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Nov 24, 2021

Yarrow Stands in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en


23 November 2021


Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice Stands in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en First Nation Against Coastal GasLink


Since 2019, Coastal GasLink (CGL) has invaded and destroyed various parts of Wet’suwet’en First Nation territories with the help of the RCMP. As an assertion of their Aboriginal Title, affirmed by the ruling of Delgamuukw v. British Columbia (1997), the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs issued an eviction notice to CGL in 2020. In the face of non-compliance from CGL, land defenders from Wet’suwet’en First Nation and beyond have continued to occupy their territories and physically bar RCMP and CGL from accessing their lands.


In 2021, a crucial Wet’suwet’en waterway is at risk. CGL plans to drill under Wedzin Kwa, also known as Morice River, in order to build their pipeline. After a two-day violent raid by the RCMP, 32 people were arrested, including land defenders, journalists, Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, and Dinï ze’ Woos’ daughter Jocey Alec. Many land defenders remain incarcerated in what’s colonially known as Prince George, BC. The conditions for release include denying arrestees the ability to return to Wet’suwet’en territories, which means some will not be able to return to their homelands.


Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice (Yarrow) stands in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en peoples and their hereditary governance systems, who have not consented to CGL to build a pipeline through sacred waters on their lands. We support liberation, autonomy, and the ability to return to ancestral homelands for all Elders and marginalized peoples.


As an organization for and by Chinese settlers, Yarrow operates on stolen Indigenous land. Our hosts and neighbours in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside are Indigenous folks that continue to face colonial violence in the forms of the foster care system, police profiling and brutality, poverty, sexism, MMIWG2S, and racism. We recognize that the sources of funding we receive, as a non-profit organization, from the provincial and federal governments, are supported by profits gained from major resource extraction projects like the CGL liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline. The LNG transported by the CGL pipeline will be sold to countries in Asia, including China. In these ways, we recognize how we are entangled in the project of settler colonialism.


As members of the Chinese diaspora, Yarrow stands against the ongoing violent dispossession of Indigenous land and rights for settlers’ profits, including the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands for resource extraction and the escalation of police violence across Canada. We condemn the RCMP invasions of Wet’suwet’en territories and we support the demand for the immediate release of Indigenous land defenders and their allies who have been arrested in defense of Wedzin Kwa. We urge members of the Chinese diaspora and supporters of Yarrow to stand in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en peoples and their eviction of Coastal GasLink from their territories.


Sincerely,


Lydia Tang, Chair of the Board of Directors

Eleanor Yang, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors

Todd Huang, Treasurer of the Board of Directors

Sydney Li, Secretary of the Board of Directors

Melody Wise, member of the Board of Directors

Yao Sweden Xiao, member of the Board of Directors


On behalf of Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice


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Correction: 24 November 2021

An earlier version stated that 20 people were arrested by the RCMP over two days. 32 people were arrested, not 20.


Download the PDF of Yarrow's solidarity statement here.

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