WHAT: Emergency Demo in support of the Unist’ot’en and Gitimt’en
WHERE: RCMP, 1975 Gottingen St, Halifax, Nova Scotia
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan 8, 5pm
#Notrespass #Wedzinkwa #Wetsuwetenstrong
On Jan 7, Heavily armed RCMP Tactical Unit and Military Forces confronting unarmed Indigenous Land Defenders, Elders and children to enforce colonial injunction.
The RCMP’s forceful removal of Wet’suwet’en land defenders allow TransCanada access to unceded Wet’suwet’en territory is an act of war. Despite the lip service given to “Truth and Reconciliation”, Canada is now attempting to do what it has always done – criminalize and use violence against indigenous people so that their unceded homelands can be exploited for profit.
Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.” Any removal of Wet’suwet’en peoples by the RCMP, or any other authoritarian forces, will directly violate UNDRIP and the Trudeau government’s promise to implement UNDRIP.
In the words of Dr. Karla Tait and Anne Spice, “The dispute over the pipeline is, at heart, a struggle over the meaning of Aboriginal title and the rights of Indigenous peoples to determine the use of their unceded, unsurrendered ancestral territories.”
In plain language, the threat made by RCMP to invade Wet’suwet’en territories is a violation of human rights, a siege, and an extension of the genocide that Wet’suwet’en have survived since contact.
We are responding to and echoing a call on all people of conscience to act in solidarity through an international day of action on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019. See other international solidarity actions here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2225649537692362/
To see the RCMP’s role in this conflict, see: https://aptnnews.ca/2019/01/06/researchers-say-rcmp-action-against-wetsuweten-would-place-corporate-interests-over-indigenous-rights/?fbclid=IwAR21XzaFpoxTlRvuLGyPUtFyY88dBVsBVT05K6OgmRpOJ_Bt2KXw_lm6Mgw
Note: Another rally is scheduled on January 8, 11 AM-10 PM, at the Canso Causeway. See Facebook post.
