Lawsuit over Fort McMurray First Nation finances fuels protest outside band office

Band councillor who launched suit now suspended, faces disciplinary hearing

David Thurton, CBC News,  Jan 12, 2019

An ongoing controversy over more than $1 million in payments made to band officials has disrupted a northern Alberta First Nation community, prompting a lawsuit and a blockade of band offices.

Last week, members of the Fort McMurray No. 468 First Nation blocked access to the band’s offices with a pickup truck and signs.

Protesters occupy TransCanada facility in support of B.C. anti-pipeline camps

Comrades in Hamilton, Ont., occupy a TransCanada facility for several hours on Jan 14, 2019.

The protest lasted about 6 hours on Monday.

CBC News, Jan. 14, 2019

A group of protesters occupied a TransCanada pipeline facility in Hamilton for several hours Monday in a show of solidarity with Wet’suwet’en anti-pipeline camps in British Columbia.

The group says it was showing support after 14 people were arrested at a checkpoint outside Smithers B.C. last week, where people opposed to a pipeline project had been restricting access to their traditional territory.

This pipeline is challenging Indigenous law and Western law. Who really owns the land?

First Nations leaders meet with RCMP at the Unist’ot’en camp near Houston, B.C., on Jan. 9, 2019. Photo: Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail

Pipeline owners say they have consent, but Wet’suwet’en leaders are divided

by Justine Hunter, Brent Jang, Wendy Stueck, and Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail, January 12, 2019

With members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation blockading a pipeline project on their traditional lands, Na’moks was standing by a crackling campfire, next to an RCMP checkpoint, drawing in the snow with his right boot.

The hereditary chief of the Tsayu clan made a small circle to represent the authority of elected band councils within reserves. Outside that circle, he explained, is where Wet’suwet’en clans wield power over a vast territory.

“We are hereditary chiefs,” he said, “and we have control of this land.”

Federal officials expected nationwide protest from RCMP action at Wet’suwet’en camp

Toronto protesters block a roadway in solidarity with Unist’ot’en in response to RCMP raid. Photo: Facebook

Government Operations Centre conducted risk assessment in 2015

by Jorge Barrera, CBC News,  Jan 12, 2019

Federal officials have long expected a nationwide fallout of protests from an eventual RCMP action against the Wet’suwet’en nation over the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline, internal documents show.

‘Tripod’ delays access to Unist’ot’en camp; RCMP to maintain presence

RCMP take down “tripod” blocking access past Unist’ot’en camp Jan. 11. (Twitter photo)

by Chris Gareau, Interior News, Jan 11, 2019

Police checkpoints stayed up Friday as a structure blocked RCMP and Coastal GasLink workers’ past the Morice River bridge.

Described by police as a “tripod,” social media rumours that it held cultural significance were quashed by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and Unist’ot’en spokesperson Freda Huson, and they confirmed they wished it be removed according to RCMP.

Update from Unist’ot’en Camp

Bus parked on bridge at Unist’ot’en checkpoint, Jan 11, 2019. Photo: Unistoten Camp Facebook page

Unist’ot’en Camp

Breaking: 11AM January 11th:

Police, Coastal Gas Link employees, and a heavy duty tow truck has arrived at the Unist’ot’en bridge and are starting to dismantle the blockade. This is a strategic move that the Hereditary Chiefs have decided. The battle is not lost. Due to the recent deaths of family members, it would have been disrespectful to continue with this action as people need time to grieve their losses. According to Wet’suwet’en culture a bad omen comes to your family if you continue to proceed with normal affairs after a loss. So we grieve our losses. We allow a survey crew in to waste their time surveying for a project that will never happen.

NO PIPELINES WILL BE BUILT ON WET’SUWET’EN TERRITORY.

https://www.facebook.com/unistoten/

Indigenous convoys slow Ontario highway traffic in solidarity with B.C. pipeline protest

An Indigenous protest convoy drives westbound on Highway 401 near Kingston, Ont. (The Canadian Press)

‘We’re standing strong with our brothers and sisters out west,’ said 1 participant

CBC News, Jan 11, 2019

Two convoys of vehicles slowed traffic on stretches of Canada’s busiest highway Friday morning in Ontario in a show of solidarity with an anti-pipeline protest in British Columbia.

One rolled westbound from the eastern part of the province, while the other began in southwestern Ontario and headed east. Both left before dawn and disrupted traffic during the morning rush hour.

Elected vs. hereditary chiefs: What’s the difference in Indigenous communities?

Front of the U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay, BC, based on a traditional house front from the late 1800s.

by Nick Wells, CTV News, Jan 9, 2019

In the aftermath of arrests and protests over a planned pipeline in northern B.C., the roles of elected and hereditary chiefs in the province’s Indigenous communities is being scrutinized.

Deal reached in northern British Columbia pipeline impasse

Solidarity rally in Ottawa on Jan 8, 2019. Photo: Facebook

by Amy Smart, The Canadian Press, January 10, 2019

SMITHERS, B.C. — Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have reached a deal with the RCMP to allow a natural gas company access across a bridge that had been blocked in their territory.

Following several hours of meetings, Chief Na’Moks told reporters Thursday that the agreement is between the chiefs and the RCMP to ensure the safety of the First Nation’s members after 14 arrests were made on Monday when a court injunction was enforced by police.

PM Trudeau’s PR disaster in Kamloops

Dueling rallies earlier in the day on Jan 9, 2019 outside Thompson River University in Kamloops, BC, as PM Trudeau arrived to address a group of Indigenous band councils and business.

Prime Minister Trudeau’s “town hall” meeting in Kamloops on January 9, 2019, saw him face tough questions about his government’s relations with Indigenous peoples, pipelines, and the recent RCMP assault on the Unist’ot’en camp.