How To Stop An Oil And Gas Pipeline: The Unist'ot'en Camp Resistance

suspenseful music

We're just doing some surveying
at two creeks here

I was told to give you a card
If you guys show up

Coastal Gaslink, TransCanada

You know you guys don't have permission
be here right?

I'm not aware of anything.
I'm just here as safety.

This is traditional... Unist'ot'en territory

If you would like us to leave,
we'll leave.

You know TransCanada has already
been warned right?

Equipment will be confiscated if
you guys return.

singing

The pipelines are going to go right
through where the salmon spawn

And that's where we decided to put the
action camp.

Last year we put a cabin right smack in
the way of the pipeline so that

they would not go through
and we just recently

last year we fenced it off because we
saw ribbons in there for drill pads

for them to do test drills so they could
drill a pipe right under the river

We've been hearing all the media
of all these pipes breaking

and waterways getting damaged

and we're just not going to
accept that risk

cause we don't want to be 25 years
10 years down the road telling our kids

oh we used to hunt moose here
and we used to fish.

We've never ceded or surrendered our land
to anybody here.

There's no treaty.

There's no relationship built with
any government in the past.

None of our people signed anything
to let them make decisions on our territory

Heavy trucks rolling by

Tomorrow morning at 3, we may see some
trucks attempting to get through

to log the right of way. And we're
going to have to differentiate them.

So we're going to go through all
the peaceful avenues we can

But the way of the warrior is you go
through and expend all peaceful

avenues first. And when all those fail,
it's war.

And that is the way of the warrior.

Drums

Singing

All this food in front of me.

Wooden spoon tapping on a bowl

We're worried we put this cabin right in
route of the PTP and Enbridge pipeline

The GPS route, that's where this cabin
sits now and they have now since

moved it upstream about 5 kilometers?

It's a half a kilometer to two kilometers
away.

By way of them actually mending their project
and changing the location of their crossing

We decided to start building more infrastructure
in their way again.

So we did a call for people come out and
assist us in the construction of a pit house

And a pit house went directly in the path
of the Pacific Trails Pipeline

deliberately because the Pacific Trails was
farther along than the rest of the pipelines

In their permitting processes.

Chainsaw

This is the blockader's dream!

Those have been doing this for awhile,

Yeah some people build platforms,
and sleeping dragons.

I built a whole fuckin hah ha ha

I built a blockade!!!

It's not just a blockade.
It's also a real dwelling.

This is a part of the decolonization
and returning to the land

and returning to the old ways
that ... talk about all the time.

But you still have to nail something
to hold that together right?

laughing

We've been living here for two years
and we've already been brought up culturally

... and I are both culturally brought up
and we are living culturally now

We get all our own meats and gather our
own berries, and make sure we put away

enough food to last us the whole winter
and this year I put away 100 fish

So I jarred all that salmon

We've got sweet potato, moose head-cheese
ribs, deer meat, some goat meat,

a lot of salmon, some groundhog,

Berries that we got last season.
Huckleberries, a lot of jams

This all is in case they do block us
because there have been threats

that they will block us from the other end

That's why we're preparing food.

We have food cached all over the territory

Our people have had enough and we're
not just going to stand here and

take the bullying and take it
without a fight.

We've had enough of these spoiled brats
stealing off our lands and

not accepting no for an answer and
we're gonna be the stern parent and

Say no, you're not coming in.

moose call

Could be TransCanada cause they're the ones
that didn't submit their route through here yet

But I know Enbridge has wanted to come in here
Pacific Trails is on this side.

We didn't know where TransCanada wanted to go
so this probably TransCanada coming back in

They did put steaks in here before and we
ripped them all out a couple years ago.

About three years ago, we came out and
tore them all out.

But this whole area between here and
the truck, that valley, that's where

they want to run all the pipelines through

There's no freakin way we're gonna let any
of those guys through.

So what if we told you that the federal
government doesn't have jurisdiction

on our territory?

50% of your proposed project is on
Wet'suwet'en territory.

And all the hereditary chiefs have said
100% no to this project.

We...

We have the final say.
Not the federal government.

Not the provincial government.

Well uh. We... I... I hear what you're saying
umm and we're following like I said

the regulatory process that we have
in front of us and we can talk to you

about some of the conditions that
include environmental monitoring

and a lot of surveys. umm environmental
surveys and we can talk to you about that...

And what if we told you we know that's
bullshit and it doesn't work?

You look at the state of our whole planet
What it's in and

All our water is being destroyed
the air is destroyed

all the trees are being destroyed.

You can't continue to bulldoze
over my people.

Our lands. Our final say.

No pipelines will be coming on our land.

Drumming and singing