On Sunday, August 11 2019, the formal, traditional unification of three Clans on Wet’suwet’en territory; Lhiksamitsyu, Gidimten, and Unist’ot’en, took place. Four Chiefs from Lhiksamitsyu territory first traveled to the border of Gidimten territory to first ask permission to enter, and then state their case to formalize a united front against colonialism and in holding CGL accountable.
Gidimten accepted, and agreed, and both clans acknowledged actions each had taken that they felt were positive. The Clan chiefs and supporters then went back to the 44 km camp that the Gidimten set up on their territory to resist the pipeline, we had lunch, and the Chiefs and elders acknowledged and thanked each other and their supporters for all the work that has been done. After lunch Gidimten joined Lhiks’amitsyu chiefs in repeating the process on Unist’ot’en territory.
We then travelled past the Unist’ot’en camp to CGL’s man camps where they continue to destroy Unist’ot’en territory while digging up ancient artifacts and lacking the proper archeological permits to continue their work, and have the gaul to actually claim that the artifacts they dug up were planted by Wet’suwet’en people. CGL also continues to do work beyond the man camp that they have not been cleared to begin.
The formal unification of the these 3 clans has the potential to drastically change the decision making process overall moving forward, and makes resource sharing easier moving forward. Though seeing the man camp was difficult, the overall mood of the day was hopeful, and positive. Looking forward to seeing the clans help each other more directly moving forward.
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