The pipeline has already caused environmental destruction and cut the Wet’suwet’en people off from their ancestral territory.
Land defenders who take action to protect the territory and stop the pipeline have been surveilled, intimidated, and arrested. Now, several of them face criminal charges – and possibly prison time.
Amnesty International’s report, ‘Removed from our land for defending it’: Criminalization, Intimidation and Harassment of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders, published in December 2023, advocates for Canadian officials to stop construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline that is cutting through Wet’suwet’en land, and halt similar projects on Indigenous territories that do not have the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous People are stewards of natural ecosystems that mitigate against the impact climate change. Indigenous land defenders across the Americas are facing unprecedented danger for defending their territories against extractive projects. Canada should be protecting them instead of prosecuting them.
