This article was written by Cheyenne Williams, a student from Vancouver Island University in a Virtual/Remote Intern/Mentorship with Peace Brigades International-Canada through the EleV scholarship program.

In light of recent and ongoing indigenous human rights infringements, and a lack of a regulatory body which enforces corporate accountability, this article outlines 3 key feminist actors fighting to uphold Indigenous sovereignty on behalf of their respective First Nations in Canada.

July 11, 2020 demarcated 30 years passed since of the siege of Kanesatage. In the passing of that anniversary, it is noted by Ellen Gabriel that many of the same threats to Indigenous human rights have been and continue to be perpetuated.

On the day of the anniversary, a news article by APTN captures Gabriel reading a joint statement on behalf of Kanehsatake and Kahnawake longhouses: “Our ancestral lands still face theft and dispossession, our traditional governments delegitimized by the governments of Canada and Quebec”.

Today, domestic issues faced by Indigenous people in Canada such as legal title to land continues to be dismissed or discounted. For instance, the Delgamuukw Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 1997, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the traditional governance of the Wet’suwet’en people have all been enacted and established to protect Indigenous sovereignty.

However, while Indigenous people are entitled to their rights legally, more often than not this appears to be the case in name only. While court injunctions are issued to protect megaprojects that exploit natural resources and the government issues military or police enforcement to protect economic interests, the question of accountability begs a critical analysis.

At an international level, the regulatory body Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) examines business enterprise, their conduct and any alleged allegations that are brought to their attention pertaining to their direct or indirect responsibility to adhere to respecting Indigenous Human Rights.

While Oxfam Canada points out that the Ombudsperson “[is] without any of the independence or legal powers of investigation originally promised”, any such body does not exist at a domestic level. This may explain why extractive industries within Canada rarely face consequences when impeding on unceded and unsurrendered indigenous territory and examinations of human rights misconduct hardly result in consequences strong enough to evoke legally enforced recognition of Indigenous self-governance.

In the absence of deconstructing a systemically discriminatory state, communities continue to struggle to assert and maintain basic rights and some leaders of these communities have become key feminist actors in defense of these basic rights.

Ellen Gabriel, Freda Huson and Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas have all put their lives on the lines to stand up for their respective First Nations, their human rights and their culture. These land and water defenders have resisted megaprojects that negate the process of obtaining Free Prior and Informed Consent, including the development of golf courses and condominiums, the construction of oil and gas pipelines and the establishment of fish farms in the Pacific Northwest.

So what efforts have these women made and how have the outcomes shifted because of their work?

While they all remain the media spokespersons for their respective issues, Ellen Gabriel continues to engage with members of parliament in advocating for the upholding of indigenous title and the preservation of the unceded territory of Kahnesatake.

Freda Huson, along with the Wet’suwet’en First Nation continue to occupy the land as an act of legal obligation to the directive of the hereditary chiefs.

Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas has allied with the hereditary chief of the Namgis First Nation to protect the Broughton Archipelago of the Kwa’kwaka’wakw territory from irreversible damage resulting from salmon fish farms.

A successful outcome, is the latter example, where environmental protection and Indigenous sovereignty has been respected, after a long battle for the removal of fish farms, from Namgis territory.

Feminist actors such as these women will continue to press for the protection of Indigenous human rights, Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous title so long as industry is free from scrutiny, accountability and consequences.

In an article advocating for the protection of human rights and to avoid climate breakdown, PBI comments that “In a system that favours profit over rights, economic models that encourage the forced displacement of those defending their resource-rich territories will continue and those at the forefront will remain at risk of violence.” Human rights due diligence is long overdue and as stated by the United Nations, the tools and resources are available for business enterprise to uphold and protect human rights.

Cheyenne Williams identifies as a cis-gendered Indigenous woman (she/ her), with maternal ties to Nuu chah nulth territory and paternal ties to Coast Salish territory. Cheyenne also has colonial settler ties, originating from Wales and England on her maternal side and ties from Scotland and Ireland on her paternal side.

Photo credit from left: Ellen Gabriel, sourced from Concordia University; center: Freda Huson, sourced from The Tyee; right: Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas, sourced from the peak.

Today, July 31, is the deadline set by the Canadian government for three transnational corporations to submit their bids to manufacture 88 new warplanes for use by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

CBC reports: “By all accounts, U.S. defence giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and Swedish aircraft-maker Saab, have handed in their proposals.”

The Canadian government’s Future Fighter Capability Project website gives this timeline: “Evaluate proposals and negotiate agreement from 2020 to 2022; Anticipate contract award in 2022; First replacement aircraft delivered as early as 2025.”

The CBC article further notes: “The current government is not expected to make a decision on whether to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35, Boeing’s Super Hornet (a newer, beefier version of the F-18) or Saab’s Gripen-E for several months.”

Significantly, the article also highlights: “The federal government will have to start paying for [the new fighter jets] just as the navy is expected to start receiving the first of its new frigates. Both bills will come due at a time when the federal government will still be digging itself out of pandemic debt.”

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that he expects a $343.2 billion deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year. This is a dramatic increase from the $19 billion deficit in 2016 when the Trudeau government announced the bidding process for new fighter jets. Canada’s debt is also now expected to total $1.06 trillion in 2021.

Dave Perry, an expert in defence procurement who has followed the fighter jet file for a decade, tells the CBC: “When the government’s deficit is eye-wateringly large and its revenue hole is astoundingly high [a finance minister might] hesitate [to approve a military contract worth many billions of dollars].”

And University of British Columbia defence expert Michael Byers says the most likely outcome for the acquisition program in the current fiscal climate is the Canadian government opting to buy fewer fighter jets (perhaps 65 rather than 88).

On July 24, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace initiated a cross-country day of action that saw protests in front of the offices of 22 Members of Parliament with the message #NoNewFighterJets.

World Beyond War also has this No New Fighter Jets – Invest in a Just Recovery and a Green New Deal! online petition.

And if a decision has not been made by June 2-3, 2021, the annual CANSEC arms show in Ottawa will be a critical moment in the fighter jet timeline purchase for a broader, popular mobilization to collectively say #NoWar2021.

For more information, please see the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute commentary No, Canada Doesn’t Need to Spend $19 Billion on Jet Fighters.

Peace Brigades International-Canada has also produced Five reasons to say no to spending $19 billion on warplanes.

#NoNewFighterJets #DefundWarplanes

In January 2019, heavily-armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers arrested Wet’suwet’en land defenders opposed to the construction of a fracked gas pipeline on their unceded territories. Photo by Michael Toledano.

The Global Witness Defending Tomorrow report documents the killings of 212 land and environmental defenders around the world in 2019.

The report states: “Indigenous peoples are at a disproportionate risk of reprisals. Last year, 40% of murdered defenders belonged to indigenous communities. Between 2015 and 2019 over a third of all fatal attacks have targeted indigenous people – even though indigenous communities make up only 5% of the world’s population.”

It also references the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders:

“In January, members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation indigenous group who objected to the construction of [TC Energy Coastal GasLink fracked] gas pipeline through their territory were forcibly removed from their protest site in British Columbia. Heavily armed police arrested 14 demonstrators, injuring one of them.

The police were enforcing an order by the British Columbia Supreme Court requiring the removal of the protestors’ barricade, which blocked the access road to the pipeline’s proposed construction site. First Nations people claim the project infringes on their land rights. The court order effectively criminalised them for protesting on their own land.

In February 2020, talks between Wet’suwet’en leaders and the government broke down and protesters fear another wave of police repression.”

Lawlor: The model of self-regulation isn’t working

Yesterday, Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, commented on the findings in the Global Witness report.

Lawlor noted: “Up to now, companies have largely been left to self-regulate themselves when it comes to the negative human rights impact of their activities. It is clear this model is not working. When it comes to large-scale projects, it is also now clear that a responsibility also lies with those financing such projects, including States and investment banks.”

Gaps in implementation of human rights frameworks

While a human rights framework may offer some hope, there are also evident gaps in its implementation with respect to the Wet’suwet’en peoples.

The provincial government that approved the pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands also passed legislation implementing the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) months prior to the second RCMP raid in February of this year.

The Canadian government, which is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, also ignored this resolution from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that had called on the State in December 2019 to guarantee that no force would be used against Wet’suwet’en peoples and that the RCMP would be withdrawn from their traditional lands.

And in April, the Government of Canada-owned Export Development Canada credit agency employed the language of due diligence and human rights in justifying its loan of up to $500 million for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Binding Treaty?

Peace Brigades International has observed the spike in attacks against land and environmental defenders and believes that a Binding Treaty that restrains transnational corporations, as opposed to voluntary codes of conduct, could potentially lead to greater a protection of defenders who challenge their interests.

Earlier this month, Yessika Hoyos from the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (CCAJAR) in Colombia commented on a PBI-United Kingdom webinar: “Our collective together with other organizations have been supporting the real creation of a Binding Treaty from the UN. …Many companies together with the states have been blocking this issue. They haven’t allowed for a Treaty to be created.”

While transnationals and states have resisted the creation of a Binding Treaty, it will be discussed at a session of intergovernmental negotiations on October 26-30 in Geneva.

It is unclear the role the Government of Canada is playing in these talks. Oxfam Canada has suggested: “Canadian government officials have been largely absent from the process so far.” The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights has also previously noted that “there is greater room” for the Canadian government “to consider their activities” with respect to even the voluntary UN Guiding Principles as a baseline.

Given the criminalization and killings of land and environmental defenders noted in the Global Witness report, it is imperative that meaningful strategies, mechanisms, binding treaties or some other means are found to stop this violence.

For more about the Wet’suwet’en land defenders, please see the Unist’ot’en Camp website as well as their Facebook page.

Image below from Global Witness Defending Tomorrow report.

On July 29, Global Witness released its Defending Tomorrow report documenting the land and environmental defenders killed in 2019.

It reports: “The documented number of lethal attacks against these defenders continues to rise. Again, we are forced to report that this is the highest year ever for killings – 212 were murdered in 2019.” That’s an increase from 164 killings in 2018.

117 land and environmental defenders were killed in countries where PBI accompanies or supports defenders. Divided by country: Colombia (64), Mexico (18), Honduras (14), Guatemala (12), Nicaragua (5), Indonesia (3) and Kenya (1).

Global Witness further observes:

“64 defenders were killed in Colombia in 2019 – that’s more than anywhere else in the world and a shocking 30% of documented killings globally. This is also over a 150% rise on 2018 and the most murders Global Witness has ever recorded in the country. Indigenous groups were particularly at risk – accounting for half the documented killings, despite making up only 4.4% of the population.”

“In Honduras killings rose from four in 2018 to 14 last year, making it the most dangerous country per capita for land and environmental defenders in 2019. It is the country with the greatest percentage increase in lethal attacks against activists.”

“Many of the world’s worst environmental and human rights abuses are driven by the exploitation of natural resources and corruption in the global political and economic system.”

“Mining was still the most culpable industry – connected with the murders of 50 defenders in 2019. Communities opposing carbon intensive oil, gas and coal projects faced continued threats.”

“A growing body of research is highlighting the human rights impacts of large-scale renewable projects – ranging from a lack of consultation to poor waste management.”

“On average, four defenders have been killed every week since December 2015 – the month the Paris Climate agreement was signed.”

“Indigenous peoples are at a disproportionate risk of reprisals. Last year, 40% of murdered defenders belonged to indigenous communities. Between 2015 and 2019 over a third of all fatal attacks have targeted indigenous people – even though indigenous communities make up only 5% of the world’s population.”

“Over 1 in 10 defenders killed were women. Often the backbone of their community, women tend to take on more of the responsibility of looking after children and elderly relatives, on top of trying to earn a living and work as activists. Women who act and speak out may also face gender-specific threats, including sexual violence. If other members of their household are defenders, they can become targeted too.”

Significantly, Global Witness also notes: “Reporting challenges, coupled with the requirement to meet strict verification criteria for recording killings, mean that our figures are almost certainly an underestimate.”

To read the full 52-page Defending Tomorrow report – which includes a note on the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders in Canada, a series of recommendations, and an acknowledgement of Peace Brigades International – please click here.