“We still face colonial occupation”: Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham accepts Canadian Screen Award for “Yintah”
The film “Yintah” has won the 2025 Canadian Screen Award (CSA) for Best Feature Length Documentary.
The acceptance speech by Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham) can be seen here.
The Canadian Screen Awards description of the film notes: “Yintah, meaning ‘land’ in the Wet’suwet’en language, tells the story of an Indigenous nation asserting sovereignty. It is the story of the Wet’suwet’en people reoccupying their territory and resisting the construction of multiple pipelines. The film follows Tsakë ze’ Howilhkat Freda Huson and Tsakë ze’ Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, along with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and fellow land defenders, as they reoccupy and protect their traditional land in a decade-long battle to keep out the companies that seek to exploit it.”
CBC News reports: “Sunday’s winners did at least occasionally broach big topics. Upon receiving the best feature length documentary trophy, Molly Wickham alluded to the subject of their film Yintah, which follows Wet’suwet’en Nation fighting for its sovereignty in the face of planned pipeline projects. ‘We still face colonial occupation, and we are still fighting to live in peace as on our land,’ Wickham said. ‘The fight continues and we will never give up. Our sovereignty is tied to our collective freedom.’”
And The Hollywood Reporter noted: “Politics also overshadowed the CSAs when Wet’suwet’en leader Molly Wickham, an indigenous activist, came on stage with fellow directors of Yintah, which won for best documentary and follows a decade-long fight to protect indigenous lands from fossil-fuel companies. ‘The fight continues, and we will never give up. Our sovereignty is tied to our collective freedom. Land back. Free Palestine,’ a fist-pumping Wickham declared as the awards show was telecast live on the CBC and CBC Gem networks countrywide.”
“Colonial occupation” and CANSEC
Just days before the Canadian Screen Awards on June 1 in Toronto, the annual CANSEC arms show took place on May 28-29 in Ottawa.
Exhibitors at CANSEC have included Colt Canada Corp. (one of the biggest suppliers of guns to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) as well as Airbus (notably the AS350 B3 helicopter used by the RCMP) and Teledyne FLIR (the SkyRanger R60 drone was used for surveillance of land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory).
These are the tools and instruments of the “colonial occupation” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) that Wickham referred to in her acceptance speech.
CADSI has also promoted the presence of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at CANSEC in its “prospectus” for international delegations.
Watch Yintah
The 88-minute documentary can be watched on CBC Gem here. The 1 hour 49 minute version of the film can be seen on Netflix.
The trailer for the film is here.
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