Amnesty International Canada

Canada
Respect Indigenous Rights on Wet’suwet’en Territory 

Action Counter and Offset

785 people have taken action

Form Section Structure

Urge Canada to drop the charges against criminalized land defenders!

Fill out the form below to add your name to the petition. 

Signatures collected on this petition will be delivered at the end of January 2024 including only your name and country as provided on this form.

Other details you provide will be processed in line with Amnesty International’s privacy policy.

Campaign Section Structure

 


Canada must drop the charges against criminalized land defenders who are protecting Wet’suwet’en territory from the construction of a gas pipeline, and their right to decide what happens on their ancestral land.

The chiefs of the Indigenous Wet’suwet’en Nation have long opposed the construction of a pipeline through their land. Yet the pipeline company (Coastal GasLink) and Canadian authorities are building it anyway, without the free prior and informed consent from the Nation and without addressing their concerns.  

The pipeline has already caused environmental destruction and cut the Wet’suwet’en people off from their ancestral territory. They have been unable to perform many of their traditional activities, such as hunting and fishing, because the forest has been damaged by construction sites.  

Access to much of the land is restricted except for the pipeline company, its private security company, and Canadian police. Often times when the Wet’suwet’en people go on their own land, they are intimidated and harassed by Canadian police and the private security company. Their cabins have been burned down, the police have raided their camps and confiscated their belongings, the women have experienced gender-based harassment, and much more.   

Land defenders who take action to protect the territory and stop the pipeline have been surveilled, intimidated, and arrested. Now, several of them face criminal charges – and possibly prison time.  

The Wet’suwet’en Nation has the right to decide what forms of economic development should take place on their ancestral lands with free, prior and informed consent. They have the right to live in safety, free from surveillance, harassment, criminalization, and gender-based violence. The continued construction of the pipeline is unlawful and unethical. 

The pipeline company told Amnesty International that they believe they consulted with the Wet’suwet’en people, but our analysis determined that the consultation process was flawed and not in line with international standards. 

Sign the petition and call on Canadian officials to:   

•  Immediately drop the charges against the criminalized land defenders who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline; 
•  Stop construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline that is cutting through Wet’suwet’en land without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en people;  
•  Stop pursuing other megaprojects on Indigenous territories without genuinely consulting with and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.

Demand respect for Indigenous rights!

Read the petition letter below

To: Premier and Attorney General of British Colombia 

Dear Premier Eby and Attorney General Sharma: 

Wet’suwet’en land defenders and Hereditary Chiefs have never consented to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project on their ancestral and unceded territory. Allowing construction to proceed without their free, prior, and informed consent disregards their right to self-determination and to decide what economic development takes place on their traditional territory. 

The Canadian police (RCMP) have arrested dozens of land defenders during the enforcement of an injunction obtained by the pipeline company. People who have taken action to defend the land from the pipeline should not be criminalized for their activities since the construction should have never begun.   

I urge you to: 

• Immediately drop the charges against the criminalized land defenders who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline; 
• Stop construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline that is cutting through Wet’suwet’en land without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en people;  
• Stop pursuing other megaprojects on Indigenous territories without genuinely consulting with and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.

Yours sincerely, 

Sign up to Write For Rights 

Write a letter, change a life. Every year on or around December 10th, hundreds of thousands of people around the world send a letter or e-mail on behalf of someone they've never met whose human rights are being violated. 

Join us for Write for Rights. Sign up now

 
 
 
 

Loading...

Scripts Block