Amnesty International Canada

Canada 

Wet’suwet’en land defenders fighting to save their ancestral lands

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Protect Wet’suwet’en land defenders!

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

Signatures collected on this petition will be delivered in early 2025 including only your name and country as provided on this form.

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Wetʼsuwetʼen land defenders are being criminally prosecuted just for defending their lands. Now they are fighting for its very survival, and the survival of our planet during a global climate crisis. Sign the petition and help them protect their land.

The Indigenous  Wet’suwet’en Nation have lived on and cared for their ancestral lands for generations, sustaining their culture and raising their children. As Sleydo ’ Molly Wickham, a Wet’suwet’en land defender says: “Our medicines, our berries, our food, the animals, our water, our culture, are all here since time immemorial”. 

This long-standing way of life is under threat. Despite the Nation having the right to decide what development happens on their lands, a company called Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd (CGL) began constructing a fossil fuel pipeline through their territory, without the consent of the Hereditary Chiefs  and their clans. 

Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their allies knew they had to fight back. They began taking actions to protect Wet’suwet’en territory; however, CGL obtained an injunction to prevent interference with pipeline construction. The land defenders’ peaceful actions have been met with appalling violence and criminalization. The police have conducted raids on Wet’suwet’en territory with semi-automatic weapons. Over 75 land defenders have been arrested.

In 2022, criminal charges were pressed against Sleydo’ and 19 other land defenders . In 2024, Sleydo’, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jayochee Jocko were found guilty of “criminal contempt” for disobeying the injunction order, despite the fact that they were peacefully defending Wet’suwet’en territory. The three land defenders have made an application to the court stating that their human rights were violated by police during the raids. Their futures depend on the outcome of this application. If unsuccessful, they face time in prison. 

Sleydo’ and others are not just defending Wet’suwet’en land, they’re protecting everyone’s right to a healthy environment by opposing another harmful fossil fuel project, and they need our support.

Sign the petition and demand that the Canadian authorities stop criminalizing Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their allies now.

Read the petition letter below

To: Premier of British Columbia

Your Premier:

I am writing to you regarding the ongoing criminalization of Wetʼsuwetʼen land  defenders.

For years, British Columbia has criminalized Wet’suwet’en land defenders for opposing construction of a fossil fuel pipeline on their ancestral territory. They face time in prison and a criminal record if found guilty.

The Wetʼsuwetʼen are deeply connected to their ancestral lands and waters, which are threatened by the pipeline. Their Hereditary Chiefs  (on behalf of their clans) did not consent to its construction. 

I demand the Government of British Columbia stop the criminalization and harassment of Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their allies.

Yours sincerely, 

Stop the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders!

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