Coastal GasLink evicted by Wet'suwet'en clans in north central B.C.
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:55:23 +0000
Coastal GasLink contractors and employees have all left Wet’suwet’en territory in north-central B.C. after being issued an eviction, a spokesperson for one of the Wet’suwet’en traditional clans said Sunday afternoon.
Molly Wickham said all Coastal GasLink workers left Saturday afternoon at around 4 p.m. She said while there have been as many as 150 workers on Wet’suwet’en territory at any one time, a reduced crew of about 12 were on site because of the holidays.
“It’s complete,” she said by phone. “There are no CGL contractors or employees on the territory.”
Coastal GasLink is building a 670 km pipeline from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada export terminal near Kitimat. It is a project of TC Energy based in Calgary.
Wickham’s traditional name is Sleydo’. She speaks on behalf of the Gidimt’en Clan, one of the five clans who comprise the traditional leadership of the Wet’suwet’en people who are located on 22,000 sq km in north central B.C.
The hereditary chiefs representing the five clans issued the eviction notice Saturday. Wet’suwet’en territory like most of B.C. has never been ceded by treaty.
On Sunday, Coastal GasLink said a recent B.C. Supreme Court interlocutory injunction made it clear that it is unlawful to “obstruct or blockade Coastal GasLink from pursing its permitted and authorized activities.
“We are disappointed that after nearly a year of successful joint implementation of the access agreement, the Unist’ot’en has decided to terminate it,” Coastal GasLink said in a statement.
The Unist’ot’en describe themselves as the “toughest of the Wet’suwet’en.”
Coastal GasLink has signed agreements to build the pipeline with elected First Nations groups along the pipeline line. But not with the traditional governing bodies of the Wet’suwet’en.
In early 2019, the RCMP enforced another injunction that led to international media coverage and the arrest of 14 people
“Over the past year, Coastal GasLink has repeatedly requested face-to-face meetings with the Unist’ot’en and the Office of the Wet’suwet’en but these requests have either been ignored or rejected by these groups,” Coastal GasLink said in its release.
Wickham said that was “absolutely not” the case.
She said the court injunctions have been issued against individuals and neither acknowledge nor deal with the traditional governing structure of the Wet’suwet’en.
“They’re trying to make this a personal issue against individuals and trying to bypass the fact that we have our own governance system and that we are a sovereign nation among ourselves,” she said.
“This is an issue that has to be resolved with the hereditary chiefs and the state. We want to come to some peaceful resolution to this and it’s up to the government, RCMP and TC Energy how they’re going to response to us.”