During the week of Monday June 23 to Friday June 27, campesina leader Jani Silva from the Amazon Pearl Peasant Reserve Zone (La Zona de Reserva Campesina Perla Amazónica) and Inga defender Doris Waira Nina Jacanamijoy Mutumbajoy from the Association of Indigenous Women Defenders of the Chagra of Life (Asociacion de Mujeres Indigenas Defensoras de la Chagra de la Vida – ASOMI) visited with Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow and Gitxsan leaders on their territories in northern British Columbia, Canada.
Prior to arriving in these territories, Jani and Waira visited the archipelago of Haida Gwaii (previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) and met with many people including Hereditary Chief Guuthlay, hereditary leader Gidansda Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw, Jason Alsop, the president of the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN), and Julia Weder, a settler adopted into the Skidegate Gidins/Naa ‘Yuuwans clan.
A reflection titled “How should we fight forceful winds?” by Jani and Waira after their visit to Haida Gwaii can be read here.
After Haida Gwaii, Jani and Waira met with hereditary chiefs and frontline land and territorial defenders including Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks (Tsayu Clan), Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Woos (Gitdumden), Cas Yikh Wing Chief Sleydo’/Molly Wickham of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Dr. Karla Tait, the Director of Clinical Programming at the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre, Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Deborah Good/Watakhayetsxw, Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Graham Morgan/Sindihl, and Gitxsan hereditary leader Jesse Stoeppler/Gwii Lok’im Gibuu.
They were able to exchange experiences of their struggles to protect territory and life from extractivism in the form of fracked gas pipelines, oil extraction and mining.
Jani and Waira heard about the ongoing struggle to stop the TC Energy Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline (and now compressor stations) on Wet’suwet’en territory, and the emerging fight to stop the construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline in order to protect Gitanyow and Gitxsan territories.
Wet’suwet’en, Gitxsan and Gitanyow leaders were also able to hear about the impacts of oil extraction in the Putumayo region as well as the threat of a massive copper mining project, both led by Canadian companies.
The exchanges between Jani, Waira and Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow and Gitxsan leaders helped to highlight common challenges, the depth of mental and emotional strength needed when faced by risk and violence to continue the struggle to protect territory, as well as to contrast the realities of how these struggles can be waged.
Emerging out of these conversations is a clarity that it is the responsibility of all humanity to protect Mother Earth, to nurture culture and biodiversity, to reject extractivism in the Amazon and on unceded Indigenous territories within the colonial borders of Canada, and for unity among peoples in the Global South and Global North who prioritize life and well-being over destructive greed and profit.
There is the hope for continued conversations via Zoom in the coming weeks and months, opportunities to express North-to-South and South-to-North solidarity, a reciprocal visit to visit with Jani in Putumayo and Waira in Caquetá, as well as a return visit for the Peace and Unity Summit in August 2026.
There is also a deep interest to watch (and re-watch) the film “Yintah” that documents the struggle against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Jani, Waira and the delegation met with Cas Yikh Wing Chief Sleydo’ at the Feast Hall on Wet’suwet’en territory just three weeks after she gave the acceptance speech in Toronto when Yintah won the 2025 Canadian Screen Award (CSA) for Best Feature Length Documentary. Her acceptance speech can be seen here.
Her words at the awards ceremony especially resonate after this visit: “We still face colonial occupation, and we are still fighting to live in peace as Wet’suwet’en on our land. The fight continues and we will never give up. Our sovereignty is tied to our collective freedom. Land back. Free Palestine.”
The visit was facilitated by the Forest Peoples Programme, the Peace Brigades International Colombia Project, and Peace Brigades International-Canada, with the participation of the Friends of the Gitxsan and Gitanyow, and the support of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Amnesty International Canada, MiningWatch Canada, and the Ecclesial Justice and Peace Commission, among multiple other organizations, foundations and individuals who were generous with their time.
