-background 
<http://report.mnb.email/t.js?s=61d515335e1cd93c462b055f&u=45670416&v=3&key=1fd6&skey=59fa7f5d8c&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yintahaccess.com%2Fmedia-background>
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