SECWEPEMC SAY NO TMX PIPELINE
Our Secwepemc sister has been released by the RCMP who compounded the illegal actions of the Canadian Federal government's TMX Pipeline today by displacing and kidnapping a woman from her own territories. We say again, the RCMP and the TMX Pipeline do not have any jurisdiction on our territories and DO NOT HAVE CONSENT of our People. Our sister is charged with basic civil charges and no criminal charges and is forced to appear in Vancouver court October 5th, 2020 at 9:30am.
We ask for financial support in continuing to exercise our rights and jurisdiction as Secwepemc in our own territories.
We ask for financial support for food and travel for regular patrols and actions as well for legal support on the Vancouver court date in October.
WE DECLARE A MONTH OF DIRECT ACTION until October 5th's court date and we ask for action from wherever you are and however you can show up STARTING NOW. You are powerful, we are powerful and there are many more of us living, strong and healthy than there are the few left who are still pursuing death economies on the backs of Indigenous People and Territories. Our salmon, our waters, our mountains, our rivers, are sacred and are life giving. Water is life and will be respected as such.
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We, the Secwepemc People, hold collective title and absolute jurisdiction over the entirety of our Territory. We have never ceded, surrendered or sold our right and title to any nation state, company or corporate interests. We exercise our sovereignty as a Nation and our jurisdiction as a People today by saying and demonstrating we do not consent and have never consented to the formerly Kinder Morgan, now TMX Pipeline in our territories. We rely on our rivers, we rely on our salmon, we rely on our water for our survival and we will defend our right to survive until we do not have to anymore. We will not be displaced. We do not consent to oil spills in our water, the destruction of wild salmon spawning habitat and the construction of man camps that threaten our community, all demonstrated and evidenced outcomes of pipelines in other territories. We will be heard. Our actions align with our traditional practices of sovereignty and jurisdiction in protection of our water, our territories and our future generations. Our first environment is water, we have never left our territories, we give thanks for the only home we have. The TMX pipeline will not pass.
We the Secwepemc remain as guardians, stewards and protectors of our lands and waters since time immemorial. We have never forgotten our laws and never stopped practicing our ceremony and traditions on our own lands. Unlike the Canadian Federal government, the owners of the TMX pipeline, we lay no claim to territories that are not ours and today, like every day, we challenge the Canadian state in their violent and destructive claims of jurisdiction on our People, our lands and our waters. We ask for full transparency and accountability as to who is signing these deals, how much they are paid to do so and who will be responsible for the inevitable oil spill clean up?
We hold up our sister who stopped construction this morning with the full jurisdictional, cultural and ceremonial support of her Nation, family and of our hereditary Chief.
We ask for financial support in continuing to exercise our rights and jurisdiction as Secwepemc in our own territories.
We ask for financial support for food and travel for regular patrols and actions as well for legal support on the Vancouver court date in October.
