BԪַ

Skip to content

VIDEO: BԪַReconciliation is dead,BԪַ say WetBԪַsuwetBԪַen supporters from steps of legislature

Supporters say they will continue ongoing action to hold government accountable

Dozens of young Indigenous peoples lined the stairs of the legislature Wednesday morning ahead of a press conference BԪַ just steps from where they slept the previous three days.

For them, being there BԪַ standing in solidarity with the WetBԪַsuwetBԪַen hereditary chiefs BԪַ is not an option.

Citing 150 years of oppression through the Indian Act and residential schools, the Indigenous youth aim to put a stop to the Coastal GasLink pipeline and say that oppression continues. Saul Brown, one of the front-men of the Victoria movement, told the crowd of hundreds gathered at the base of the steps, that he felt he needed to take a step back for WednesdayBԪַs press conference after getting death threats.

RELATED:

BԪַWhen the media paints us as criminals, it puts us in danger. It incites hatred. It gives excuses to bigots to hate and we know there are people out there who do not wish us well as Indigenous peoples,BԪַ he said.

The press conference comes after 14 people were arrested, including three Gitxsan hereditary chiefs, as police enforced injunctions across the province late Monday and Tuesday.

BԪַThis isnBԪַt just about a pipeline, this is about our survival and what has been said before is that what weBԪַre fighting for here is so the next generation doesnBԪַt have to be sitting here on cement steps night after night to get these politicians to listen to us,BԪַ said Gina Mowat.

Nationwide blockades and demonstrations have been popping up for weeks across the country and the group Indigenous Youth for WetBԪַsuwetBԪַen has declared reconciliation dead.

BԪַWeBԪַre starting to realize that reconciliation may not have existed in the first place, that reconciliation was merely empty rhetoric in order to justify the ongoing colonization of our territories,BԪַ said Kolin Wilson-Sutherland. BԪַReconciliation never had anything to do with Indigenous peoples, we were simply an inconvenience to the ongoing exploitation of our territories.BԪַ

TaBԪַKaiya Blaney addresses the crowd in front of the B.C. Legislature. (Kendra Crighton/BԪַ Staff)

TaBԪַKaiya Blaney said they will continue to occupy ministry offices, rail lines and legislative and parliamentary precincts to hold all levels of government responsible for the BԪַperpetuation of CanadaBԪַs genocidal legacy.BԪַ

RELATED:

The current occupation was organized jointly by groups including Indigenous Youth for WetBԪַsuwetBԪַen, Climate Justice Victoria, Divest UVic, Rise and Resist, the University of Victoria Sustainability Project and the Balmoral Tiny House Warriors Build.

Indigenous Youth for WetBԪַsuwetBԪַen has been the driving force behind a number of solidarity movements, including an 18-hour sit-in at the at the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources and the first occupation of the legislature buildingBԪַs front steps earlier this month.

BԪַ With files from Nina Grossman and Shalu Mehta



kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca

Follow us on Instagram Like us on and follow us on .





(or

BԪַ

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }