What's happening in BC

[sabotabby]

Things are pretty apocalyptic in British Columbia right now. Maybe you've heard? Catastrophic flooding and mudslides, brought about by intentional decisions made by countries including Canada, have killed at least one person so far, flooded towns, submerged highways, and cut off BC from the rest of the country. Abbotsford almost disappeared. Stores are empty. More people are likely to die. People I care about are dealing with the potential loss of loved ones, not because they got caught in mudslides, but because necessary medical supplies can't get there and surgeries can't take place. I can't emphasize enough how devastating this is on a human and an environmental level.

This post is not about that.

This post is about how, despite the fact that we as a country can't get food and medical supplies to a huge part of the country, we were somehow able to get a charter plane full of RCMP onto Wet'suwet'en territory to conduct militarized raids against Indigenous land defenders.

The land defenders have been under siege for 54 days. The RCMP is blocking access to their Healing Centre and are blocking food, medicine, and people from accessing the camp. They threatened to arrest a driver bringing in medical supplies. This against the  United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This is a war crime.

Think on this for a moment. Canada has prioritized committing a grotesque act of violence violence against Indigenous people, including Elders, media, and legal observers over the safety and lives of all people in the province. That is staggering. This lays bare the cruelty at the heart of the Canadian state.

As a reminder, the Wet'suwet'en are defending their unceded territory from oil and gas companies that are trying to build a pipeline through their land. This not only threatens their land and water, but it threatens all of us by contributing to the very climate chaos that is currently drowning BC. 

From Unist'ot'en Camp:

Call your representatives & tell them this is no way to treat Indigenous people.

Mike Farnworth

BC Minister of Public Safety

EMAIL: PSSG.Minister@gov.bc.ca

PHONE: (250) 356-2178

 

Murray Rankin

BC Minister of Indigenous Relations 

EMAIL: IRR.Minister@gov.bc.ca

PHONE: (250) 953-4844

 

Marc Miller

Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations

EMAIL: Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca

PHONE: (613) 995-6403
 

Sample Call Script:

 

"I am calling in regards to the illegal exclusion zone set up by the RCMP on Wet'sutwet'en territory. The RCMP denying indigenous people access to their territory is a direct violation of the UN Deceleration of the Rights of Indigenous People. Preventing access to medical and food supplies to starve a population in a conflict between nations is considered a siege and is a war crime and a gross violation of human rights. The RCMP's use of illegal exclusion zones has already been condemned by the BC courts and must end now! Use your power to make them stand down immediately. The world is watching!" 

 

For more information and live updates, you can also follow Gidimt’en Checkpoint.

Comments

[ioplokon]

Yes, against UNDRIP and UNDROP (though iirc Canada opposed the former and abstained from the latter).

[mistersmearcase]

I saw a thing about the roads being out but didn't realize the extent of the disaster. Jesus.

[sabotabby]

It's so so horrible. The scale is just unimaginable. I was listening to Sandy Garossino cry on Canadaland this morning and for some reason that made me really upset because I just didn't think she was the kind of person who cried.

[sabotabby]

Absolutely. But it's law now, as of June.

[china_shop]

Oh my god. Everything about that is appalling!

[sabotabby]

It's revolting. And I've seen no coverage of it outside the Wet'suwet'en solidarity email list I'm on.

[dewline]

Several of the people I follow on Twitter are amplifying the signal.

[sabotabby]

I'm seeing it on FB too. But I haven't seen it in the mainstream news.

[ioplokon]

Woah I missed that! !!!

[dewline]

I won't expect it from Postmedia newspapers. Not sure about CTV and Global yet.

CBC and APTN, though...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rcmp-wet-suwet-en-pipeline-resistance-1.6254245

Weirdly, this is the most recent item from that region I can find, three days old:

https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/gidimten-evict-coastal-gaslink-from-wetsuweten-territory/

[smhwpf]

Grotesque.

And God, yeah, pretty horrifying in BC. One might think it would make the Liberals rethink their love of pipelines and tar sands and so forth... but nah.

[sabotabby]

They don't seem to connect any one thing to any other thing, unless it's connecting the Tar Sands to BC through Indigenous land.

[sabotabby]

Ah. I normally read CBC in the morning and it looks like this was posted this afternoon.

*

[minoanmiss]

Shit. and holy shit.

*goes to look up ways to help from over the border*

Re: *

[sabotabby]

Right now the only way to get stuff or people to or from BC is through the American border, AFAIK, so it's possible that Americans can do more than eastern Canadians at this point (except for the pressuring politicians thing, which you don't need a highway for).

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Of course they have the money to oppress people, but not to get food and resources where they are desperately needed. I kind of hate everything like this right now. I mean, I always hate it, but this sucks in particular.

[sabotabby]

This feels very close to home. And less abstract than even the usual, "well they have money to drone bomb kids but not enough money to feed them at home."

[moon_custafer]

Sent an email to Minister Miller. Also, in the sample letter, is “Deceleration” a typo for “declaration?”

[frandroid]

I know you know this from another comment you made here, but correcting anyway:

cut British Columbia from the rest of the country, not just Vancouver.

Thanks for the call to action, I'll do my duty when on the train tomorrow...

[sara]

I was in and out of the peninsula this week, aka South Canada, and saw some frankly unbelievable stuff. Got home safe today as the rain came back in, which is not good news.

[sabotabby]

It is. I copied-and-pasted directly from the email I got, but there are a few typos, yeah.

[sabotabby]

Yeah, oops. All the media is concentrating on Vancouver getting cut off and Abbotsford being potentially underwater, but it's the whole fucking province, isn't it?

I'll be emailing this afternoon—I've had a chaotic week.

[sabotabby]

Oh no. The hope was that things were drying out.

[sara]

Not on our side of the border.

[sara]

Although I will also observe that while highways were closed to the PUBLIC and should be...you will notice that me and my pickup got around just fine. There are usually a variety of ways into a place. It's bad but it's not impossible to manage food deliveries and emergency services. Part of the problem here is the media kicking up a panic.

[sabotabby]

Isn't that always the case?

[lokifan]

Holy shit, I had no idea.

[sabotabby]

I think the RCMP and various levels of government were counting on people just not hearing about this.