Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks says it is “a tremendous waste of money.”

According to documents obtained by CBC News reporter Chantelle Bellrichard, $13.1 million of public funds have been spent on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) presence on Wet’suwet’en territory to facilitate the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline between January 2019 and March 2020.

The TC Energy-owned pipeline would cross 190 kilometres of Wet’suwet’en territory without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en peoples.

The cost breakdown of the RCMP presence on Wet’suwet’en territory is $3.6 million for the fiscal year 2018/2019 and $9.5 million in 2019/2020.

These dates include the January 7, 2019 and the February 6-10, 2020 RCMP actions against unarmed Wet’suwet’en land defenders.

Notes from a RCMP strategy session prior to the January 2019 raid show that RCMP commanders argued that “lethal overwatch is req’d” and that officers were instructed to “use as much violence toward the gate as you want” ahead of the operation to remove a roadblock established by Wet’suwet’en land defenders.

On December 13, 2019, the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination passed a resolution calling for the RCMP to be withdrawn from the traditional lands of the Wet’suwet’en, but within weeks the British Columbia (BC) government approved the funds for a second RCMP raid against the land defenders.

While mainstream media reports have focused on the fact that the RCMP were acting on court issued injunctions against the land defenders, they rarely cite the often repeated concerns about how injunctions are skewed against land defenders nor, as First Peoples Law argues, that Canadian law should be on the side of the Wet’suwet’en.

The RCMP fall under the responsibility of federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair. When the RCMP are contracted to do policing in BC they also fall under the responsibility of provincial Solicitor General Mike Farnworth.

Under 20-year agreements signed in 2012, provinces, territories and municipalities pay anywhere from 70 to 90 per cent of the cost of the RCMP’s services.

On January 27, 2020, Farnworth wrote Jennifer Strachan (the commanding officer of the RCMP in BC) that he authorized the “internal redeployment of resources within the Provincial Police Services” on Wet’suwet’en lands in order to “maintain law and order, and to ensure the safety of persons, property and communities in the area.”

Days later the RCMP raid against the Wet’suwet’en began.

The CBC notes: “The province did not respond to a question about whether a similar authorization was made with respect to the first enforcement operation.”

While BC Premier John Horgan has stated, in response to mounting criticisms of human rights violations, that his government does not direct the RCMP, he has also said the pipeline is vital to securing a liquefied natural gas industry and will be built.

Contrasting images: Photo by Michael Toledano during the militarized RCMP raid against Wet’suwet’en land defenders in January 2019. Photo by Eric Woolliscroft/CBC of the RCMP in Nova Scotia last week.

Contrasts are being drawn on social media between how the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) respond to Indigenous land and environmental defenders in this country compared to the violence of a non-Indigenous mob.

After a month of attacks against Mi’kmaq fishers in Nova Scotia, a spokesperson for the RCMP in Nova Scotia stated: “RCMP understand what the issue here is. We don’t see it as a police issue, but we understand both sides. We understand the passion and what they are bringing to the table. And we respect that.”

In response, Mi’kmaw lawyer Pam Palmater tweeted: “THIS deeply-ingrained racism & white supremacy w/n [the RCMP] is exactly why we’ve long called to #DefundTheRCMP They stand by & watch Mi’kmaw get attacked by racist violent white fishermen yet when Mi’kmaw peacefully assert rights in come SWAT teams. RCMP r useless.”

Michael Toledano has also tweeted: “It’s hard to watch RCMP stand down for racist mobs to terrorize Mikmaq people, while Wet’suwet’en are still harassed daily for hunting and holding ceremonies on their own land, while OPP are arresting people in Six Nations for asserting land rights. Canada is abysmal.”

Illustrating that point, Toledano posted this 9-minute video of RCMP disrespect toward Wet’suwet’en women in ceremony last week.

Sakura Saunders has also posted on Facebook that the RCMP didn’t just stand by when a mob of non-Indigenous fishers recently attacked a pound/building used by Mi’kmaw fishers (that was burned down days later), they intervened on their behalf.

Mi’kmaw fisher Jason Marr said that as the mob threw rocks through windows “not one RCMP even tried to stop them” and further noted that the RCMP told him the non-Indigenous fishers would let them leave if they handed over the lobster.

Ossie Michelin has also tweeted: “I took this pic [see below] 7 years ago. I look at Nova Scotia now & ask why police aren’t protecting the livelihoods of Mi’kmaq fishermen the way they protect the livelihood of a foreign fracking company? When it’s settlers vs Indigenous the state always chooses settlers.”

And Tiffany Gooch now writes in the Toronto Star: “When Indigenous people gather in peaceful protest, taking action to protect natural resources, they are immediately criminalized. The hypocritical contrast is glaring.”

Idle No More has commented: “The inaction of the federal and provincial government and the RCMP to protect Mi’kmaq people is a violation of Indigenous inherent rights, Treaty rights, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada supports the Idle No More request to amplify the calls for justice in Mi’kma’ki territory which includes a call for a national week of action starting today through to October 23.

Twitter photo by Pierette d’Entremont

Early this morning, a fire destroyed a lobster pound (building/facility) used by Mi’kmaw fishers in the fishing village of Middle West Pubnico, Nova Scotia.

Global News reports: “The lobster pound is the same one that was swarmed, vandalized and ransacked by a large crowd of non-Indigenous commercial fishers and their supporters Tuesday night.”

That article notes that Mi’kmaw fisher Jason Marr said that non-Indigenous fishers had threatened on Tuesday night to “burn” his group out of the building if they didn’t leave and allow them to take the lobsters they had caught.

This morning, Pam Palmater tweeted: “Mi’kma’ki is my home. All of my family & relatives live there. Racist non-native fishermen continue their violence with what appears to be full impunity. [The RCMP, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] are allowing this to happen. This is terrorism on Mi’kmaw land.”

Sipekne’katik Chief Mike Sack has stated: “I am once again calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and the RCMP to dedicate the necessary resources to this region to protect everyone. I am extremely concerned that someone is going to hurt or worse.”

Chief Sack has further commented: “This truly is systemic racism. If it was 300 of our people and 40 of theirs, the place will be full of cops.”

Now, APTN reports that Mi’kmaq Warrior Peacekeepers arrived on Thursday night to keep the peace on and off the water. Shy Francis says: “For security, there’s nobody out here to protect me. That’s my protection, they’re my peacekeepers.”

Nearly a month ago, Chief Sack called on authorities “to uphold the rule of law amid ongoing violence, threats, human rights discrimination” and highlighted “our fisher people are facing harassment, vehicles have been damaged, boats have been damaged. Their fishing gear has been stolen, their lines have been cut. Boats have been burned.”

On September 17, after 21 years of inaction by the Canadian government to provide a framework to implement the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling affirming the Treaty rights of the Mi’kmaq to fish for a “moderate livelihood”, the Sipekne’katik First Nation issued a small number of licences to Mi’kmaq fishers.

Terence Augustine has highlighted that fishing is also an inherent right of the Mi’kmaq and adds that non-Mi’kmaw fishers have ramped up the rhetoric of overfishing. That’s because Mi’kmaq fishers have set about 350 lobster traps while the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has issued permits for about 367,125 lobster traps.

For more, please see Ways to Support Mi’kmaq Treaty Rights and Livelihood Fisheries that includes how to make a financial donation, drop off supplies, Mi’kmaw to follow on Instagram and Twitter for updates and commentary, and additional resources.

There is also this template circulating on social media to Take Action to Support Mi’kmaq fisherpeople facing threats, attacks and discrimination.

Photo from the We, the Secwepemc: Virtual Unity Camp to stop Transmountain Pipeline.

On October 15, five Secwepemc land defenders were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline construction site on unceded Secwepemc territory in Kamloops, British Columbia.

The TMX pipeline project, now owned by the Canadian government, would cross 518 kilometres of Secwepemc territory and move 890,000 barrels per day of bitumen oil from northern Alberta to the British Columbia coast for export on super tankers.

A statement from the Secwepemc Unity Camp says: “Those arrested include our Secwepemc Hereditary Chief and Elder, his daughter, a former TMX pipeline engineer and two other Secwepemc women.”

Their statement adds: “All those present today at our sacred fire and at the TMX Pipeline drill site were present in ceremony under the jurisdiction of Secwepemc Law and under the authority of Secwepemc Hereditary leadership, Elders Councils, Sacred Woman’s Fire Council, and the Secwepemc.”

On December 13, 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination passed a resolution expressing its concern about “the approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Extension project without free, prior and informed consent by all the indigenous peoples affected.”

The UN Committee also said it was “alarmed by escalating threat of violence against indigenous peoples” including the violent arrest of Secwepemc land defender Kanahus Manuel on October 19, 2019.

It then called upon the State party (Canada) “to immediately cease construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project and cancel all permits, until free, prior and informed consent is obtained from all the Secwepemc people, following the full and adequate discharge of the duty to consult.”

For more on this, please follow Kanahus Manuel on Twitter at @KanahusFreedom and the Secwepemc Unity Camp on Facebook here.