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Trudeau’s pledge at COP26 of an emissions cap does not stop the ongoing criminalization of Indigenous land defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the COP26 summit on November 1, 2021; RCMP raid on Wet’suwet’en territories on January 7, 2019.

At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has just promised to cap this country’s oil and gas emissions.

Trudeau stated: “We’ll cap oil and gas sector emissions today and ensure they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net zero by 2050. That’s no small task for a major oil and gas producing country.”

There were no specifics on what this cap might be.

Canadian environment minister Steven Guilbeault says: “We are seeking advice from officials at Environment and Climate Change Canada and Natural Resources Canada, and intend to engage with provinces, territories, civil society, labour organizations, national Indigenous organizations and industry partners.”

The cap on the tar sands

Trudeau was first elected prime minister on October 19, 2015.

On November 22, 2015, then Alberta premier Rachel Notley announced a 100-megatonne limit on carbon pollution from the Alberta tar sands.

Both Trudeau and Guilbeault welcomed this announcement. The following day, Trudeau stated: “We just had a strong signal yesterday about how Canadians right across the country are looking to step up and do their part in the fight against climate change.”

At that time, emissions from the tar sands amounted to 70 megatonnes a year. In other words, the cap allowed for a massive expansion of the tar sands.

Pipelines approved even with the cap on emissions

By November 29, 2016, Trudeau approved the 890,000 barrel per day Trans Mountain pipeline and the 760,000 barrel per day Line 3 pipeline.

When he approved those tar sands pipelines, Trudeau highlighted that Canada is still a “climate leader” because of the 100-megatonne cap.

Line 3 pipeline

Between November 2020 and October 2021, more than 800 water protectors were arrested opposing the Line 3 pipeline on Indigenous lands in Minnesota.

Those arrested are awaiting their trials. Most were cited with misdemeanors, but many were charged with gross misdemeanors and some face felony charges, which carry the potential of up to 10 years in prison for these water protectors.

Trans Mountain pipeline

Secwepemc land defenders also continue to oppose the Trans Mountain pipeline being built on their territories without consent.

That pipeline, originally being built by Texas-based Kinder Morgan, was purchased by the Trudeau government on May 29, 2018, to ensure that it would be completed. Beyond the $4.5 billion purchase price, the pipeline could cost $12.6 billion to finish.

Coastal GasLink pipeline

The TC Energy Corp. Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline being built on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory will feed the Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led consortium building the LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat on the coast of British Columbia.

On October 2, 2018, when investors approved the project going forward (after the National Energy Board had approved it on January 8, 2016, and the federal government had authorized it), Trudeau stated: “Today is a good day.”

And by May 4, 2020, the Canadian government’s export credit agency had approved a $500 million loan to build the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The RCMP has conducted two militarized raids on unarmed Wet’suwet’en land defenders. The first was on January 8, 2019, when 14 land defenders were arrested. And the second on February 6, 2020, in which another 22 land defenders were arrested.

There are concerns that a third RCMP raid may be imminent.

Moving forward

Ending the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders opposed to megaprojects on their territories would require a recognition of their sovereignty, title and inherent rights, adherence to the right to free, prior and informed consent, and a commitment to ending fossil fuel subsidies and the building of new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International recently calculated that: “Indigenous resistance has stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one-quarter of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.”

Included in their calculation is the 125 million metric tons of annual CO2 pollution associated with the Coastal GasLink pipeline, the 175 million metric tons from the Line 3 pipeline, and the 130 million metric tons from the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The criminalization of Indigenous land defenders on the frontlines of the battle against climate chaos must stop.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Justice and Peace Commission at Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 1, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on social media: “We accompany @Justiciaypazcol at a women’s meeting at the #ZRC Perla Amazónica. Promoting the work of women who sow life and protect the Amazon against the extractive impact that contributes to climate change.”

PBI-Colombia also tweeted: “We remain very concerned about the security situation of the members of the ADISPA association and in particular of its legal representative Jani Silva and the lack of guarantees for their work in the territory.”

Silva is the president of the Association for the Integral Sustainable Development of the Perla Amazónica (ADISPA), the association that manages the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone (ZRCPA). The ZRCPA is located near Puerto Asis in the department of Putumayo, which is situated in south-west Colombia near the border with Ecuador.

Multiple threats against Silva

PBI-Colombia has reported on numerous instances of threats against Silva.

In 2017, Silva was internally displaced for their community as a result of death threats in response to her work.

PBI-Colombia notes: “Silva and her husband packed up all their belongings, got on a boat and travelled down the river to Puerto Asis, where they sought refuge. After so many threats and so much stress it was no longer possible to stay on the farm.”

This past April, Amnesty International launched this video and a campaign to demand that Colombian authorities immediately take effective measures to guarantee the safety of Jani who has experienced multiple threats.

Amnesty International has highlighted: “Jani Silva has dedicated her life to protecting the Amazon and the life that exists in it from efforts by armed groups and multinational companies to take control of her territory.”

Extractivism in Putumayo

PBI-Colombia has noted: “Over the years, one of the great challenges they have faced has been the arrival and expansion of oil companies.”

Amnesty International adds: “Her work placed her at loggerheads with the Ecopetrol oil company, which won a license to operate in areas overlapping with the reserve in 2006. In 2009, the license was transferred to the Amerisur oil company. Since then, at least two oil spills have poisoned the water sources that local communities depend on.”

And Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli of WOLA further notes: “Silva persistently fights for the conservation of the Amazon ecosystem and the rights of campesinos in Putumayo department. Oil slicks pollute the soil and drinking water of hundreds of farmers, animals, and plants, which is why Silva has campaigned for years against oil extraction.”

In November 2019, Amerisur (that had been listed on the London Stock Exchange) was purchased by GeoPark (listed on the New York Stock Exchange).

Several Canadian oil and gas corporations also operate in the Putumayo basin, including Calgary-based Gran Tierra Energy.

Jani Silva is accompanied by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission. PBI-Colombia has accompanied Justice and Peace since 1994.

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS at psychosocial workday in Cimitarra, Magdalena Medio

By
Brent Patterson
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On November 1, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Yesterday we accompanied @Credhos_Paz in a psychosocial workday in Cimitarra, Magdalena Medio.”

Cimitarra is a municipality located about 200 kilometres from Bucaramanga, the capital of the department of Santander.

PBI-Colombia has previously explained: “The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Credhos) was founded in 1987 in the city of Barrancabermeja, an oil enclave strongly affected by paramilitarism and the armed conflict.”

It adds: “The purpose of the members of the Corporation was to denounce and seek answers to the serious humanitarian and human rights crisis in Barrancabermeja and the Magdalena Medio region, which in many ways continues to this day.”

On November 2, 2019, Ivan Madero, the president of CREDHOS, visited Canada with Julia Figueroa and Andrea Nocove of the Luis Carlos Pérez Collective Lawyers Corporation (CCACLP) for an eight-day advocacy tour in Ontario and British Columbia.

Madero has also participated in several PBI-Canada organized webinars since then.

PBI-Colombia began accompanying CREDHOS in 1994.

We’re going to Gidimt’en!

By
Brent Patterson
-

We will be travelling to Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia later this week in response to the call from the Gidimt’en Checkpoint for observers as Coastal GasLink continues to build a fracked gas pipeline on their territory without consent.

To read more about this, please see PBI-Canada to travel to Wet’suwet’en territory as land defenders protect river from pipeline.

Just prior to my departure there, we will also be convening a panel on Saturday November 6 with six land and environmental rights defenders to talk about the UN COP26 climate summit now underway in Glasgow, Scotland.

As I write you, we have 168 people registered for this webinar. If you haven’t registered yet or would like to encourage a friend to join, this is the link to join the webinar with interpretation into English and Spanish.

It will feature Danilo Rueda (Colombia), Nelly Madegwa (Kenya), Valeria Villalobos (Mexico), Juana Ramona Zuñiga (Honduras), Amaru Ruiz (Nicaragua) and Sandra Calel (Guatemala). It will also include a special introduction by United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David R. Boyd.

I hope that you will be able to join us.

Accompaniments this past week

1- PBI-Mexico accompanies visit of Norwegian ambassador with human rights defenders in Chihuahua

2- PBI-Honduras accompanies COPINH on visit to Rio Blanco as the fight to defend Lenca ancestral territory continues

3- PBI-Guatemala accompanies CCDA Verapaz members to file complaint with Public Ministry

4- PBI-Colombia accompanies Peace Community at meeting with Canadian Embassy in Bogota

5- PBI-Guatemala accompanies four criminalized water defenders on the South Coast

There are also many more daily posts about other accompaniments, COP26 and our ongoing work on Twitter at @PBIcanada.

And if you can support this work with a donation large or small, please donate now. Any amount is appreciated!

Thank you!

Brent, PBI-Canada

Global poll finds high support for climate leadership in Colombia, Kenya and Mexico

By
Brent Patterson
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To hear environmental defenders Danilo Rueda (Colombia), Nelly Madegwa (Kenya) and Valeria Villalobos (Mexico) speak on Saturday November 6, please register here.

A new global poll conducted for the BBC World Service finds that people want their government to play a leadership role in setting ambitious targets at the UN COP26 summit to address climate change as quickly as possible.

Overall, 56 per cent of people across 31 countries and territories want to see their government play a leadership role at COP26 now underway in Glasgow, Scotland.

Notably, that number is higher in Colombia (74 per cent), Kenya (72 per cent) Mexico (69 per cent) among many other countries.

PBI webinar, November 6

We will be featuring environmental human rights defenders from Colombia, Kenya and Mexico among other countries to talk about their frontline struggles for climate justice and their expectations of the UN COP26 summit.

It will feature Danilo Rueda (Colombia), Nelly Madegwa (Kenya) and Valeria Villalobos (Mexico) along with Juana Ramona Zuñiga (Honduras), Amaru Ruiz (Nicaragua) and Sandra Calel (Guatemala). It will also include a special introduction by United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David R. Boyd.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

As of this morning, 158 people have registered for this webinar. We hope that you will be able to join us to hear these frontline voices.

PBI and Amnesty International call on COP26 President to help protect environmental human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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As COP26 begins, 19 organizations, including Peace Brigades International and Amnesty International in the United Kingdom, have sent an Open Letter to Alok Sharma on the situation of environmental human rights defenders.

Sharma is a cabinet minister in Boris Johnson’s government who is serving as President for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

In their Open Letter to Sharma, they call on governments to:

– Strengthen protection arrangements for environmental human rights defenders, through measures such as protection grants, amnesties and funding for rapid response emergency mechanisms.

– Establish and facilitate access to effective judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms to address business-related human rights and environmental abuses committed by UK companies domestically and extraterritorially.

– Ensure UK business enterprises, including financial institutions, to apply and publish human rights due diligence measures to identify, prevent, and mitigate against potential and actual human rights abuse, including the criminalisation of defenders.

The press release and full list of demands can be read here.

Signatories to the letter to Alok Sharma also include ABColombia, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, International Service for Human Rights, and London Mining Network.

PBI webinar, November 6

Peace Brigades International is convening a webinar on Saturday November 6 (at 5 pm in the UK) on COP26 and the situation of environmental human rights defenders.

It will feature Juana Ramona Zuñiga (Honduras), Nelly Madegwa (Kenya), Amaru Ruiz (Nicaragua), Danilo Rueda (Colombia), Sandra Calel (Guatemala) and Valeria Villalobos (Mexico). It will also include a special introduction by United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David R. Boyd.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

As of this morning, 156 people have registered for this webinar. We hope that you will be able to join us to hear these frontline voices.

Our colleague and friend Susi Bascon, the Director of PBI-UK, will also be present at the COP26 Coalition’s People’s Summit for Climate Justice in Glasgow, Scotland on Tuesday November 9. For more on that, please see In Defence of Our Lands: Latin American activists fighting for their lives, land, and human rights.

PBI-Canada to travel to Wet’suwet’en territory as land defenders protect river from pipeline

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Canada director Brent Patterson will be travelling to Wet’suwet’en territory in November in response to the call from the Gidimt’en Clan for observers and witnesses to their land defence struggle against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

To watch the Gidimt’en video with the call-out to come to camp, click here. For the application process to go, click here.

The fracked gas pipeline is being built on Wet’suwet’en territory without their free, prior and informed consent. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called on Canada to stop this megaproject.

The Committee has also called on Canada to remove the Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) from Wet’suwet’en traditional lands.

Instead, Export Development Canada, a public financing agency owned by the Government of Canada, has provided loans of up to $500 million to Coastal GasLink.

And the RCMP, the federal police agency overseen by a federal Cabinet minister, has spent $13.1 million between January 2019 and March 2020 maintaining its presence of Wet’suwet’en territory to facilitate the construction of the pipeline.

Millions more have presumably been spent since then.

The RCMP has conducted two militarized raids on unarmed Wet’suwet’en land defenders. The first was on January 8, 2019, when 14 land defenders were arrested. And the second on February 6, 2020, in which another 22 land defenders were arrested.

There are concerns that a third RCMP raid may be imminent.

The situation escalated when Coastal GasLink began to set up to drill a pipeline route under the Wedzin Kwa river. In response, Wet’suwet’en land defenders began an occupation of the drill site on Saturday September 25 to protect the river that is sacred to them.

There have been several arrests since then including most recently Likhts’amisyu Clan Hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl and Gitxsan land defender Kolin Sutherland-Wilson.

The Wet’suwet’en have stated repeatedly that the building of the pipeline without their consent is a violation of Wet’suwet’en law, both their inherent rights that predate Canada but also as title holders recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada.

For social media updates, you can follow Gidimt’en Checkpoint and Likhts’amisyu (Fireweed) Clan on Twitter.

To read about Tkaronto-based organizer Rachel Small of World Beyond War travelling to Gidimt’en territory at about the same time, please see her article: Why I’m Going to the Frontlines of the Wet’suwet’en Resistance.

The 22,000 square kilometres of Wet’suwet’en territory is divided into five clans, including Gitdumden (Wolf/Bear) and Laksamshu (Fireweed). The Coyote Camp on Gidimt’en territory where Coastal GasLink intends to drill under Wedzin Kwa is about 63 kilometres west of Houston via the Morice West Forest Service Road.

Stills from the documentary Invasion.

PBI-Mexico accompanies visit of Norwegian ambassador with human rights defenders in Chihuahua

By
Brent Patterson
-

On October 27, PBI-Mexico tweeted: “We welcome the visit to #Chihuahua from @EmbNorMexCA [the Norwegian ambassador to Mexico] and the meeting held with human rights defenders and organizations.”

Ambassador Ragnhild Imerslund also tweeted: “The situation of human rights defenders in #Chihuahua is worrying. Norway supports their fight against the forced displacement of indigenous peoples, femicides and sexual violence. Appreciation for sharing experiences and recommendations to the international community.”

PBI-Mexico has previously noted: “Alianza Sierra Madre has been working since the nineties with indigenous communities located in the municipality of Guadalupe and Calvo, in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua.”

“Several national and international organizations have recognized the situation of extreme violence that plagues the Sierra and that means a high risk for human rights defenders. Due to their work in defense of human rights, both community leaders and members of ASMAC have suffered reprisals.”

PBI-Mexico also explains that: “PBI has occasionally accompanied ASMAC since 2013; in July 2018, it expanded and formalized the accompaniment due to the high level of risk faced by the organization.”

On March 11, PBI-Canada and Amnesty International-Canada jointly organized this webinar that included Isela González of ASMAC with members from the community of Coloradas de La Virgen, including Otón Portillo and Celestino Carrillo.

Celestino’s father, Rarámuri land defender Julián Carrillo Martínez, was killed in the community of Coloradas de la Virgen on October 24, 2018.

PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio_OSC appears at IACHR session on situation for women and girls at protests

By
Brent Patterson
-

On October 27, the Espacio_OSC for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio_OSC) appeared at the thematic hearing “Situation of the human rights of women and girls in the context of the protests in Mexico” within the framework of a session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Espacio_OSC, a coordination platform of 18 civil society organizations, is accompanied by Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

Article 19 reports: “At the hearing, it was denounced that, in a patriarchal context such as Mexico characterized by strong violence against women and girls, voices of collectives, feminist and human rights movements have been raised…”

“Given the urgency and gravity of the context, [movements] have made use of their right to social protest, free expression and the right to defend human rights to demand from the Mexican State actions to prevent and eradicate this violence.”

The report also notes: “Demonstrations led by women, despite being mostly peaceful, have begun to be stigmatized as violent, violating the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”

The full report can be read at Organizaciones sociales denuncian ante CIDH la criminalización de la protesta feminista en México.

“Social protest in #México is stigmatized and criminalized by the State, being the object of constant violence due to a patriarchal environment and a repressive regulatory framework for the right to free association and free expression.”

Amaru Ruiz: “Indigenous territory should have all the protection to reduce the processes of invasion and deforestation”

By
Brent Patterson
-

Exiled Nicaraguan environmental defender Amaru Ruiz will be speaking on a PBI-convened webinar on Saturday November 6. To hear him speak, register here.

On October 29, EFE reported: “Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denis Moncada, heads the Nicaraguan delegation that will participate in the Climate Change Summit (COP26), which will start on Sunday in Glasgow (Scotland).”

The article notes: “The observer of the event by Nicaraguan civil society, Amaru Ruiz [director of the Fundación del Río], told EFE that Nicaragua will attend COP26 with an ‘ambiguous position’, since on the one hand it will demand ‘climate justice’, but on the other it does not do the same to improve its situation.”

Ruiz says: “Nicaragua’s position has been ambiguous. At first it did not recognize the Paris Agreement and then changed its position so as not to be left out of the Green Climate Fund. It speaks of climate justice, but not he exercises it in the country.”

And Ruiz highlights: “Indigenous territory should have all the protection to reduce the processes of invasion and deforestation, but we see the opposite: mining concessions, monocultures, invasion processes, murders…”

Global Witness reports: “Nicaragua saw 12 killings, making it the most dangerous country per capita for land and environmental defenders in 2020.”

PBI webinar, November 6

Ruiz will be speaking on a Peace Brigades International convened webinar on Saturday November 6 at 1 pm ET (Ottawa/Washington).

He will be joined by Nelly Madegwa (Kenya), Sandra Calel (Guatemala), Danilo Rueda (Colombia), Juana Ramona Zuñiga (Honduras) and Valeria Villalobos (Mexico). The webinar will also include a special introduction by United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David R. Boyd.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

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