{"id":21988,"date":"2022-02-01T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T17:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=21988"},"modified":"2022-02-01T11:05:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T19:05:26","slug":"this-system-is-broken-unwelcome-trespassers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2022\/02\/01\/this-system-is-broken-unwelcome-trespassers\/","title":{"rendered":"This System Is Broken<\/em>: Unwelcome trespassers"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of confusion surrounding the legality of the unapproved Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline being forced through Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en territory. The bottom line is that in forcing this project through lands where hereditary chiefs are saying a resounding \u201cno,\u201d the canadian government is blatantly contradicting itself.<\/p>\n

Sure, some of the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en band council are in support of this pipeline, along with other community members, but it is not their say that holds sway on this territory.<\/p>\n

In 1997 the BC Supreme Court held an extensive court case to decide how Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en (and other nearby lands) would be governed; this was known as the Delgamuukw case. The outcome of this multi-day trial was the understanding that the 22,000 square kilometres of Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land had never been ceded nor surrendered and would continue to be stewarded by their hereditary chieftain system. In other words, the traditional governance system they had used since time immemorial would persist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This System Is Broken<\/em> is a column appearing in every issue of Nexus<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then, with the turn of the millennium, the canadian government decided they wanted a pipeline to run across Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en lands.<\/p>\n

All five hereditary chiefs declined the project.<\/p>\n

Without consent to enter the territory, representatives from CGL began trespassing on the yintah (Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en word for \u201cland\u201d) to stake out possible routes.<\/p>\n

This is when early phases of the Unist\u2019ot\u2019en Healing Center appeared at km 66 along the Morice Forest Service Road. First, in 2010, a cabin was built directly in the pathway of the original pipeline route, followed with a nearby bunkhouse in 2014. The next year, construction on the healing center began and by 2017 the three-story building was complete. With this blossoming and thriving community now halting CGL\u2019s plans, they re-routed the pipeline.<\/p>\n

In spite of the Delgamuukw court case, in December 2018 the canadian government issued an injunction stating that anyone standing in the way of pipeline construction could be forcibly removed by the RCMP.<\/p>\n

So in January 2019, the raids began.<\/p>\n

These actions have shown that not only will the country alter its own laws and rules to suit its latest agenda, but the murmurings we thought we heard around \u201creconciliation\u201d are merely words with no actions.<\/p>\n

Legally, Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en territory (\u201cSection 7\u201d of the 670 km pipeline route) remains under the jurisdiction of their five hereditary chiefs, yet the government sees no value in this system, and, clearly, also sees no value in honouring it.<\/p>\n

Since the initial 2019 rollout of militarized RCMP, Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en matriarchs and their land-defender allies have endured two more multi-day raids on the yintah.\u00a0The most recent occurred during a time when BC was experiencing a state of emergency and could\u2019ve used the government\u2019s funds and support to assist those losing everything in the floods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of confusion surrounding the legality of the unapproved Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline being forced through Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en territory. The bottom line is that in forcing this project through lands where hereditary chiefs are saying a resounding \u201cno,\u201d the canadian government is blatantly contradicting itself. Sure, some of the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en band council are in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,262],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-january-26-2022"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t