‘They created a problem’
Wet’suwet’en agreement signed
OTTAWA • The Liberal government has created entirely new divisions within the Wet'suwet'en Nation in its effort to sign an agreement with the community, according to elected leaders of the First Nation and one hereditary chief who sees the deal as a power grab by a select few Indigenous leaders.
The comments by Theresa Tait-day, also known as Wet'suwet'en hereditary sub-chief Wi'hali'yte, were in response to Ottawa's signing of an agreement between Ottawa, British Columbia and hereditary chiefs.
The deal entrenches a hereditary governance system in the community. Ottawa had been working on the agreement since the hereditary chiefs sparked protests, including rail blockades, across the country in solidarity with their opposition
to the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that traverses Wet'suwet'en territory. The Wet'suwet'en use a mixed governance system ruled by both elected chiefs and hereditary chiefs, who play different roles within the community.
Tait-day said she pleaded with minister of Crown-indigenous relations Carolyn
Bennett to delay the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in a March 10 meeting, saying the community needed more time to decide what type of governance system it wanted to establish for its people. Ottawa has continued to push ahead with the negotiations, which many people in the community say ignores a number of key voices in the community, including some rightful hereditary chiefs, as well as elected band councils.
“They haven't fixed the
problem,” said Tait-day.
“They created a problem, because they refused to engage with the people as a nation, and ask them that vital question: 'what kind of governance system do you want?'”
She claims negotiations between the Wet'suwet'en Nation and the Liberal government have been hijacked by a select few hereditary chiefs, who sought Ottawa's support in an effort to entrench their authority in the community. Tait-day, one of the few female hereditary representatives in the nation, said a group of five male leaders had already stripped two female hereditary chiefs of their rightful titles after disagreements emerged.
“The boys wanted to have the authority to make decisions for the entire nation without a proper governance structure in place,” she said. “They want to be the ultimate decision makers.”
A group of four elected band chiefs on Thursday also blasted the MOU, saying the Liberal government's consultations completely ignored many key voices.
“We must express our complete lack of confidence in all parties in this fasttracked negotiation process,” the chiefs said in a joint statement Thursday.
“They have no mandate from the people and the simple logistics of trying to carry out complex negotiations during a pandemic are formidable.”
The National Post was unable reach any other hereditary chiefs for comment.
Official discussions between Ottawa and the Wet'suwet'en began in late February, after hereditary leaders staged a weeks-long protest against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. The protests spurred a handful of other “solidarity” protests across the country, where environmental activists blockaded major railways, straining supply chains and damaging economic activity just before the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
Ottawa signed an MOU with the Wet'suwet'en in late April, and on Thursday officially agreed to enter into 12-month negotiations that will ultimately decide how “aboriginal and crown titles interface,” according to a draft of the agreement.
The Wet'suwet'en Nation is divided among five democratically elected band councils, but is also governed by a separate hereditary governance system, which is composed of 13
individual houses. Its territory covers roughly 22,000 square kilometres between
Burns Lake and Kitimat, B.C.
Eight of the 13 hereditary leaders opposed the pipeline, while one supported it; four positions are currently vacant. All five elected coun
cils support Coastal Gaslink.
The elected leaders say they only received a copy of the MOU one week ago, despite discussions with hereditary chiefs having been ongoing for three months. They say the decision by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to push ahead with the talks creates new fractures in the community.
“We absolutely reject the characterization that this is nothing more than a framework for a path forward,” they said in their statement, and said the MOU lays out a “reckless negotiation process with predetermined out
comes.” Discussions between
the federal government, the
B.C. government and hereditary chiefs have carried on “with complete disregard to the voices of the people.”
Adding to frustrations over the negotiations, Ta
it-day said some of the hereditary leaders backing the agreement with Ottawa are not rightful holders of their titles. She said Gloria George (formerly chief Smogelgem)
and Darlene Glaim (formerly chief WOOS) have both been stripped of their titles for supporting the pipeline project. The positions were filled by Warner Naziel and Frank Alec, respectively, who do not represent those respective houses, according to
Tait-day.
In terms of the community's posture toward the
pipeline, Tait-day said the
five hereditary chiefs most fiercely opposed to the project refused to learn basic facts about it, including that it was not an oil pipeline that could potentially leak crude on their lands — a misunderstanding that had found its way into some of the protests.
THEY REFUSED TO ENGAGE WITH THE PEOPLE AS A NATION.