Amnesty International Says CGL and the RCMP Violated Indigenous Rights

 

The human rights group is calling for the company to cease operations in Wet’suwet’en territory.

An investigation by human rights organization Amnesty International has found that Coastal GasLink, its private security firm, the RCMP and Canadian and B.C. governments all violated the Indigenous rights of Wet’suwet’en who oppose the pipeline project.

“What emerges clearly from our report is that the intimidation, the harassment, the unlawful surveillance and the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders were part of a concerted effort to remove them from their ancestral territory in order to allow the pipeline construction to proceed,” Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, said at a news conference Monday.

Amnesty’s researchers were also surveilled while conducting its investigation on Wet’suwet’en territory, according to France-Isabelle Langlois, executive director for the organization’s francophone section.

“Indigenous Peoples are entitled to give or withhold their consent to project proposals that affect them,” Langlois said. “The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, on behalf of the clans, have consistently withheld consent for the Coastal GasLink pipeline project. Nevertheless, construction of the pipeline has proceeded without their free, prior and informed consent.”

The 94-page report, “Criminalization, Intimidation and Harassment of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders,” outlines how the pipeline company failed to properly consult Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders and then obtained a civil court injunction to remove those who blocked access to the pipeline route.  (more...)

Amnesty International Says CGL and the RCMP Violated Indigenous Rights