Tensions continue to escalate in the Wet’suwet’en territory as busloads of police, armored trucks and police dogs have been sighted in the area.
Freda Husen speaks powerfully in this video. Below that is an auto-generated transcript.
Video update from Freda Husen. We’re not leaving
As Canada prepares to violently invade our lands, we have no fear. We are peacefully living on our lands and upholding our laws, as we always have.
31 days after Coastal Gaslink was evicted from Wet’suwet’en territory, RCMP helicopters circle the Unist’ot’en healing center several times a day.
Busloads of police have taken over local community halls, airport hangers have become RCMP training grounds, while armored pickup trucks and police dogs have been spotted in the area. Canada is preparing to use militarized force to steal our lands and destroy them, with the world as witness.
Our ancestors are with us. We will win.
These lands will always be Unist’ot’en.
#UNISTOTEN #Wetsuwetenstrong
Supporter toolkit: http://unistoten.camp/supportertoolkit2020/
Legal fund: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/unistoten2020legalfund
Auto generated transcript
Ever since contact, RCMP have been used to get the government and industries way to forcefully take our land. Now they’re trying to forcefully take our land again. They’re circling my cabin where I live like I’m a criminal when I’m just trying to live on my own land.
They’re getting ready to raid. More and more frequently they’re coming here. We’re not scared. This is our land. Canada has been doing business and other countries and killing indigenous people in the name of mining and now they’re trying to take us off our lands.
Can’t even find our murdered and missing women and can’t even solve those cases but they sure as hell can send RCMP on us to get what they want. To steal more of our lands. So they can destroy it. My ancestors fought the same fight that we’re still fighting and we’ve been peacefully living here and they’re bringing the violence to us and I’m going to stand here and wait for their violence. I’m not afraid of their violence because I know I’m doing right. I live here. This is my home.
It’s insane for them to tell us that they’re going to bring us potable water. If they dirty the river why would we want that when we have pristine river and clean water we can drink from. We depend on that water. That water flows into our taps here. That water is healing. It has healed many people because they’re all the minerals and everything’s intact. That water is alive it’s not dead. The taps and the municipalities are chlorinated and purified. That’s dead water that they’re drinking, We’re drinking living water out here.
We’ve been here, feel like under siege for 31 days now because we can’t get out. People can’t come in. It’s just us here and it felt like literally like we’re under siege but meanwhile we feel like at peace and feel the beauty of this land. With no CGL here, with no police here, it’s been peaceful. We’re way happier. I haven’t felt like this in the last 10 years. We were here. It felt like this when we controlled who came in through free prior informed consent.
And they forced their way in. They invaded our lands. Basically we’re waiting for the the corrupt government and the corrupt industry and the corrupt police to invade these lands again. We know that’s what they’re gonna do because they’re goal is they want us out of here. So the RCMP are here to get rid of the problem. Unis’ot’en. They believe they can get rid of us, then they can do what they want here.
But does this look like a protest camp? We have permanent structures here and CGL’s route is nowhere near this site so they can’t say we built this for their benefit. They can’t take glory for this place. We didn’t build it for them. We built it for us so we could use our land. Even the judicial system failed us.
So who can we rely on? Nobody but ourselves. We can’t rely on Canada. Canada’s not a real system. To be a real country you have to be a have to have a religion, you have to have a culture. What is Canada’s culture but just the steal native peoples land. That’s not a culture. Native people have culture. They have a connection to these lands.
The invaders are continuing to invade our lands. It hasn’t changed. You figure it’s 2020. Things would have changed and those people who would have waken up. But no they haven’t woken up to continue to just bulldoze through all of the lands and destroy the water and pollute everything that nothing sacred anymore. I feel the land a land is life and it’swell the water is alive the trees are alive everything here is alive the rocks are alive and they’re coming to destroy that too. And we’re not gonna let them. They’ll have to drag me out of here because I’m not leaving.