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SMITHERS, B.C.—Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs met for a second day with senior government ministers over a pipeline dispute that’s sparked protests and economic disruptions, but one participant warned against expecting a broad resolution on Friday to all the issues being discussed.
Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and British Columbia Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser began the longsought talks Thursday afternoon before returning the next morning to the Wet’suwet’en office in Smithers, B.C.
The hereditary chiefs have urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier John Horgan to join them at the table, and on Friday, Bennett left the door open to that possibility in the future.
“We would want any meeting with the prime minister and the premier to be a good meeting and therefore we have to do the work,” she said.
“It’s really important that minister Fraser and I have been delegated by the premier and the prime minister to do this work and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Horgan said he has no plans to go to Smithers in the near future. “I am hopeful, as I have always been, that there can be a peaceful resolution and a way forward, not just in Wet’suwet’en territory, not just in British Columbia, but indeed across the country.”
Fraser noted he had 25 hours of initial conversations with the chiefs several weeks ago and the province has been working closely with them.
“The important thing is we are willing to roll up our sleeves and get to the complex and difficult issues and we began that yesterday and we’re going to continue that today,” he said.
Bennett and Fraser added they were open to continuing talks over the weekend.
Nathan Cullen, a former NDP MP who is acting as a liaison between the governments and chiefs, said a substantial amount of work is being done, but the parties were unlikely to reach a broad resolution on Friday. “It is important, it seems to me, to the chiefs and to Canada and B.C., that even if we only can arrive at interim steps here, they’re durable. There’s no such thing as a quick fix in this,” he said.
Establishing trust is important to arrive at solutions, which have to be found at a negotiating table, Cullen said.
“It wasn’t going to happen at a blockade. It wasn’t going to happen at a protest,” he said. “I still remain hopeful that what comes out of today is something that can be built upon.
“For those folks that are expecting a full and final resolution of this matter after a day and a half of talks, I think that is a very, very high expectation to have.”
He also said Trudeau and Horgan have “explicitly not” ruled out a meeting with the chiefs.
The hereditary chiefs’ opposition to a natural gas pipeline in their traditional territory has sparked shows of support across the country that have halted rail service for the past three weeks.
However, some Wet’suwet’en members are divided on the project and all 20 elected band councils along the route have signed deals with Coastal GasLink.
Wet’suwet’en matriarch Bonnie George was not invited to the meeting, but entered the room with others on Thursday and read a statement on behalf of pipeline supporters. She returned to the discussions Friday morning.
Gary Naziel, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary subchief, said later Friday that pipeline supporters “said (our) piece and left.”
The RCMP’s presence in Wet’suwet’en territory has been a source of tension and a large crux of the solidarity blockades across Canada.
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake in Quebec proposed Friday that its Peacekeepers head up a temporary Indigenous police force to patrol the Wet’suwet’en territory and allow the RCMP to withdraw entirely from the area.
Cullen said the offer isn’t a part of the discussions in Smithers and new ideas are coming in from everywhere.
“That’s helpful to an extent, but it’s going to be the people around that table who are going to make the solutions happen.”