Exercise #4

September 20, 2024 By: J.Whynot

Media:

Despite opposition and environmental violations, major B.C. pipeline project nearly complete |

CBC NewsAmnesty International calls for Wet’suwet’en chief’s release | CBC News

Having relationships on both sides of this conflict has left me with an appreciation for both perspectives – protecting Indigenous rights and economic opportunity for the province and local economies. This project has had many ups and downs, including socio impacts, such as the myriad of white f250s terrorizing Highway 16, the influx of resource workers flooding small towns in the north, environmental degradation, and most notably, the land defender blockades and arrests.

Smithers and its surrounding wilderness and neighbouring towns are not new to ecological imperialism and subsequent environmental change (Crosby, 1988) as much of this land has been colonized for some time. For example, the town sits at the foot of Hudson Bay Mountain, named after the Hudson Bay Company, which had a fur trading ranch nearby. European settlers have exploited this land for natural resources and agriculture since the late 1800s. Smithers, the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Peoples, was inhabited precontact for thousands of years – the fight over protecting land is not new. However, the Coastal Gaslink pipeline conflict highlighted many issues, including recognizing the disconnect between colonial law and traditional First Nations laws and their right to practice self-governance. With the pipeline now complete, many lessons can be drawn from all levels of government and industry.

Although the protest, or civil disobedience has landed some people in prison with pending charges, such as criminal mischief, including Adam Gagnon – also known as Hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl. Adam remains committed to protecting their land and stands by his actions of seizing pipeline equipment. As societal needs remain high, driven by capitalism, natural resources, such as fossil fuels, minerals, metals and wood will be needed, and seem to supersede the needs and voices of Canada’s First Peoples. On a positive note, this conflict has caught the eye of Amnesty International and deemed Adam Gagnon Canada’s first prisoner of conscience – a term given to people arrested for their beliefs or identity. The declaration by Amnesty International is a constructive step toward highlighting the gap between a dated, broken colonial system and the tough positions Indigenous land defenders are put in when they are trying to protect their traditional land and exercise their ways of living.

Reference:

Crosby, Alfred W. “Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon.” In The Ends of the Earth: Perspectives on Modern Environmental History, edited by Donald Worster, 103–117. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.