Wet'suwet'en

More than 50 people blockaded five parallel rail lines outside a CN rail yard in Point Saint Charles, Montreal for more than an hour and a half this Saturday, October 9th. We were there to support the Wet’suwet’en fight to defend their territory against the Coastal GasLink pipeline. There were two banners, one saying “#AllOutForWedzinKwa 1312” and the other “All Out For Wet’suwet’en #ShutDownCanada”. Multiple trains were stopped and some rerouted, and some still seemed be sitting idle on the tracks for at least an hour after the blockade ended. Maybe because of a backlog, or an inspection of the tracks. ...

In the early morning of September 30th, the first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we dropped a banner in solidarity with the Gidimt’en Camp. Our banner read “Shut Down Canada ‘21 #CGLOffTheYintah”. Wet’suwet’en and their supporters have been defending the Yintah from Coastal GasLink and RCMP incursion for many years. They continue to defend their land as Canada gestures emptily towards reconciliation. On September 25th, The Gidimt’en Access Point erected new blockades to stop CGL from drilling under the Wedzin Kwa, the river running through their territory. Since then, at least two arrests have occurred. ...

Canada is a lie. Reconciliation is dead. After night fell on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, RBC was targeted in the center of Montreal’s financial district. The Royal Bank of Canada is an investor in the Coastal GasLink pipeline. While they stage orange shirt photo ops to proclaim their commitment to reconciliation, CGL is attempting to drill under Wedzin Kwa, the sacred headwaters of the Wet’suwet’en people, with the help of the RCMP threatening, arresting , and torturing land defenders. ...

On September 22nd, 2021 , after days of conflict between Gidimt’en/Cas Yikh Chiefs and members, Coastal GasLink and the RCMP, contractors completely cleared an archaeological site which has been destroyed with heavy machinery for the construction of a methane gas pipeline. On the morning of September 26th , the access road to Coastal GasLink’s drill site was destroyed. A series of blockades were put into place and the site was occupied. When the chiefs arrived onsite, they were threatened with arrest and denied access to their territory. One person was arrested during the occupation. Wet’suwet’en chiefs are trying to protect the sacred head waters of Wedzin Kwa. We cannot let them drill under this river. ...

It has been almost one year since the call went out for peoples across so called canada for solidarity; to respect Wet’suwet’en laws and jurisdiction to our lands and to fight together against colonization, industrial genocide, and to stop CGL and RCMP from invading our yintah. As we asserted full control over access to our yintah and brought industry to a halt, many others rose up with us. From large demonstrations to rail blockades to clandestine sabotages against the infrastructures of colonization, many nations, groups and people fought alongside us. These actions gave us strength in the face of the looming buildup of militarized police. ...

October 16, 2020 Pipeline companies threaten violence to communities, salmon and wildlife with drilling under sacred headwaters. (Unceded Yintah / Secwepemcúĺecw Territories): Coastal Gaslink pipeline in Wet’suwet’en territory and Trans Mountain Pipeline in Secwepemc territory are both currently preparing to drill under our clear rivers, from which we have drawn sustenance since time immemorial. In the past few days we have seen Indigenous women interrupted during ceremonies in both territories, and arrests and incarcerations in Secwepemc territories, for enacting their sacred responsibilities. The Trans Mountain Pipeline weaves through over 900 rivers and creeks, threatening both Secwepemcetkwe (Thompson) and Fraser River systems. The North Thompson is connected to the Adams River, a vital spawning habitat for chinook, coho, and pink salmon, and home to one of the most important sockeye runs in the world. Any leakage would immediately threaten the pacific salmon who spawn in the Secwepemcetkwe (Thompson) and Fraser River basins. ...

Update on continued struggle to resist the Coastal GasLink pipeline threatening the Wedzin Kwa headwaters on Wet’suwet’en territory. For more info, follow Gidimt’en Checkpoint . Our headwaters are under attack. Our way of life is at risk. Coastal Gaslink is weeks away from test drilling beneath Wedzin Kwa – the river that feeds all of Wet’suwet’en territory and gives life to our nation. We continue to reoccupy our territories – to prepare our foods, to hold our ceremonies, to teach our children what it means to be Wet’suwet’en. ...

Using the jumper-cable and wires method described elsewhere the track signalling system on a CN mainline in Hamilton was sabotaged last week. This was done in continuing solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and land protectors. Work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline continues without the consent of the chiefs and despite the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the chiefs with BC and Kanada. the colonial governments and capitalist industry do not indicate that they will respect the sovereignty of the Wet’suwet’en. ...

A group of around 100 protesters blocked the Viau entrance of the Port of Montreal Saturday afternoon for about 30 minutes. The group arrived at the port at around 2:15pm today and erected a barricade and several banners in front of the port entrance, blocking incoming and outgoing traffic. The group then held a demo through the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. This action took place in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en who are fighting against the continued occupation of their unceded territories by Coastal GasLink (“CGL”) and the RCMP. This action comes on the heels of multiple rail blockades which have taken place in so-called Montreal in recent weeks. ...

Last Saturday the 22nd of February, during a great autonomous and popular boxing gala in France, the boxers and spectators showed their solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en who face the assault of the so called BC state, Canada and the RCMP. We send a message of peace and a message of love to all those who fight to preserve their way of life againt oppression and thus against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. ...

From Montréal Antifasciste Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), February 27, 2020 – Montréal Antifasciste declares our complete and unconditional solidarity and support with the people of the Wet’suwet’en nation in their ongoing resistance to Canadian colonialism, as well as with all those who have taken action in support of the Wet’suwet’en following the invasion by the RCMP. While there have been blockades across the illegal country of “Canada”, we would like to specifically mention those established by members of the Mohawk Nation in Kahnawake and Tyendinaga, the latter of which having been attacked by the colonial police on February 24th, the former currently under threat of another colonial injunction. We are an antifascist group, and as such we often end up focusing on people who the mainstream of society consider marginal losers, at best. Yet we do so knowing, as the poet Aimé Césaire explained, that fascism bears a direct relationship to colonialism. Writing about Europe and the rise of Hitler, Césaire noted that the crimes of Nazism were simply the crimes the European powers had inflicted on colonized peoples, come home to roost. This is true here in Canada, where the far right builds on a history of colonial violence against oppressed nations around the world, but first and foremost against the nations of people who are Indigenous to these lands. ...

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info Saturday morning, an anonymous group unfurled a banner on the CN bridge crossing the L’Assomption River in Joliette, unceded First Nations territory. This action demonstrates solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people and their hereditary chiefs who oppose the passage of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project on their traditional territory in British Columbia. The anonymous group is calling for all forms of solidarity actions in order to maintain and strengthen the balance of power established across Canada and calls on the Trudeau government to address the underlying issue! The ‘‘inconveniences’’ that Canada is currently experiencing because of the blockades are trivial compared to the injustices experienced by indigenous peoples.