Canada should act on UN resolution on Wet’suwet’en land defenders before June 17th vote

Canada is vying for a seat on the United Nations Security Council (pictured above) for a two-year term beginning in January 2021.

The election is scheduled to take place on June 17.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally announced Canada’s bid for this seat in March 2016 and has spent at least $1.5 million in pursuit of it.

And yet the Trudeau government has not complied with a resolution of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In December 2019, this UN Committee of independent experts said it was “disturbed by forced removal, disproportionate use of force, harassment and intimidation by law enforcement officials against indigenous peoples who peacefully oppose large-scale development projects on their traditional territories.”

It then called on Canada “to immediately halt the construction and suspend all permits and approvals for the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in the traditional and unceded lands and territories of the Wet’suwet’en people, until they grant their free, prior and informed consent, following the full and adequate discharge of the duty to consult.”

It also said that construction on the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline and the Site C hydroelectric dam should be suspended.

The Wet’suwet’en have not given their consent to this megaproject and construction on it continues despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

To add your voice to the call from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, please send an email to the Prime Minister via our Urgent Action platform.

You can also personalize it with your own message.

For the latest updates on the Wet’suwet’en land defence struggle, please see the Unist’ot’en Camp Facebook page.