Tiny House for Gitxsan land defenders opposing the PRGT pipeline to be built in Victoria, May 16 to 30
Photo: “Maas Gwitkunuxws Teresa Brown at her camp and dog sanctuary, situated a few dozen metres from the projected right-of-way of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline.” Photo by Mike Graeme, November 27, 2024.
Friends of Gitxsan Gitanyow have posted on Instagram: “Want to come help build a tiny house for Gitxsan land defenders?”
They explain: “This tiny house is being constructed for Maas Gwitkunuxws (Teresa Brown), of Wilp Gitludahl, who has been running a dog rescue sanctuary and resistance camp in the supposed path of the PRGT pipeline.”
Friends of Gitxsan Gitanyow have also noted: “The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Line is back, but the Gitxsan never went anywhere.”
They add: “As they prepare to once again mount blockades in resistance to unwanted colonial megaprojects, people here on Lkwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories [where the city of Victoria is located] are organizing the construction of a tiny house on a trailer to provide material support towards the blockades, and also to build community around the values and practices of decolonially-aspiring solidarity.”
Map situating Gitxsan territory.
The build will take place from May 16th to 30th at the Campus Community Garden at the University of Victoria.
Photo: UVic campus community garden.
To donate to the building of the Tiny House, click here. To sign-up to volunteer for the building of the house, click here.
Concerns about RCMP violence against land defenders
Wilps Gwininitxw, a Gitxsan Nation house group, is just upstream from the proposed route of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline. Wilps Gwininitxw member Ankhla Jennifer Zyp says: “We’re worried, for sure, that we’re going to be met with the same violence [as seen against the Wet’suwet’en], with the same push from the government.”
On a Peace Brigades International-Canada organized webinar, Tara Marsden, Wilp sustainability director for Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, commented: “Our learning is that consent only works when we say yes, if we say no, even if we say no with science behind us, and our knowledge and our laws behind us, then we will be met with force from the C-IRG, from militarized invasion and occupation and intimidation and harassment.”
Photo: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) officers (now rebranded as CRU-BC) during the November 2021 raid on Wet’suwet’en territory in which Indigenous land defenders opposed to the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline were arrested and removed from the territory. Photo by Michael Toledano.
The call to abolish the C-IRG/CRU-BC
Peace Brigades International-Canada continues to call for the abolition of the RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) that is currently under “systemic investigation” by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC).
Photo: On March 22, 2023, PBI-Canada hand-delivered to the CRCC office in Ottawa this Abolish C-IRG coalition letter calling for the suspension of the C-IRG during the CRCC systemic investigation (that continues more than two years after it was launched).
Violence against Indigenous land defenders worldwide
Peace Brigades International upholds Indigenous rights and sovereignty and accompanies Indigenous land defenders facing violence and threats.
This week, the Front Line Defenders Global Analysis 2024/25 report documented that of the 324 human rights defenders killed in 32 countries in 2024, 20.4 percent were land rights defenders and 17.9 percent were Indigenous rights defenders.
They further document that at least 15.1 percent of the perpetrators of this violence were “alleged state actors”.
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: PBI-Canada hosts webinar on Gitxsan and Gitanyow resistance to colonial mega-projects (March 7, 2024)
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