Wet'suwet'en

A bit over a hundred people marched through downtown Montreal Thursday night, to show their solidarity with the inhabitants of Wet’suwet’en territory currently facing violence and harrassment from the colonial Canadian state and its police force, the RCMP. Demonstrators marched in the streets of Montreal toward the RCMP offices behind a banner reading “RCMP OFF WET’SUWET’EN LAND”. The RCMP headquarters was targeted in response to violence against indigenous people and especially the Wet’suwet’en. The car parked in the driveway had its windows broken and tires slashed, and paint bombs and graffiti hit the building. The demonstration occured in the context of a wave of actions currently shutting down so-called Canada. The message is clear: violence committed against indigenous peoples, land defenders and water protectors, on Wet’suwet’en land or elsewhere, will always meet with a response. This response will come from everywhere and it will only get louder. ...

Currently people are shutting down Canada, ports, rails, highways, hell the hashtag’s even trending on twitter. As anarchists we are seeing large parts of the population engage with anti-colonial and anti-capitalist movements. This engagement as our own has been in the past is tricky, and requires critical reflection. The stench of liberalism spreads far and wide, and although many are sympathetic with Wet’suwet’en demands, confrontational tactics as expected leave many shaking at their feet. In Vancouver we have seen large symbolic arrests prioritized over effective action. Not to say there has not been effective action, people held the entrances to major ports shutting down commercial traffic for days. We should celebrate this. But when facing arrest rather than moving to say the rails or the highways they chose to wait and be arrested symbolically (subsequently released without charges). ...

The Canadian state isn’t invulnerable. As Canada sends an army into Wet’suwet’en territory to try to force through the Coastal GasLink pipeline, it’s time to find the weak points of this country’s economic and political power, and attack. Last night, in response to the start of the RCMP raid, we visited the riding office of David Lametti, federal minister of justice, in Montreal. We emptied a fire extinguisher filled with paint inside after breaking a window. ...

LAND DEFENDERS NEED YOUR HELP! Right now, at this very moment, an epic battle is taking place, the outcome of which will determine the fate of the Northwest Coast, the implications of which will be felt throughout the world for generations to come. As you read this, the RCMP is conducting a massive operation to remove indigenous people, and their allies, from unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, so that giant petroleum companies can build a multi-billion dollar energy corridor to bring fracked gas to global markets. ...

On January 4th, Wet’suwet’en members delivered an eviction notice to the CGL mancamp known as “site 9A” on Unistʼotʼen territory. CGL complied with the eviction notice, and employees and security forces completely withdrew from the territory. Shortly thereafter, there were reports of over 100 felled trees and piles of tires and accelerants blocking Morice West Forest Service Road, effectively protecting the area from industry and RCMP incursion. This unceded Wet’suwet’en land has now been liberated from Canada. ...

In the middle of rush hour, Thursday morning, about fifty people blocked an exit of Autoroute 720 in downtown Montreal, in solidarity with indigenous Wet’suwet’en people struggling against the construction of a pipeline on their unceded territory. Barricades were lit on fire at the corner of St-Marc and René-Levesque in order to block car traffic. A #WetsuwetenStrong banner was hung from highway signage to express solidarity with indigenous sovereignties. ...

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info This morning around 7:30am, about sixty people enraged by the invasion of Wet’suwet’en land by Coastal GasLink and the RCMP gathered in the east of Montreal. They blocked the intersection of Pie-IX Boulevard and Notre-Dame Street East in the middle of rush hour, in order to disrupt access to the Port of Montreal as well as downtown via Autoroute 720. Banners were deployed reading “GTFO of Wet’suwet’en land” and “Solidarity with Indigenous Sovereignties”, and flyers explained the reasons for the action to motorists. ...

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On the one-year anniversary of Canada’s armed invasion of Wet’suwet’en territories, and in response to a call for solidarity with Wet’suwet’en people currently facing threat of another attack, a number of actions were taken in Tkaronto. This report does not intend to claim responsibility for any of the actions and may not have covered everything. We merely hope to summarize actions we are aware of and state clearly that supporters here have their eyes on Wet’suwet’en and are ready to act. ...

A decade ago in a move that has inspired many, Wet’suwet’en people reoccupied their unceded territories as a way to begun healing and ensuring the land is protected in the ways she needs to sustain Wet’suwet’en people’s lives, practices, and continued existence in their traditional territories. A year ago the RCMP violently invaded those territories to provide access for industry. One week ago, the canadian state criminalized Anuk’ nu’at’en – Wet’suwet’en hereditary law – by granting an injunction which criminalizes Indigenous people and their allies should they protect the Yintah from the destructive forces of industry. ...

Last January there were so many of you. Of us! In the streets. Shutting down bridges, ports, highways, railways, centres of capital, fuel terminals, and even storming TC Energy facilities. We were rushing office buildings, hanging banners, harassing politicians, police, courts and more. Informing, engaging, inciting. Undoubtedly meeting late into the nights, kept awake by our dreams. Strategizing. We were angry, passionate, strong, and determined. It was beautiful! Inspiring – hopeful! ...

TUES JAN 7, 2020 (anniversary of RCMP-CGL raid) until SUN JAN 12, 2020 We call for solidarity actions from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities who uphold Indigenous sovereignty and recognize the urgency of stopping resource extraction projects that threaten the lives of future generations. Unceded and sovereign Wet’suwet’en land is under attack. On December 31, 2019, BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church granted an injunction against members of the Wet’suwet’en nation who have been stewarding and protecting our traditional territories from the destruction of multiple pipelines, including Coastal GasLink’s (CGL) liquified natural gas (LNG) pipeline. Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected Church’s decision, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of CGL’s workers from the territory. The last CGL contractor was escorted out by Wet’suwet’en Chiefs on Saturday, January 4, 2020. ...