Politic?

Power Play

"You will be the first Indigenous Nation in Canada to have recognition of your Aboriginal title over your territory by agreement."

British Columbia Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs from left, Rob Alfred, John Ridsdale and Antoinette Austin, who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline, take part in a rally in Smithers, B.C., on Jan. 10. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

"Canada and B.C. recognize the Wet'suwet'en rights and title are held by the Wet'suwet'en houses under their system of government."

"Areas of jurisdiction that will need to be addressed include ... child and family wellness; water; Wet'swet'en national reunification strategy; wildlife; fish; land use planning; lands and resources; revenue sharing, fair and just compensation, economic component of Aboriginal title; informed decision-making; and such other areas as the Wet'swet'en propose."

"In some cases the jurisdiction that is transferred ... will be exclusive, and in some cases it will be shared with Canada or B.C."

"[None of the jurisdiction will be transferred until] specifics on how Aboriginal and Crown titles interface have been addressed [or until] clarity [is achieved on the] Wet'sewet'en governance structures, systems, and laws."

Memorandum of Understanding

"If [the negotiation] goes ahead you'll see more separation within the nation and they're [the group of six hereditary chiefs claiming to speak for the Wet'sewet'en nation, although opposed by the greater majority of Wet'sewet'en Aboriginals in B.C.] already separating clans and clan members and houses."
"We're not understanding what is the rush here. We sat here for 30 years already, waiting and talking about it."
"We can wait another year or two. It's not going to hurt anything."
Gary Naziel, hereditary Wet'suwet'en subchief

"I don't see why the government gave them this, because this has got nothing to do with what the protests across Canada started from."
"Those issues are not resolved. They can set up roadblocks again and do it again, and that's what I'm worried about."
Chief Dan George, Ts'il Kaz Koh First Nation

Protesters gather at the rail blockade on the 11th day of demonstrations on Sunday, near Belleville, Ont. (Lars Hagberg/Canadian Press)

Coastal GasLink pipeline project was poised to proceed with the building of a 416-mile-long pipeline that would deliver natural gas across northern British Columbia to a facility where LNG Canada would convert the gas to a liquified state (LNG) and transport it for export globally. The line was approved after years of consulting with Aboriginal groups, of undertaking environmental studies, and with the approval of those Indigenouss groups signing on to share in employment and gasline profits with band councils.

Wet'sewet'en elected chiefs were satisfied on behalf of the nations and clans and houses they represented that the project was environmentally sustainable, respected their heritage lands, their culture and their need for inclusion on their heritage lands, and signed their approval of the project. What happened next surprised many, when a group of men claiming to be 'heritage' chiefs, non-elected but culturally important, removed heritage chief status from others and in a group of six presented as a unified group of dissenters speaking on behalf of the Wet'sewet'en.

A court injunction was obtained to stop the group from protesting at the work site. And it was ignored by the heritage chiefs. The Wet'sewet'en themselves who had approved the project were furious. But the heritage chiefs attracted the sympathy and support of many non-Indigenous groups across Canada, along with that of the influential Ontario Mohawk community whose 'warriors' set up roadblocks and blocked railways, essentially bringing traffic and portage to a halt. The chiefs demanded to speak to the heads of government, and an 'agreement' was negotiated.

The heritage chiefs had succeeded in temporarily halting pipeline construction, in placing a lock on the economy however temporarily, and in being recognized by government as qualified to speak on behalf of the Wet'sewet'en over the legitimacy of the elected chiefs. They did this because the Ontario Provincial Police hesitated initially until matters became dangerously out-of-hand, to step in to enforce court orders that the protest blockages and camps be cleared away. And because the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau usually folds to Aboriginal demands.

Police officers make an arrest during a raid on a Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory camp next to a railway crossing in Tyendinaga, Ont., on Feb. 24, (Chris Helgren/Reuters)

When the hereditary chiefs came away with the draft of the memoradum of undrstanding which it was understood they would share with the Wet'sewet'en and hold discussions that everyone would be involved in, their promise to respect that detail was given short shrift; the memorandum kept to themselves as they undemocratically made all the decisions, and claimed to have won a great distinction for the Wet'sewet'en nation. At last the memorandum was finalized and released.

As for the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, despite the controversy manipulated by the hereditary chiefs in claiming that the project ignored Aboriginal heritage rights, irrespective of the Wet'sewet'en through their elected chiefs having happily agreed to sign the necessary contracts for it to proceed, it did just that. The project is well underway. The governments of B.C. and Canada knelt to the empty demands of the hereditary chiefs who had succeeded in producing an even wider schism between tribes and clans than already existed, and the elected band councils and their supporters have been left steaming.