22 November 2021

Nathan Cullen, MLS

Minister of State for Lands and Natural Resource Options

1175 Main Street

Smithers, BC V0J 2N0

Mme Claude DeBellefeuille

MP Salaberry-Suroit

Dear Mr. Cullen and Mme Claude DeBellefeuillle,

As British Columbia faces yet another weather-related disaster the land protectors of the Wet’suwet’en are fighting to keep an LNG pipeline off their land and protect their only remaining fresh water source. The RCMP are doing the bidding of the corporation and ignoring Indigenous law. We are at a breaking point in history, will the Canadian government truly face systemic racism and uphold the hereditary law of the land, or will they continue the status quo. I am calling upon my MP as well as Mr. Nathan Cullen to be ground breakers in our effort for Truth and Reconciliation as well as taking action to combat the rising temperature of the Earth. This is the time to be bold and to sit with the Wet’suwet’en who are a very large part of the healing process and reparation process needed for the future of generations to come.

I voice my support for the Wet’suwet’en people’s nonviolent movement opposing the development of an LNG pipeline on their land, as well as call on you to call off RCMP and ask government officials to meet with the Hereditary Chiefs.

Canada and British Columbia have adopted UNDRIP into legislation and I call on you and your office to implement this immediately by respecting the Wet’suwet’en decision to oppose this project. They have never ceded their lands or given up their jurisdiction to their Yintah as recognized by the 1997 Supreme Court Case Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa vs The Queen. I urge you to immediately uphold the UNDRIP call to Free, Prior and Informed Consent in Wet’suwet’en territory by their Hereditary Chiefs, the plaintiffs of this landmark decision.

The Wet’suwet’en have asserted their jurisdiction and evicted Coastal GasLink as well as taken direct action on their territory. The forcible removal of them goes against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. The UN High Office Commissioner has written multiple letters to the state regarding their breach of the UNDRIP.

Please heed their call, hear their concerns, and take decisive action against LNG development in the struggle to renew Canada’s energy sector and address the climate emergency. Future generations of Canadians will be thankful, as will your constituents.

I am also sending a copy of this letter to my federal MP, Mme Claude DeBellefeuile, in the hope that the federal government will intervene.

Regards, Joan Gottman 514-824-8215