Wet'suwet'en

Members of the remote First Nation in northern B.C. are expecting conflict with police to come at any moment. “Nobody slept well last night,” said Jennifer Wickham, a Gidimt'en Clan member

Talks between the First Nation, Coastal GasLink and the B.C. government ended without resolution Tuesday night. The community fears violence may be imminent ⁠— especially as at least three of the same commanding officers who spearheaded last year’s RCMP sweep of the area appear to be leading the charge again.

The allegations come hours after the RCMP pledged to stand down in the conflict over the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Both sides say they have evidence to back up their account, but only the Wet'suwet'en said they were willing to make it public at this time.

Imagine that the police are blocking the entrance to your neighbourhood. That’s the situation Wet’suwet’en people have been in since the RCMP set up a ‘checkpoint’ along the road leading to their territory in northern B.C., said Harsha Walia of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

A United Nations committee working to end racism is urging Canada to immediately stop the construction of three major resource projects until it obtains approval from affected First Nations.

Wet’suwet’en Nation territory in northern British Columbia is just one example of a dispute over unceded land. Community members there are currently fighting to block the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The B.C government is considering whether to let the project proceed without looking at how it would affect the $2-million Unist'ot'en Healing Centre.

A natural gas pipeline project has polarized many communities across northern British Columbia in a dispute a Wet'suwet'en elder says he hopes will be resolved through dialogue.

Thirty-nine kilometres down a snow covered logging road, four men chop wood and work to erect a canvas wall tent in a pullout area.

The company building a natural gas pipeline as part of a $40 billion liquefied natural gas project in northern British Columbia says it plans to resume construction despite an eviction notice served by members of a First Nation over the weekend.

The British Columbia Supreme Court has granted Coastal GasLink an interlocutory injunction against members of a First Nation and others who oppose the company's natural gas pipeline.

The recent standoff between members (and allies) of the Unist'ot'en clan (who are part of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation) and workers from the Coastal GasLink Pipeline led to a military-style raid by the RCMP on the Gidimt'en camp and the arrest of unarmed elders, which in turn garnered a great deal of media attention, and public discussion. 

A subsidiary of Calgary-based energy company TransCanada bulldozed through traplines and personal property from two different clans of the Wet'suwet'en Nation last week, while the RCMP enforced an interim injunction requested by the company so that it could proceed with construction. Some Wet'suwet'en members said the RCMP prevented them from entering their own territories. 

First Nations leaders from across British Columbia traveled to Smithers for a historic gathering Wednesday morning, in a powerful show of support for the Wet'suwet'en Nation and all those standing up to defend Indigenous governance systems, human rights, and the well-being of lands and waters for all people in generations to come.