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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/02/11/reconciliation-is-dead-and-we-will-shut-down-canada-wetsuweten-supporters-say.html">https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/02/11/reconciliation-is-dead-and-we-will-shut-down-canada-wetsuweten-supporters-say.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">‘Reconciliation is dead and we will
shut down Canada,’ Wet’suwet’en supporters say</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Alex Ballingall - Feb.
11, 2020</div>
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<p>OTTAWA—The federal government is getting dragged into a
spiralling protest movement as <a
href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/02/11/wetsuweten-shutcanadadown-supporters-vow-to-block-bc-throne-speech.html">blockades
and demonstrations</a> of solidarity with Wet’suwet’en
chiefs in British Columbia spread across the country,
snarling passenger train traffic and the shipment of
goods. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Lametti said he would bring demonstrators’ demands to
the federal cabinet, even as the government insists the
pipeline project and <a
href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2020/02/10/rcmps-dastardly-defiling-of-reconciliation-on-wetsueten-lands-cannot-be-undone.html">actions
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police</a> to arrest
people blocking its construction fall outside Ottawa’s
control. </p>
<p>Cricket Guest, an Anishinaabekwe Métis who demonstrated
with Indigenous youth and <a
href="https://www.thestar.com/topic.climate_change.html">climate
change</a> 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. </p>
<p>“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. </p>
<p>“Reconciliation is dead and we will shut down Canada
until Canada pays attention and listens to and meets our
demands.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Tensions over the Coastal GasLink project flared up in
recent weeks after the company building the natural gas
pipeline, TC Energy, obtained <a
href="https://www.coastalgaslink.com/siteassets/pdfs/about/regulatory/2020-01-07-order-re-interlocutory-injunction.pdf">an
injunction</a> 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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/index/articles/432.php">to
meet</a> with the chiefs opposing the project. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p><em><strong>Correction - Feb. 13, 2020:</strong> This
article was edited from a previous version that
mistakenly said the pipeline would carry liquified
natural gas. </em></p>
<div data-lpos="article|author|bottom">
<p>With files from The Canadian Press</p>
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