Hijacking Indian Affairs

"The government has legitimized the meeting with the five hereditary chiefs and left out their entire community. We cannot be dictated to by a group of five guys."
"This project has been hijacked by the five chiefs. Over 80 percent of the people in our community said they wanted LNG to proceed."
"The Indian Act system must be reformed, but that does not invalidate the role of the elected councils. We need to have the benefits of our land. We need to be able to have equity stakes in projects that come forward."
"We feel like we have been hijacked by the protesters who have their own agenda."
"What we agree on is that now the conversation begins. How does the nation make decisions together? That is why the hereditary chiefs chose to take it [the agreement with the government] back to  heir house and their clans to see if there is support for that."
Teresa Tait-Day, former Wet'suwet'en hereditary leader

An Extinction Rebellion protest in Vancouver on Oct. 18, 2019. Indigenous groups have twice complained about the organization's actions on Vancouver Island. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/File

"My appearance was not about one project. It is about the future of Canada."
"Where there is a process on how a nation takes a decision that achieves the kind of certainty that allows investments."
"We need a mechanism as a nation that is democratic and inclusive where we can all make decisions."
Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett

Before the novel coronavirus swept all attention by the Canadian public to its swift shutting down of Italy and Iran after the city of Wuhan in China was devastated by its emergence, Canadians were discomfited by animosity directed toward a vital liquid natural gas project underway in northern British Columbia being denounced by five Wet'sewet'en hereditary chiefs, challenging the authority of the Wet'sewet'en elected chiefs and the decision supported by the majority of the Wet'sewet'en people to benefit from the Coastal GasLink pipeline project to bring liquefied natural gas to the
B.C. coast for export.

Negotiations between the company and the Wet'sewet'en bands had been ongoing for a decade. Band councils were informed, kept apprised of, and negotiated with to ensure that they understood they would be a primary beneficiary of any agreement reached. That a percentage of profit from the pipeline would be earmarked for the tribe, and employment guaranteed when the pipeline was constructed through Wet'sewet'en territorial land. The elected chiefs on the authority of their members' assent, agreed to the construction and it was set to proceed.

Wet’suwet’en subchief Theresa Tait-Day testifies before the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, March 10, 2020, in Ottawa. parlvu.parl.gc.ca

And then came the blockades, instituted by five hereditary chiefs who decided that neither the project nor the agreement with the Wet'sewet'en was to their liking. The project site was blocked by protesters, a court order was sought and obtained and the RCMP moved in to remove the blockade and arrest the protest leaders. Which led to a number of railway blockades going up from Alberta to B.C., Ontario to Quebec, shutting down CN Rail freight and passenger service for a month, leading to a social-political crisis.

In their wisdom, the elected federal government chose to meet not with the elected chiefs who fervently wanted the project to proceed to enable financial independence to the Wet'sewet'en, but with the hereditary chiefs. Hereditary chiefs who had earlier taken steps to remove hereditary chief status from female Wet'sewet'en, and mantle themselves with the hijacked titles. Theresa Tait-Day went before a House of Commons committee meeting to speak of the decision by the government to meet with hereditary chiefs, as a gross error.

The result of that meeting between government agents and the self-proclaimed hereditary chiefs was an agreement, none of which details have been made public with the explanation that the hereditary chiefs required the opportunity to explain the agreement to their community. The community, on the other hand, has been given no opportunity to learn what the agreement consists of, nor have the elected chiefs been given copies of the agreement for their own study. Only a select few supporters of the hereditary chiefs have been consulted.

Theresa Tait-Day was a representative of the Wet'suwet'en Matrilineal Coalition, stripped of her title of hereditary chief after her support went with the Coastal GasLink project. She affirmed to the committee that the vast majority of the people in Wet'suwet'en territory are anxious that the project proceed. The purpose of the matrilineal coalition was to assist the Wet'suwet'en people to arrive at a decision on the pipeline project, in line with elected band council chiefs' agreement on support of the project. Her community, she stressed, required economic prosperity to enable them to build a more sustainable community.

Environmentalists were involved in supporting the hereditary chiefs, she explained, and in the process were disrespecting the Wet'suwet'en community. "By refusing to hear from elected councils, these governments have without merit prevented the most credible current governing voices from being heard. The Indian Act system must be reformed, but that does not invalidate the role of the elected councils. While imperfect, they continue to speak for the people until a better model is implemented."

Wet'suwet'en hereditary leader Chief Woos, centre, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, and B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser arrive to speak to reporters in Smithers, B.C., March 1, 2020.  Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press/File