Playbook for RCMP’s Wet’suwet’en raids provided by former U.S. commander in Iraq and Afghanistan

 

Presentation highlights darker truths behind violence and intimidation against Indigenous land defenders resisting resource extraction

he RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), a special unit that polices Indigenous resistance against resource extraction in British Columbia, has adopted the playbook from former CIA director David Petraeus, according to a presentation at a summit held on Wet’suwet’en territory this week.

Kai Nagata, communications director at Dogwood BC, spoke at the third annual Peace and Unity Summit for Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan hereditary chiefs, elders and allies from human rights organizations from around the world.

Looking around the room, those in attendance sat in shock at what they were hearing and seeing. Nagata’s presentation highlighted the darker truths behind the campaign of violence and intimidation many Indigenous community members have experienced on their territory for years in their fight against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The images of the RCMP’s militarized tactical team raids on Wet’suwet’en territory in the winter of 2021 made headlines across Canada and around the world.

During the raid, RCMP snipers, canine units, and specially trained forces of the C-IRG chain-sawed their way through Molly Wickham’s cabin door and arrested her. Shaylynn Sampson, along with journalists Michael Toledano and Amber Bracken, were also inside the cabin.

It was in that moment, as images travelled around the world, that the fight of the Wet’suwet’en land defenders went global.

But, Nagata said, there is much more going on in those pictures of men in heavy tactical gear, using brutal force as they arrested unarmed Indigenous land defenders.  (more...)

Playbook for RCMP’s Wet’suwet’en raids provided by former U.S. commander in Iraq and Afghanistan