Proposed agreement reached between hereditary chiefs and B.C. government

Three days of talks between Canadian government officials and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs concluded Sunday, resulting in a proposed arrangement. The deal draft is under review by hereditary chiefs, although details of the draft have not been disclosed.

After the closed-door talks in Smithers B.C., British Columbia Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser came out and requested time and space for the agreement to be finalized.

“I ask for some space and calm for us to continue that good work and allow also the Wet’suwet’en to review that arrangement and to endorse if that’s appropriate,” said Fraser. “That is the way forward. Always, with dialogue and respect.”

After having brought construction to a halt for the discussion period beginning Thursday, Coastal Gaslink issued a statement saying it would resume construction activities in the Morice River area, near the Unist’ot’en Healing Center.

Tyendinaga and Kahnawaka Mohawk nations will uphold rail blockades until governments meet demands that RCMP leave Wet’suwet’en territory.

After the meeting, Fraser highlighted British Columbia’s commitment to recognizing Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), as per the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

“FPIC is about working cooperatively and collaborating in good faith with first nations right from the very beginning. And that is the process we have agreed to under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” said Fraser.

Dini’z Woos, hereditary chief of the Wet’suweten Cas Yikh House of the Gidimit’en Clan, said the chiefs are opposed to any pipeline going through their territory.

“We’ve maintained that right from day one. All of the governments know that. We notified everybody, right from day one.”

After three days and nights of talks NO agreement on Coastal GasLink has been reached. However, a tentative agreement has been reached on Wet’suwet’en rights and title. This will not be publicly released until Wet’suwet’en people have a chance to review over the next few weeks. pic.twitter.com/2Zevt7FNmP

— Gidimt’en Checkpoint (@Gidimten) March 1, 2020

In Windsor, the Shkawbewisag Student Law Society (SSLS) and the Native Student Alliance (NSAA) have collectively organized a University of Windsor student walkout to occur in unison with dozens of other universities across the country on March 4.

Event organizer Valeria Kuri made a statement on social media that despite progress made over the weekend, no parties have changed their position on the Coastal Link pipeline, and the walkout will still take place.

“We are still going forward with our march to make sure our voices are heard, all the way from Windsor! The Community needs to know that their supporters are standing firmly.”

Beverly Jacobs, University of Windsor Faculty of Law and former president of Native Women’s Association of Canada, published an article in The Star, signed and endorsed by over 200 lawyers and legal academics that “demand(s) an end to the ongoing violations of Indigenous nations’ internationally recognized right to free, prior, and informed consent — for example, with the Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines routed through unceded Indigenous lands, including Wet’suwet’en lands.”