Video still: Manuel speaks at protest near the Canada Investment Summit gala dinner in Toronto, September 24, 2026.
Secwepemc-Ktunaxa land and water defender Kanahus Manuel has posted on social media: “Meet you in Ottawa, come stand with us for our Indigenous rights, title territories and self-determination.”
The National Day of Action coincides with the First Nations-First Ministers’ Meeting (FNFMM) that same day in Ottawa.
The Canadian Press reports: “The [provincial] premiers, [Canadian Prime Minister Mark] Carney and First Nations representatives [mostly regional chiefs from the Assembly of First Nations] are set to meet in Ottawa on October 26, just as tensions are rising over the federal and provincial governments’ major projects agenda.”
Another Canadian Press article notes: “Chiefs are set to meet with Carney and the country’s premiers in Ottawa later this month, and major projects are expected to be a major topic of debate.”
Those major projects include the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline (on Gitanyow and Gitxsan territory), LNG Canada Phase 2 (on Wet’suwet’en territory), and the Pacific Link oil pipeline (on Secwepemc territory).
On October 1, CBC News reported: “[The proposed Pacific Link] pipeline carrying one million barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the British Columbia coast has become the first project designated in the national interest, the federal and Alberta governments have announced.”
This past July, the Government of Canada Major Projects Office had stated the pipeline would “largely follow the existing Trans Mountain corridor”. The current Trans Mountain pipeline crosses about 518 kilometres of unceded Secwepemc territory in northern British Columbia.
In May 2022, when the Trans Mountain pipeline was being built, CBC News reported: “In a letter dated April 29, [the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination] CERD said the governments of Canada and British Columbia ‘have escalated their use of force, surveillance, and criminalization of land defenders to intimidate, remove and forcibly evict Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en Nations from their traditional lands…’ The letter goes on to name the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) and private security forces as the perpetrators. …CERD previously sent letters in 2019 and 2020 asking B.C. and Canada to refrain from using force against Wet’suwet’en and Secwepemc Nations and to withdraw police and security services from traditional territories.”
The Truth Before Reconciliation Education & Advocacy Network website highlights the three demands of the National Day of Action: “1) Recognition and Respect for Aboriginal Title, Inherent Rights, and Treaties. 2) A New Policy Framework based on Nation-to-Nation relations, not federal delegation. 3) Restoration and Restitution for lands and resources taken without consent.”
We continue to follow this.
