Wet’suwet’en water protector Molly Wickham: “Wedzin Kwa is about to be destroyed”

On August 8, Wet’suwet’en water protector Molly Wickham posted: “I don’t know if people understand the severity of the time we are in right now.”

“The wedzinkwa is about to be destroyed. Our sacred life giver where our salmon spawn, the cleanest drinking water in the whole yintah, the place out ancestors walked and drank from, where all the animals and beings drink and use to survive.”

She adds: “It is about to be destroyed and we need you to come. Aug 20th for a week of Ceremony. Organize solidarity actions if you can’t make it. Nothing is more important than this, right now. This is our family, our future, our livelihood. It is life. Be as relentless as the systems in place meant to destroy us all.”

On July 28, Coastal GasLink posted: “As Coastal GasLink launches one of its most important construction seasons yet this summer, the project is approximately 70% complete overall and on track to full mechanical completion in 2023.”

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has repeatedly urged Canada to stop construction on this pipeline.

Their third letter – dated April 29, 2022 – called on Canada to provide a response to several concerns by July 15, 2022, including measures to: “Prevent and duly investigate the allegations of surveillance measures, practices of arbitrary detention, instances of excessive use of force against protesters, in particular those belonging to the Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en peoples, by the RCMP, CIRG, and private security firms.”

It’s not clear if Canada met that deadline.

The Narwhal has also reported: “On July 7, the province’s legal team told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church it would prosecute Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan Lax Gibuu Wilp Spookxw), Teka’tsihasere Corey ‘Jayohcee’ Jocko and Hannah Hall. The decision brings the total to 19 individuals arrested during the raid that B.C. Prosecution Service will pursue criminal charges against in the coming months.”

For more, please see the Gidimt’en Checkpoint Twitter feed.

UPDATE: On August 12, Decolonial Solidarity – RBC at Bank St and First shared this article at their weekly Friday morning protest.

Stand.earth has noted: “RBC is among top commercial banks providing the CGL project with working capital, including CAD $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.”

For more on the ongoing mobilizing in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en at RBC branches across the country, please see Decolonial Solidarity.