Category: Indigenous Autonomy

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Blockades in British Columbia and Western Canada

In the past year, we're seeing a surge of land defense actions in BC and elsewhere in Canada. Zoe Blunt of Victoria Forest Action Network compiled this list to help keep track of current, ongoing, and flying blockades, along with ways to get involved and support the actions.

We are ALL BEING CALLED to support these land defenders. To answer the call, email Zoe at wildcoast@riseup.net – she can help set up ride shares and give advice for fundraising.

Current and ongoing blockades

Also see a November 15, 2015 addition of two blockades on Vancouver Island.

  • Injunction and arrests at Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island: Community residents, including members of the Cowichan First Nation, are seeking an injunction to shut down toxic soil dumping in their drinking watershed. The dump overflowed during heavy rain November 13, 2015. Meanwhile the company is seeking an injunction to shut down the protestors, two of whom were arrested Noveber 13.
  • Walbran Valley blockade: Members of the Pacheedaht First Nation and non-native environmentalists have built a camp to stop the clearcutting of ancient cathedral forests just outside a park boundary. The Walbran has been the site of massive protests, civil disobedience, and sabotage for twenty years.
  • Ongoing: Coastal First Nations vs. Grizzly hunters. For two years, the Coastal Forest Guardians have been patrolling the central coast of BC and "educating" grizzly hunters and guides about the ban on hunting on their territory. The province continues to issue trophy hunting permits and now the Guardians say they are escalating their enforcement of the ban.
  • Happening now: Ahousaht First Nation on Vancouver Island is using boats to stop a new salmon farm in their territorial waters. Media reports here.
  • Ongoing: Gitdumden Clan of the Wet'suwet'en (neighbours to Unist'ot'en) in Northern BC. They are occupying their territory to block pipelines, logging, and mining. 
  • New: Likhts'amisyu Clan of the Wet'suwet'en (neighbours to Unist'ot'en), Northern BC. They are occupying their territory to block pipelines. This is Chief Toghestiy's camp. FB page.
  • Ongoing: Lax Kw'alaams First Nation vs. LNG pipeline terminal, near Prince Rupert BC. The drilling platform was barged into position near Lelu Island in a bay that holds millions of young salmon. The community is mobilizing to occupy the island and surround the barge. News story here.
  • Occasional: Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island: The community has been trying to blockade a contaminated soil dump in the drinking watershed for Victoria and the south island. It is largely symbolic but it has potential. News report.
  • One-day blockade near Powell River to protect wildlife. In May nine women surrounded a feller-buncher to stop it from working in a sensitive habitat area. They are demanding logging stop during nesting season, and an end to clear-cutting on the Sunshine Coast. More protests are expected.   
  • Nicola Valley Chiefs and locals are blockading a biosolids dump near Merritt, BC and preventing sewage sludge from being trucked into their community. No shipments have made it through the blockade in over a month, and the companies responsible are preparing for a court hearing to have the protestors removed. Fundraising link here.
  • Ongoing: Voices of the Voiceless camp is an Indigenous re-occupation of Junction Creek area, St'at'imc Nation, 50 km north of Lillooet and about 250 km north of Vancouver. This camp was set up March 2015 under the direction of Xwisten elders to stop logging. The site is near a heritage site and the Junction Creek summer village, a traditional meeting place where people hunt, gather and process food. Video: Re occupying Junction Creek, Christine Jack's Welcome – YouTube
  • Victory: The Heiltsuk First Nation is fighting for the recovery of herring stocks on the Central Coast of BC. After the feds opened their territory to commercial fishing in March 2015, they occupied offices and set off solidarity rallies.  UPDATE: Their blockade is now over and the government has caved in and closed the fishery.
  • The Sapotaweyak Cree Nation in Manitobais protecting sacred sites by blockading workers cutting trees for a hydroelectric transmission line.
  • Ongoing: Burnaby/Langley – KM pipeline: 120 locals and allies were arrested in two weeks at a tarsands pipeline test drill site near Vancouver. In 2015, drillers and surveyors are trying to do their work in various locations but people report their whereabouts and they are confronted and prevented from working. The Kwantlen First Nation is leading the charge for the next round of resistance, which shows signs of escalating further (workers threatened, truck vandalized, equipment stolen).
  • The Nuu-chah-nulth Nations have closed the spring herring fishery in the strait off the west coast of Vancouver Island. They are promising to intercept commercial vessels with their own boats. 
  • Blockade down: The Northern Trappers Alliance, a traditional Dene group, was blocking forest roads near  Ducharme, Saskatchewan to push back against the loss of wildlife and land to drilling, pipelines, and gates. The protest camp and picket line were moved to the side of the road  after an injunction was issued and RCMP seized a trailer.
  • Victory: Tseshaht Nation, Port Alberni, Vancouver Island:  Blockade down and victory – the province has agreed to stop timber sales in old-growth forests of the Nahmint Valley. The Tseshaht are monitoring to make sure this agreement is respected.
  • Blockade down: Klabona Keepers, Talhtan Nation (near Iskut) Blockade removed after injunction issued. They were blocking Imperial Metals mine in Sacred Headwaters and other projects in various locations. They are still seeking volunteers, rideshares, donations, and legal help. These traditionalists boycotted the injunction hearing and withdrew for now.
  • Victory: Penelakut (Grace Islet, near Salt Spring Island) Development site on burial ground. Blockade down: The province is moving to intervene and purchase the development site.
  • Sabine Channel (between Lasqueti Island and Texada Island) Oct 4: One-day blockade of coal tanker traffic.
  • Ongoing: Unis'tot'en Camp, (near Smithers) Permanent camp – blocking tarsands and gas pipelines for five years. Get info about the Caravan.
  • Ongoing: Madii Lii Camp (Gitxsan) New permanent camp – blocking tarsands and gas pipelines.
  • Ongoing: Sutikalh (near Lillooet) Permanent camp on St'at'imc territory, blocking resort development for over ten years.

Unist’ot’en Camp report-back: Falling in Love

We recently highlighted Will Falk’s account as one of the Deep Green Resistance volunteers who braved the January snow and ice to help out at the Unist’ot’en Camp. Max Wilbert wrote another moving personal piece giving an overview of the Unist’ot’en Camp strategy and describing the experience of contributing to their struggle.

Snow lashed the road. The darkness was total, our headlights casting weak yellow beams into the darkness. Most people had hunkered down in homes and motels, and the roads were near empty. Still, every few minutes a passing truck threw a blinding cloud of dry snow into the air, leaving us blind for seconds at a time as we hurtled onwards at the fastest speeds we could manage.

We pressed on, for our destination was important. It was a caravan to the Unist’ot’en Camp, and we were committed.

[…]

Resistance is the antipode to the dominant culture, and the Unist’ot’en Camp illustrates two interlocking and fundamental truths. First, the system which is killing the planet and exploiting billions can and must be stopped. Second, resistance is our best chance of reclaiming the best traits our species can display: compassion, love, fierce loyalty, deep connection to the land, community and shared purpose.

Read Wilbert’s essay at Deep Green Resistance Seattle: Falling in Love and let it inspire you to support the Camp or another strategic campaign near and dear to you.

Unis’tot’en Camp, January 2015 – Will Falk

A group of Deep Green Resistance members from across the US and Canada delivered cash donations, supplies, and their labor to the Unis’tot’en Camp in early January. A support network for a strategic, indigenous-led front-line blockade is a crucial part of building a culture of resistance. DGR is proud to provide some of that support, and grateful to the camp hosts for allowing us to be involved.

Will Falk wrote about his experience on this recent trip, reflecting on his personal journey that has brought him through despair to activism, and the mingling of his new activist focus with personal and professional relationships and locations of his despair-filled past. He relates this to the larger culture of civilization, and the need for meaningful action to counteract the dangerous self-numbing in which we’re all encouraged to engage:

One way to understand the environmental catastrophe confronting us is to view the dominant culture as suffering from a profound case of despair. Despair permeates many religious traditions that say humans are fundamentally flawed, Earth is a scary place, and suffering is inevitable so we may as well embrace it to gain peace in another world. Despair permeates science cutting us off from other beings, telling us other beings are objects incapable of existing with humans in mutual relationship, and encouraging us to use (read: kill) other beings for the benefit of humans. Despair permeates our governments who view raw power and physical force as the only way to control this wildly unpredictable process we call “life.”

Many doctors have told me to reach out to old friends to help me remember who I was and what I was like before despair settled over me. In my worst moments, all I can see is darkness behind me, darkness upon me, and darkness ahead of me. Life is bad. Life was bad. Life will always be bad.

Part of spending so much time in Canada is being far from those who remember who I was. Lately, my desire for connection to a happier personal past has taken strange and pathetic forms. I wear an obnoxious green Notre Dame football flatbrim everywhere I go. I talk about my favorite band, Phish, with anyone who will listen. I find myself in bars just looking for company.

So, one of the benefits of the speaking tour I went on for the Unist’ot’en Camp involved spending time remembering myself with those who love me. But, the temporary feelings this time spent remembering released are dangerous. It would be easy to settle back down into a life based around salving the pain of depression. It would be easy to surround myself in good memories and turn my back on the problems of the world. If I did this, though, the world would still be burning. And, if the world burns for long enough, those I love will burn, too.

Read the entire essay: Reflections on Despair: Walking the Trapline at Unist’ot’en Camp, by Will Falk. And stay tuned for report-backs from other DGR members who attended the camp!

Gorilla Radio interviews: Will Falk and Vanessa Gray on the Unis’tot’en Camp

Liz McArthur of Victoria BC is creating a radio documentary on the Unis’tot’en Camp pipeline blockade. She interviewed two fellow volunteers who participated in the summer caravan to the Camp, and a third activist involved with defense of the Sacred Headwaters. The interviews aired on the August 4, 2014 episode of Gorilla Radio.

McArthur interviews:

  • Will Falk of Deep Green Resistance and Victoria Forest Action Network, on his environmental activism with the Camp and other efforts. He discusses the importance of supporting indigenous struggles, and what members of settler culture need to understand and how they should approach such solidarity work.
  • Vanessa Gray, a member of the Amjiwnaang nation in the Chemical Valley of Southern Ontario, describing the horrific conditions of living in close proximity to 63 oil and gas facilities, including pipelines, refineries, and loading docks. Gray describes the incredibly high rates of health problems brought on by this policy of environmental racism towards the indigenous. Gray brought youth to the Camp to show them that places still exist with clean water and air, and to inspire them to fight against the dominant culture of monetary profit at the sacrifice of people and land.
  • John Mowat Stephen briefly talks about activism with the Tahltan First Nation around the Sacred Headwaters in northern BC.

Listen to the interview to learn more about the front line struggles in BC against the fossil fuel industry, and how you can help:

Download mp3

Browse all DGR member appearances.

Standing on Sacred Ground film series

Deep Green Resistance stands with indigenous peoples in defense of their land, for both ethical and practical reasons. It’s simply the right thing to do when people are threatened with theft of their traditional land base. It’s also a highly effective way to preserve what’s left of biodiversity and a living planet. Like any long-term member of a community, humans who know they depend on their land for sustenance and life foster its health to the benefit of everyone there.

The World Bank calculates that although indigenous people comprise just 4% of the global human population and live on just 12% of the land surface, their territory encompasses 80% of planetary biodiversity. Clearly they’re doing a better job of fostering life than has any civilized culture. We can be most strategic in supporting these people in protection of this remaining biodiversity on their traditional lands.

The film series Standing on Sacred Ground explores these dynamics and looks at specific cultures and places in 4 DVDs. You can see multiple excerpts on Youtube, including “Sacred Sites and Biodiversity” featuring clips from Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Ethiopia.

Burnaby Mountain fight against tar sands pipeline heats up

From Zoe Blunt at the Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network

Right now across North America, groups of land defenders are doing their damnedest to block tarsands oil from coming to the coasts. Big oil and the Conservative government are insisting on pipelines from Alberta to the Pacific to feed the Asian export market. But thousands of locals are pledging to put their freedom on the line to stop them.

In Burnaby BC, the front has shifted from street rallies to blocking pipeline workers from drilling through Burnaby Mountain. Hundreds of native and non-native environmentalists have joined forces to occupy a conservation area in a last-ditch effort to stop Kinder Morgan and protect the Salish Sea and the traditional territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, which has launched a court challenge against the tarsands pipeline.

But now Kinder Morgan has filed its own lawsuit naming the land defenders. And on Friday Nov 14, the judge granted the pipeline company’s request for an injunction and ordered resisters to leave or face arrest.

Many are not leaving. Those who feel called to defend the coast, please join these brave people. Come to bear witness and follow your conscience. I know I can’t stand aside and allow these machines to override the will of the people and open up a wilderness park and the whole south coast to toxic oil spills.

How to join:

  • Come for a day or two or a week. Bring a friend if you can.
  • Be prepared to camp. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag, rain gear, food and a water bottle.
  • Call Zoe to get connected to a team, and to check your gear: 250-813-3569
  • Directions: 300 Centennial Way, at the east end of Hastings St in Burnaby. Take the #135 bus from Waterfront Skytrain station.

There are several groups on the mountain, from tight affinity groups to community coalitions, and they are making different plans. There may be people going in different directions, so please follow your heart, or call Zoe to connect to a network.

This is where the game gets interesting. We’re playing for high stakes, and we could see a quick reversal if our side’s challenges to Kinder Morgan are heard and upheld in court.

The Tseil-Waututh Nation is joined by 150 other First Nations, dozens of community groups, and Burnaby’s mayor and council. Support these community groups on Indiegogo.

A spill of any kind – like the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill in Alaska in 1987 – would devastate the wild coast of British Columbia, including the Great Bear Rainforest, Haida Gwaii, salmon runs, wildlife habitat, and the livelihoods and culture of thousands of native people who depend on the sea. A pipeline blowout or a tanker collision would demolish coastal tourism. We can’t even estimate the cost.

Those who love this coast are pledged to defend it.

Come to the Solidarity House in Sooke and get skilled up

I’m happy to announce that the Solidarity House is now open for land defense training. On Sundays, starting on Nov 23, we’re offering the opportunity to support the frontlines and observe first-hand as BC moves to a new phase of land defense.

Join us to talk about strategy, solidarity, and specific skills like backcountry work, mapping, and fundraising. Lend your good energy to an inspiring grassroots movement led by incredibly resilient activists.

Call 250-813-3569 or email zoe@wildcoast.ca for the address and details.

Will Falk’s DIY Resistance series

Will Falk of Deep Green Resistance San Diego has been writing prolifically this year on various resistance topics, notably about his time at the Unis’tot’en Camp. More recently, he has published an ongoing series of essays on the theme of “Do-It-Yourself Resistance.” We’ll keep this post updated with new additions, and here are all his excellent pieces so far:

Earth: Land is Life video

An important view into indigenous ways of thinking and living, Earth: Land is Life centers on the 7th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2008, with interviews of delegates from around the world. The many representatives of many cultures speak eloquently on the importance of returning to a balanced way of life, protecting the earth, and resisting destruction and disruption by the dominant culture.

Unlike many hope-based documentaries, the film conveys the widely held sense of doubt that any material change will come about from the effort and time nearly 3000 indigenous representatives put into traveling and speaking. Though corporations, governments, and their associated institutions routinely put on shows of participatory democracy, the only language they really hear is that of force.

Watch this video, and contemplate how you can get involved in effectively stopping civilization’s relentless assault on the lands and lives of indigenous peoples.

Videos recommended by Deep Green Resistance

We’ve compiled lists of videos we recommend to those learning about radical history and resistance, from presentations by DGR members to fictional films. We have two sets of lists. Enjoy!

Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel features resistance videos with Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Aric McBay, and other DGR members. You’ll also find non-DGR films and music videos with anti-civ analysis and themes of resistance.

  • Trailers for upcoming DGR films
  • DGR Workshop Presentations
  • DGR Presentations at PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, OR)
  • DGR Authors (Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay) giving various presentations
  • Other DGR members on various speaking tours
  • Radical Feminism
  • Resistance & Anti-civilization Films
    • Resistance – Contemporary
    • Fictional Resistance & Anti-Civ
    • Resistance – Historical
    • Indigeneity
    • Civilization: The Problem
  • Resistance Radio: audio interviews by Derrick Jensen
  • Music videos

We also have a set of Deep Green Resistance IMDB lists. These don’t include any actual video clips, but do provide more information on the films, including reviews by other people.

  • The Problem of Civilization – Big Picture
  • The Problem of Civilization – Specific Issues
  • Resistance – Contemporary
  • Resistance – Historical
  • Resistance – World War II
  • Resistance – Fictional
  • Indigeneity
  • Feminism
  • Historical & Political Documentaries
  • Restoration & Nature Documentaries
  • Animal Rights
  • Fictional anti-civilization films

Short reflection on Unis’tot’en Camp by Justin Ellenbecker

Justin Ellenbecker, one of the DGR members who joined the July caravan to the Unis’tot’en Camp, reports back on his experience:

I’ve had many opportunities over recent years to attend some of the best training in theoretical concepts and workshops. This action camp provided that and something deeper: a chance to join with those on the front lines, to be a part of actively resisting, guided by people who understand the need to militantly respond to the threats facing the living world. I personally witnessed before my eyes people undergoing radical changes as they saw the material needs for a true resistance as more important than their ideological purity. I spent hours on security, construction, and permaculture tasks where for once the work was more important than group affiliation or rumor mongering. Conversations always took a path towards how the environmental movement needs to start winning offensive battles, crippling the means for those in power to destroy living ecosystems. People new and veteran to this type of work were tossing away the shells of symbolic dogmatism they had long sheltered themselves in, and craving more concrete ways to challenge the dominant culture. I dare say I found a place where my pessimism and extreme caution weren’t a necessary facet of negotiating the world of activism.

This is a place to get work done, and there is much work left to do. If you think you can possibly make it to the area, directly support the camp. If you can’t make it in person, donations of money and materials are always needed, and there may be ways to volunteer from afar. Please get in touch!