Liberation Requires Decolonization: A Buddhist Statement of Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land Protectors
As Buddhists committed to the liberation of all beings, we affirm our solidarity with Wet’suwet’en people who are, by acting from ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law), protecting their territories, people, and culture from trespass and destruction.
The many kinds of violence inflicted on Indigenous people since settlers arrived on Turtle Island and took or attempted to take Indigenous territories by force are profoundly harmful. These violences violate the teachings of all wisdom traditions to honor and protect life. In this moment of intensified violence against Indigenous people across ‘canada’* in retaliation for Indigenous resistance to invasion, we encourage Buddhists from every tradition to learn more about what is happening on Wet’suwet’en territory and elsewhere; to constructively and actively engage to prevent colonial harm from continuing; and to care for our Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous relations.
What Has Happened
In 2009, Wet’suwet’en hereditary clan leaders put in place a protocol for industry seeking access to Wet’suwet’en territories for natural resource projects. This protocol has been repeatedly violated by the ‘british columbia’ (BC) settler government, ‘canadian’ settler government, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and Coastal GasLink (CGL) employees and contractors in furtherance of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project -- one of several oil/gas pipelines proposed on Wet’suwet’en Territory.
The CGL Pipeline Project is being pursued by TC Energy, the same company seeking to build the Keystone XL pipeline. CGL has bulldozed through Wet’suwet’en territories, destroyed traplines, destroyed archaeological sites, and set up industrial work camps without consent. Private security firms and RCMP officers protecting corporate interests have interfered with Wet’suwet’en people’s access to their territories for hunting, trapping, and ceremony. In December 2019 the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted that the CGL project was operating without free, prior informed consent (in violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, to which ‘canada’ is a signatory) and called on ‘canadian’ governments to immediately halt CGL’s construction and suspend permits accordingly, and to withdraw RCMP from Wet’suwet’en lands.
On January 4, 2020, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs representing all five clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation identified that CGL’s trespass and destruction could not be allowed to continue, issuing an eviction notice to CGL requiring its departure from Wet’suwet’en territory and stating that the company would not be allowed to return without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Hereditary Chiefs.
On January 7, 2020, the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs issued a statement demanding:
- That the province of ‘british columbia’ cease construction of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project and suspend permits.
- That the UNDRIP and Wet’suwet’en right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) be respected by the state and RCMP.
- That the RCMP and associated security and policing services be withdrawn from Wet’suwet’en lands, in agreement with the letter from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
- That the provincial and federal government, RCMP and private industry employed by CGL respect Wet’suwet’en laws and governance system, and refrain from using any force to access Wet’suwet’en lands or remove Wet’suwet’en people.
Instead of respecting Wet’suwet’en law, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), and even its own laws, the settler state responded with violence. Mass numbers of RCMP officers were mobilized to Wet’suwet’en territory to seize control of a bridge and road that Wet’suwet’en people had closed to prevent further trespass, destroying Wet’suwet’en infrastructure and harassing, arresting, and removing Wet’suwet’en people from their own territories. On February 6 and 7 multiple land protectors were arrested and on February 10 Wet’suwet’en matriarchs were arrested while conducting ceremony to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S).**
This invasion has sparked ongoing solidarity actions around the world, with Indigenous people from many nations and non-Indigenous supporters continuing to shut down ‘canadian’ railways, highways and bridges, ports and ferries, government offices, and banks that are financing the CGL Pipeline Project. The peaceful non-cooperation, interruption of business-as-usual, and public awareness has been met with further violence, including arrest and brutalization of Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) and Gitxsan people and Secwepemc people conducting solidarity actions on their own territories, and violent arrest of Indigenous youth in urban centres; explosions of white retaliation against Indigenous individuals (whether connected with the solidarity actions or not); and arrest and assault of journalists and non-Indigenous supporters.
Connecting Buddhist Teachings with Decolonization
As Buddhists we come from many lineages and ancestral traditions, including Indigenous traditions. How to care for life has been framed in different ways by different teachers and ancestors, but all of these threads weave together into common themes shared within Buddhist lineages and across other wisdom traditions as well.
Recognizing our interdependence and inter-relationality, the Eightfold Noble Path instructs us to pay attention to and be responsible for our actions in day-to-day life. Without wise action, we cannot create the conditions conducive to inner or outer liberation. Our five fundamental precepts, the pañca-sīla, provide an ethical compass for how to behave in a way that furthers the liberation of all beings. These precious teachings help prevent suffering and reduce the extent of harm caused by our greed, anger, and delusion. Refraining from unskillful behavior also helps us develop positive traits such as compassion, kindness, and generosity.
Colonial violence is a violation of the five basic ethical principles (or precepts) in Buddhism that instruct us to:
- Affirm life, do not kill; embody the mind of compassion. A recent ‘canadian’ inquiry concluded that “Canada has displayed a continuous policy, with shifting expressed motives but an ultimately steady intention, to destroy Indigenous peoples physically, biologically, and as social units”. Destruction of Indigenous lands means continued murder of Indigenous people and countless other sentient beings, as well as Indigenous languages, practices, knowledge, and life ways. Under capitalism, plants, animals, mountains, rocks, and water are treated as lifeless disposable commodities that exist for non-Indigenous people’s profit, rather than as sacred relations that are part of interdependent webs of life.
- Be giving, do not steal; embody the mind of integrity. Settler-colonialism is premised on theft of Indigenous territories and resources to generate homes and wealth for non-Indigenous people. On Turtle Island colonialism has also included theft of Indigenous children from families, communities, and cultures, first into residential and day schools and ‘Indian hospitals’, then into the foster care system. Settler-colonialism also involves theft of Indigenous culture through cultural appropriation; settler attempts to exploit Indigenous knowledge for profit, prestige, or social capital; and looting of ancestral remains, sacred objects, and belongings.
- Honor the body, do not misuse sexuality; embody the mind of virtue. The refusal to follow free, prior informed consent has had devastating impacts not only in invading Indigenous territories but also invading Indigenous bodies. Rape has for thousands of years been deliberately used by invaders as a weapon to break people’s bodies, spirits, and relationships. Sexualized violence and dishonoring of Indigenous bodies has been a core feature of colonial violence on Turtle Island, including the sexual abuse of thousands of Indigenous children in residential and day schools and ‘Indian hospitals’, coerced sterilization of Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people, physical and sexual violence connected to ‘man camps’, mistreatment of Indigenous people by the health system, and the devastating impacts of criminalization of substance use and sex work (which has disproportionately impacted Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people).
- Manifest truth, do not lie; embody the mind of trust. Colonialism involves fundamental lies about the violence being done, the humanity of the people being brutalized, and settlers’ relationships with Indigenous lands and peoples. While ‘canadian’ governments say they are “working to advance reconciliation and renew the relationship with Indigenous peoples, based on recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership”, speaking after the recent police raids in Tyendinaga, Ojibwe writer, broadcaster, and advocate Jesse Wente clarifies that the ongoing situation for Indigenous people under occupation by ‘canada’ is “phony reconciliation forced at gunpoint….That Canadians don’t realize this is due to years of false history-telling and myth-making, the lies that a country tells itself so it’s not weighed down by the guilt of its own actions.”
- Proceed clearly, do not cloud the mind; embody the mind of clarity. While in many Buddhist traditions this precept is framed as not consuming intoxicating substances, other interpretations point to this precept as being about taking care to maintain clarity so we can see when our actions are hurting others and prevent ourselves from rashly engaging in unethical acts. In this sense anything that contributes to misperception or delusion can be considered as potentially harmful. Settler rationalizations, self-deception, and racist ideology are used to cloud the heart-mind, to disconnect people from acknowledging harmful impacts and to try to portray genocide as inevitable rather than clearly perceiving and amplifying Indigenous resilience, resistance, and survival.
Whether we come to Buddhism through our family/ancestral heritage or as converts, many Buddhists are aware of the horrors of settler-colonialism, from our own direct experiences or from witnessing impacts on family members, teachers, or other loved ones. Our family and personal relationships to settler-colonialism may be complex and involving resistance and/or complicity, whether in relation to European settler-colonialism in south Asia, Turtle Island, Africa, Latin America, or elsewhere; China’s occupation of Tibet; Japanese imperialism; Burma (Myanmar)’s mistreatment of Indigenous populations; the thousands of years of shifting empires in the Middle East; or any other context.
We cannot pretend that Buddhism is innocent; as with other wisdom traditions, at times our teachings have been used to justify colonial violence. But we can also see that within our traditions there are powerful positive directions to act for the liberation of all beings.
How to Act in Solidarity
In February 2020 Wet’suwet’en land protectors requested “solidarity actions from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities who uphold Indigenous sovereignty and recognize the urgency of stopping resource extraction projects that threaten the lives of future generations”. Wet’suwet’en land protectors further stated:
"We are conducting peaceful actions as sovereign peoples on our territories, and ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the traditional laws of other Indigenous Nations. Forcible trespass onto Wet’suwet’en territories and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands must be stopped. Provincial and federal governments must be confronted."
The Wet’suwet’en Supporter Toolkit and Gidimt’en Yintah Access website explain how people can show solidarity by:
- Fundraising for Unist’ot’en, Gidimt’en, and/or Likht’samisyu (each have separate fundraisers)
- Educating others through film screenings or other educational events, social media, etc.
- Building solidarity, including taking part in or organizing solidarity actions, signing the online supporters’ pledge, and issuing solidarity statements
- Pressuring colonial governments
- Researching the funding and political web behind the CGL Pipeline Project
- (if appropriate) Coming to the land
Specific protocols are in place so if you are considering taking action please read the Wet’suwet’en Supporter Toolkit and Gidimt’en Yintah Access website, which also link to resources that can be used by supporters.
Other groups encouraging solidarity have also pointed out that as part of addressing misinformation and educating others, media need to be encouraged “to refrain from invoking inflammatory tropes of protest which misrepresent the spirit of Wet’suwet’en action and that of their allies and diminishes the significance of this matter”. In an international context, media may need to be encouraged to report on what is happening — although solidarity actions are happening around the world there is only sporadic coverage outside ‘canada’. People can also take direct responsibility for sharing information via social media and other means.
Buddhist Peace Fellowship exists to support bold, creative, loving actions to block systemic harm, while building collaborative tools and gatherings that give us the strength to be with our suffering, in order to transform towards liberation. Some of our members are already involved with Wet’suwet’en solidarity organizing and we hope that many more will extend to offer support at this difficult time. The Wet’suwet’en struggle has ignited fierce, beautiful actions that bring us closer to a decolonized future.
May Wet’suwet’en territories be free from invasion and harm. May Wet’suwet’en people be able to determine their own future free from coercion and interference. May we collectively create a world where we are in wise relationships with ourselves, each other, and all beings.
For further information:
- Gidimt’en Yintah Access
- Unist’ot’en Camp
- Why are Indigenous Peoples blocking the railways? And why it’s important
* We use lower-case letter and quotation marks around ‘canada’, ‘british columbia’, etc. to reflect that these are colonial names imposed by settlers with the specific agenda of reframing Indigenous territories as settler possessions.
**The Unist’ot’en Camp, home to a Wet’suwet’en healing centre, is located 66 km from the Highway of Tears where many Indigenous women have gone missing or been killed. Wet’suwet’en land protectors who have lost loved ones to the crisis of MMIWG2S have identified that the environmental certificate issued by the settler government did not take into account safety of Indigenous women, girls, or Two-Spirit people and the Unist’ot’en Camp has stated that it does not consent to man camps on its territories. Multiple reports on MMIWG2S (e.g., Amnesty International; National Inquiry on MMIWG) have concluded that worker camps created for resource extraction projects -- “man camps” -- pose a serious threat to Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.
Written on behalf of Buddhist Peace Fellowship by Joshua Goldberg.