Have you ever been in a meeting where you have an important opinion, you are directly affected by the outcome, and no one will listen to you? What if you were ill and you had informed opinions about your treatment and no one would listen to you? #cdnpoli #Wetsuweten 1/20
As I understand it, and I welcome voices who have deeper knowledge than I, the Wet'suet'en hereditary chiefs offered a different route for this LNG pipeline, and the company wasn't interested because it would be longer and cost more money. 2/20
The Wet'suet'en hereditary chiefs kept telling Coastal Gaslink that they did not want this pipeline running on the route the company wanted to use. They explained why, and also that the Supreme Court of Canada had recognised their sovereignty over this territory. 3/20
Coastal Gaslink and the BC government were not inclined to listen. CG started building the pipeline. Aggrieved by this, understandably I feel, the Wet'suet'en people began to try to block the pipeline building. They have been met by RCMP effectively telling them... 4/20
That no, in spite of court rulings, they do not get a say. That they should shut up and clear the way for this thing they do not want on their land. 5/20
Other Indigenous groups across Canada are watching this. They realise that if it can happen to the Wet'suet'en in BC, it could happen to any of them, anywhere in the country. They decide that a line must be drawn. Canada must be made to listen. 6/20
Now we have roads and rail lines blocked. We have the CPC screaming for, I don't know, tanks to run over the protesters, RCMP to lock them up, anything to stop this interruption of commerce... 7/20
Now we have people aggrieved, some directly affected because they want to ship something via the rail lines, and others just all stirred up because of the media coverage. Canadians are getting their righteous indignation on all across the country. 8/20
Right wing pundits are calling for the PM to come home to deal with it, to come home and call out the military, etc. Harper may have been a party of one, but like a normal government, there are plenty of capable people here to deal with things in the PM's absence. 9/20
And Canada is not a dictatorship, despite what many on the right would like. The PM does not direct police activities. It rather spoils the narrative for the CPC, but it is how it is. 10/20
But, you know what? People are paying attention. The blockades are working. People are being forced to take notice. And it's about time. 11/20
When people ignore what they view as "someone else's problem", when they turn a blind eye, when profits matter more than people and the environment, someone has to stand up and yell really loud. Or do something dramatic to get people to pay attention. 12/20
This is what the Wet'suet'en and other groups across the country are doing. They have important things to say. They are entitled to have their input considered & acted upon. They are directly affected by all these planned developments and they need to be taken into account. 13/20
We are talking about people. People who have endured so much. Having their children taken away. Having been forced into schools far from their parents, where they were emotionally, mentally, physically, and sexually abused. Forced sterilizations, MMIWG, Forced relocations...14/20
Defrauded on treaties signed in good faith. Systemic racism. Disproportionately represented in foster care and the prison system. Their languages and customs almost eradicated. Loss of culture, loss of identity, emotional trauma... You'd be some kind of pissed off too. 15/20
The closest parallel I can see is how the Israeli government condones/facilitates the bulldozing of Palestinian homes and seizing of Palestinian land to make room for more Israeli settlers. The shooting by IDF of protesters, even children tossing rocks at tanks. 16/20
We don't want to be that kind of country. All you conservatives who would run these protesters down with tanks, shoot them, incarcerate them. We don't want to be that kind of country. 17/20
Yes, it's F*ing inconvenient sometimes to be decent human beings. Civil disobedience is the last stand of the peaceful disenfranchised. They need us to hear them and they are doing all this because we haven't heard them yet. 18/20
I believe most Canadians do not want to be oppressors. They don't want to look in the mirror and see someone who was heartless, callous, lacking in empathy. Yes. The blockades are inconvenient and costly. But this should be sending us a message. 19/20
These are people out of options. They are doing this because we did not step up and listen. It's time to listen, and to re-evaluate the value of profit over the value of people and environment. 20/20
