On October 19, Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham (Sleydo’) along with Hereditary Chiefs Woos and Na’moks spoke at a Decolonial Solidarity online organizing call attended by more than 300 people.
Wickham told those assembled: “[The drilling at the site of our sacred headwaters] is happening now. The salmon are spawning in the river and you can actually hear the drilling happening from kilometres away. You can feel it in the ground, in the earth, from kilometres away. …The salmon are spawning and you can feel the vibration of the drilling happening.”
She highlighted: “We are calling on you, our allies, other Indigenous nations, labour unions, anarchist groups, environmentalists, students, climate activists. The threat to our survival and our freedom is our collective responsibility. Enough is enough. It’s time to plan, prepare and protect what is left.”
Wickham then put out this call: “Organize yourselves and take action in protection of Wedzin Kwa, in protection of clean water and salmon.”
She then pointed at RBC as one of the largest financial institutions backing this project, and at TC Energy and KKR, the owners of Coastal GasLink, all seeking “economic gain”. And she pointed at the governments of Canada and British Columbia and “their power”. Wickham stated: “That’s what they want and that’s what we have to go after. That’s what we have to put into question and call into question.”
She also highlighted: “The only thing that has worked to get the government and industry’s attention is money. When the people of the land impacted their pocketbook.”
Wickham lamented: “There are now racist injunctions [across every rail line, at every port, every piece of major infrastructure] to disrupt and criminalize our right to humanity and to repress our ability to fight for a clean future, for clean drinking water.”
And she acknowledged: “Our ancestors fought knowing they would be jailed and fined and become outlaws essentially, criminalized in their own territories.”
Decolonial Solidarity is calling for actions including chalking, sit-ins, banner-making, rallies and continued calls to RBC executives. Wickham added: “Actions are not limited to those discussed here. You do you friends!!”
The drilling under the river began around mid-September. CGL has previously stated the active tunneling work is expected to take two and a half to three months.
For updates, please follow Gidimt’en Checkpoint and Decolonial Solidarity on Twitter.