MONDAY,MARCH9,2020| THEGLOBEANDMAILO NEWS | A
Mr. Naziel said he is disappointed
that two Wet’suwet’en women
who support Coastal GasLink –
Gloria George and Darlene Glaim
- were stripped of their hered-
itary house names in the past
four years.
“I’m not afraid of being
stripped. I’d like to see them try,”
said Mr. Naziel, who has served as
Samooh since 1988.
Frank Alec, who replaced Ms.
Glaim last year as Chief Woos un-
der Grizzly House, announced a
tentative agreement one week
ago with the federal and B.C. gov-
ernments to expedite negotia-
tions to implement rights and ti-
tle for the Wet’suwet’en Nation
over unceded traditional territo-
ry and recognize the hereditary
governance system. A resolution
to the pipeline dispute, however,
was not reached.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary lead-
erssaytheyhavejurisdictionover
their traditional territory, not
elected band councils on federal
reserves under the Indian Act.
“We always maintain and we
always say that we are against the
pipeline that’s going through our
territory,” Mr. Alec said during a
news conference on March 1 in
Smithers, B.C.
Mr. Naziel’s employer, Kyah, is
co-owned by the Witset First Na-
tion Limited Partnership and
Wet’suwet’en member Troy
Young. Kyah does road building
and other work for Coastal Gas-
Link, including at Camp 9A, a
work site located near Houston,
B.C.
Mr. Naziel said he has been bu-
sy working over the past year
nearHouston,drivingbulldozers,
graders and other machinery for
Kyah, which is expected to create
60jobsandeconomicspinoffsfor
the Wet’suwet’en people. “It
makes me feel good,” he said.
“I’ve got to pay bills here,” he
added. “I can’t just drop every-
thing.”
Since Feb. 6, protests have
spread across the country in soli-
darity with the group of eight
Wet’suwet’en hereditary house
chiefs who oppose Coastal Gas-
Link’s proposed pipeline route.
About 190 kilometres of the 670-
kilometre route cross Wet’suwe-
t’en territory.
Mr. Naziel said anti-pipeline
opponents need to take into ac-
count the varying views of Wet-
’suwet’en members when it
comes to resource development.“These protesters are not even
Wet’suwet’en. They’ve made
things worse,” he said.
He said he has been reluctant
to speak out publicly for fear of
deepening the divisions within
the Wet’suwet’en. He added that
Sandra George, who backs Coast-
al GasLink, won the race in last
August’selectiontobecomechief
of the Witset band council, which
is one of the elected Wet’suwet’en
councils.
Coastal GasLink began work in
early 2019 on constructing a pipe-
line that would transport natural
gasfromnortheasternB.C.toKiti-
mat,whereLNGCanadahasstart-
ed building an $18-billion termi-
nal for exporting liquefied natu-
ral gas to Asia, starting in 2025.
TheB.C.andfederalgovernments
back the LNG terminal and natu-ral gas pipeline.
“I support people who bring
unity. I’m not pointing fingers,”
Mr. Naziel said. “This is the way a
true chief is supposed to be act-
ing.”
He also released a statement
on behalf of the Wet’suwet’en
Matrilineal Coalition, a group
that was formed in 2015 to help
bridge the gap between hered-
itary chiefs and elected band
councils, with a goal of persuad-
ing hereditary leaders to support
Coastal GasLink.
“We do not condone the block-
ing of railroads,” according to the
statement co-signed by Mr. Nazi-
el, who is one of the coalition’s
five directors. The other directors
are Ms. George, Ms. Glaim, There-
sa Tait-Day and Helen Nikal. The
group received seed money from
Coastal GasLink and the then-BC
Liberalgovernment.
Mr.Naziel’scousin,WarnerNa-
ziel, replaced Ms. George as Smo-
gelgem in 2016. Warner Naziel
said in a court affidavit last year
that Ms. George didn’t follow pro-
tocol when she took the Sun
House chief position under the
Laksamshu clan in 2009 in Hag-
wilget, B.C. “For instance, she
didn’t properly consult the clan –
most of us didn’t even know her,”
Warner Naziel said in his affida-
vit.
HerbNazielsaidhewishesthat
the damaged relationships
among extended families could
be easily mended, but rifts over
the pipeline project within the
Wet’suwet’en Nation persist.
He said he used to socialize
regularly with his cousin, Warner,
but doesn’t any more. “I’m mak-
ing a joke here,” Herb Naziel said.
“But if this were like a cartoon or
movie, it’s acting like we’re fight-
ing and when the time is up for
fighting, we would go home and
we’re still friends – we’re still
brothers and sisters.”Chief:Nazielsayshehasbeenreluctanttospeak
outforfearofdeepeningWet’suwet’endivisions
FROMAIsupportpeoplewho
bringunity.I’mnot
pointingfingers.Thisis
thewayatruechiefis
supposedtobeacting.HERBNAZIEL
WET’SUWET’ENHEREDITARY
HOUSECHIEFCanadaistheonlymemberoftheFiveEyesintelligence-shar-
ing alliance – the others are the United States, Australia, New
Zealand and Britain – which has yet to decide whether to bar
Huawei from 5G.
Australia, which is more heavily dependent on Chinese
trade, has joined the U.S. ban of Huawei, and New Zealand
has rejected one wireless carrier’s proposal to use Huawei
gear in a 5G network.
Britain angered Washington last month when it took a dif-
ferent course than other Five Eyes members. It rejected U.S.
callsforabanandinsteadlimitedHuaweito35percentofthe
British telecommunications market, banned it from sensi-
tive areas and promised regular testing of Huawei gear for
any possible backdoors.
Canada has been conducting a cybersecurity review since
last year, but has given no indication when a decision will be
forthcomingdespitepleasfromCanada’stelecomcarriersfor
Ottawa to make an announcement. Even with the review un-
der way, Telus announced last month that it would proceed
to build its 5G network with Huawei gear.
The Globe has reported that the Canadian military and
Canadian Security Intelligence Service want Huawei barred
while the Communications Security Establishment, which
handles cybersecurity, says it believes Huawei gear can be
tested and monitored for possible backdoors.
The department of Innovation, Science and Industry is
also involved in evaluating whether to allow Huawei into the
country’s 5G networks.
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said last week – in an
apparent reference to the U.S. campaign against Huawei –
that Canada “won’t get bullied by any other jurisdiction” in
its decision.
When the CBC’sPower & Politicsasked Mr. Bains whether
he was referring to the Trump administration, he said: “May-
be that was the wrong choice of words. ... We won’t be influ-
enced by other jurisdictions. We will make our own inde-
pendent decision.”
Asked again if he felt that the U.S. was “bullying Canada,”
Mr. Bains said “countries have raised their concerns.”
Separately, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe
Champagne has hired an adviser on Asia-Pacific matters
who, in a paper published online last December, advised
against Canada allowing itself to be drawn too deeply into a
U.S.-China conflict.
“Given deepening U.S.-China antagonism, there is a dan-
ger that Canada is siphoned into a higher-level sharp conflict
of hearts and minds against China, which would not serve
Canadian interests,” University of Ottawa professor Pascale
Massot wrote in a paper titled Global order, U.S.-China rela-
tions and Chinese behaviour: The ground is shifting, Canada
must adjust.
“The current dominant narrative depicting China as a
threat to the global order creates a hunkering down mental-
ity and is not conducive to seeing the global order’s limita-
tions and need for reform or to engaging system outsiders in
a constructive way,” she wrote.
“A key question for Canadian foreign policy going forward
will be how to carve room for manoeuvre given the trian-
gular nature of the U.S.-China-Canada relationship.”
There is a bipartisan consensus in the U.S. Congress that
Huawei should be banned. Republicans in both houses have
even tabled legislation to ban intelligence sharing with allies
that use Huawei 5G gear.
Last year, the Democratic vice-chair of the U.S. Senate in-
telligence committee, Mark Warner, urged Canada to set
aside any ill feelings toward Mr. Trump and join the U.S. in
blacklisting Huawei.Huawei:Canadawillmake
independentdecisionabout
5G,InnovationMinistersays
FROMAA majority of Canadians sur-
veyed recently by Nanos Re-
search say that blockades of rail
lines are not acceptable or are
somewhat not acceptable as a
way to express support for
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs
opposed to a $6.6-billion natural
gas pipeline through traditional
territory.
In a poll commissioned for
The Globe and Mail and CTV
News, the polling firm reported
that 57 per cent of those surveyed
found that blockades of rail lines
and highways is not acceptable,
while 16 per cent found it to be
somewhat not acceptable.
The natural gas pipeline pro-
ject by Coastal GasLink was at the
heart of blockades and demon-
strations across Canada in recent
weeks. The project has received
support from elected band coun-
cils but is opposed by eight of
nine hereditary house chiefs who
are concerned about the pipeline
crossing traditional territory.
Nanos Research said 11 per
cent surveyed found blockades to
be acceptable and 13 per cent
found them to be somewhat ac-
ceptable. Another 2 per cent said
they were not sure.
Nanos conducted the survey
through land and cellphone lines
and an online random survey of
1,008Canadians,18yearsorolder,
between Feb. 29 and March 3.
The firm said participants
were randomly recruited by tele-
phone using live agents and then
were administered a survey on-
line. The margin of error for the
survey is plus or minus 3.1 per-
centage points, 19 times out of 20.
Nik Nanos, the chief data sci-
entist and founder of Nanos Re-
search, said Sunday in an inter-
view that the survey also found
Canadians are much more pessi-
mistic about the potential for rec-
onciliation with Indigenous peo-
ples and the federal Liberal gov-ernment’s approach to advanc-
ing the issue.
“For the Liberals, they should
take what has happened in terms
of the blockades as a wakeup
call,” Mr. Nanos said.
Twenty elected band councils
along the pipeline route have
signed benefit agreements to
work with the company but the
conflictshonealightonissuesin-
cluding howgovernments over-
see resource development.
Last week, Prime Minister Jus-
tin Trudeau said it is very impor-
tant the Wet’suwet’en Nation has
an opportunity to internally dis-
cuss a proposed agreement on
rights and title reached with the
federal and B.C.governments as a
result of meetings in Smithers,
B.C.
Mr. Trudeau said the federal
government will respect the de-
sire of the Wet’suwet’en to work
on the agreement amongst
themselves first.
The discussions in Smithers
did not resolve outstanding con-
cerns about the pipeline. B.C. Pre-
mier John Horgan has said per-
mits are in place for the project
and work is under way.MembersoftheMohawkcommunitypreparetoleavetheblockadeofthecommuterraillinein
Kahnawake,Que.,onThursday.RYANREMIORZ/THECANADIANPRESS
MajorityofCanadians
findblockadesofrail
linesunacceptable:poll
Newsurveyalsofinds
Canadianspessimistic
aboutpotential
forreconciliationwith
Indigenouspeoples
KRISTYKIRKUPOTTAWA
M
ichele Audette feels disappointed when she
looks online and sees a barrage of violent threats
toward Indigenous women.
“It made me so mad that we tolerate this.
There’s no real ... reprimand,” says Ms. Audette, who was
one of the commissioners for the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
As she gently places her eight-month-old grandchild into
her vehicle in Quebec City, Ms. Audette explains that she
understood it would take timefor governments and society
to work towards the more than 200 recommendations in-
cluded in the inquiry’s final report last June. The report
called violence against First Nations, Metis and Inuit wom-
en and girls a form of genocide.
Ms. Audette had hoped the work would mean a better
and safer future for children such as her granddaughter.
She wonders if Indigenous women feel any safer, espe-
cially with threats levelled during recent anti-pipeline pro-
tests, rail blockades and demonstrations. In many of those
cases, she feels that women are more often targets than
men.
“Here again, status quo. We are not safe,” she says.
Bardish Chagger, Canada’s Minister of Diversity, Inclusion
and Youth, has called racist taunts and threats directed at
Indigenous people after recent protests horrible and igno-
rant. She says many Canadians are unaware of Indigenous
history and rights.
Erica Violet Lee, a community organizer from Saskatoon,
says the treatment of Indigenous people in Canada has
always been violent.
When they speak out about issues, “Canadian politeness”
crumbles away, she says. It was similar during the Idle No
More protest movement, which was started by four women
in 2012.
“When Indigenous communities and nations exercise
our inherent right to self-determination, we become trou-
blemakers, ‘bad Indians,’ who don’t respect the Canadian
rule of law,” Ms. Lee said in an e-mail.
“But Cree laws and the laws of our lands say that we have
a responsibility to act in situations of injustice and envi-
ronmental devastation.”
Ms. Lee recently attended a demonstration at a Saska-
toon rail line in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs
opposed to a natural gas pipeline on traditional territory in
British Columbia. She says some men began yelling at
young protesters to jump in front of the trains.
She says she and the youth were called everything from
“stupid” to “terrorists.” They also received death threats.
“How do we respond to that? We keep living,” Ms. Lee
says.
During the pipeline protests, it was common to see on-
line comments encouraging drivers to run over protesters.
One photo showed blood on the front of a train with a
laughing face emoji.THE CANADIAN PRESSIndigenouswomenfacea
delugeofonlinethreats,racism
KELLYGERALDINEMALONE