More than 20 Indigenous youth are blocking the entrance to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources on Blanshard Street to deliver a message to the Minister Michelle Mungall and Premier John Horgan.
The protesters delivered a letter to Mungall that stated Indigenous youth were not only inheriting a climate crisis “driven by fossil fuel projects like [Coastal GasLink] CGL, but Canada’s legacy of colonization, genocide and gendered violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.” In other words, they are supporting Wet’suwet’en sovereignty and opposing RCMP actions.
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The letter includes a list of the four demands made by the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, including ceasing construction of CGL’s pipeline, that RCMP withdrawn for the area and that all levels of government, RCMP and CGL respect the Nations sovereignty and refrain from using force to access the land or to remove supporters.
RELATED: B.C. hereditary chiefs ban Coastal GasLink from Wet’suwet’en lands
Just over 20 days into the new year and over 45 international actions have taken place in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. On Monday protesters blocked the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal in a show of solidarity.
Protesters plan to be on site throughout the day.
kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca
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