Friends of the Earth U.S. Statement of Solidarity with Unist’ot’en Camp and Wet’suwet’en Leadership
WASHINGTON – In response to the injunction brought on behalf of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and violent enforcement of the injunction by the Canadian government, Friends of the Earth offers the following statement:
Friends of the Earth U.S. stands in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their peaceful efforts to protect their territories against a violent and regressive energy agenda and the brutal enforcement tactics being waged upon them.
We affirm that the injunction brought on behalf of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project ignores the jurisdiction and authority of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and represents a hostile and indefensible encroachment on Wet’suwet’en lands.
Friends of the Earth U.S denounces the Canadian government’s militarized enforcement of that injunction and further affirm that the Canadian government has violated the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, enshrined in international law with the mandate that “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.”
Recognizing that all five Wet’suwet’en Clans have rejected TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, Friends of the Earth U.S. further denounces the obscene financial support from the banks that fund TransCanada and allow it to construct extreme dirty energy projects that continue to drive the planetary climate emergency and local ecological, social and cultural destruction.
For defending their sovereignty, their territory, and our collective future, the Wet’suwet’en have earned the full wrath and violence of the Canadian state. In response, Friends of the Earth U.S. joins the call for people across Turtle Island to rise in solidarity with the Gitdumt’en and Unist’ot’en camps and to defend the defenders of Wet’suwet’en land.
In accordance with international law, we urge that all banks withdraw financing and publicly call for an end to the violence that has been perpetrated with their complicity.
We urge the governments of British Colombia and the federal government of Canada to stop the criminalization and reckless abuse of Indigenous Land Defenders and to engage in true Nation-to-Nation relationships with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership and all Indigenous Peoples.
We urge that the brutal violence of extreme energy be brought to an end.
Expert contact: Jeff Conant, [email protected]
Communications contact: Aisha Dukule, (202) 893-3502, [email protected]