GRSJ224/Indigenous resistance to extractivist projects

Land acknowledgement

This article was written on the stolen land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Watuth). In talking about broader indigenous resistence movements on turtle island, its crucial to acknowledge the importance of land and place. And in doing so lift up the particular sovereignty of local nations.

Indigenous resistance to extractivist projects is a common pattern both locally and throughout turtle island. These resistance actions are often framed around the "UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" which establishes the legal right of indigenous people to both actively participate in projects on their territory and oppose them. While UNDRIP provides a legal framing, it is also important to consider the importance of these actions as enforcing indigenous sovereignty and place them within a larger indigenous resurgence movement.

UNDRIP

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: a conversation with experts.
CC are available in the Youtube video.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a starting point for understanding the obligations colonial governments have to indigenous nations. It "constitute[s] the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.” . It was adopted as a policy by the UN in 2007, but not by Canada until 2016.

UNDRIP goes beyond the idea of a consultation based model toward a model of free, prior, and informed consent. Under UNDRIP indigenous groups have the right to not only be consulted, but to actively oppose extractivist projects on their territories. UNDRIP provides this particularly through the right to

• self-determination (Article 1)
• to be free from forced relocation (Article 10)
• to participate in decision making (Article 18, 19)
• and to their traditional territories (Article 26)

These rights taken together help move indigenous groups from "solely victims to actors, and from objects of protection to subjects of rights" . In doing so, UNDRIP exists in opposition to past colonial legal documents. Particularly the "Doctrine of Discovery" which gave colonial powers the rights to land held by indigenous people .

However, UNDRIP is still only a paper document produced by a colonial institution. It has little weight if not taken into practice. Ultimately the rights accorded to indigenous nations under UNDRIP only matter if nations are able to force their colonial government to respect UNDRIP. This usually means expensive court cases which is a financial barrier.

Trans mountain pipeline

The TMX pipeline expansion is an ongoing project to lay a new 980km pipeline along the route of the existing trans mountain pipeline . This route crosses the traditional territories of several indigenous nations in Alberta and British Columbia.

The project was proposed in 2012 to the national energy board and has been subject to legal challenges since . On June 18th 2019, the NEB approved the project after it had been halted due to safety concerns .

The Tiny House Warriors

Image of a tiny house built by The Tiny House Warriors.A small black house takes up most of the image. It sits on a wheeled trailer. On the side of the house two white trees are painted, and the words "Tiny <heart> House Warriors". In the middle is the Tiny House warriors icon: a warrior in a house with a red heart. The house is in a forested area. Around the house are other signs strewn around. One reads "it has begun".

The Tiny House Warriors project is an organization that seeks to assert the traditional territory and law of the Secwepemc people. Secwepemc territory has never been ceded or surrendered. The Tiny House Warriors therefore hold that "the Trans Mountain Pipeline project and any other corporate colonial project that seeks to go through and destroy our 180,000 square km of unceded territory will be refused passage" .

They enact resistance by building small houses along the route of the pipeline. These houses serve as little villages which will need to be forcibly removed in order to continue construction. In forcibly removing these indigenous tiny houses, the government publicly reinforces its colonial agenda. The removal of these houses deliberately evokes the forced removal and relocation of indigenous people from their territory. This emphasizes the hollowness of the Canadian governments promises of reconciliation.

The Tiny House Warriors was founded by Kanahus Manuel and is led by indigenous women.

Kwekwecnewtxw Watch House

Photo of the Watch House at burnaby mountain. A small wooden house is in the right of the image. It has a ramp leading up to a wooden door. There are two black animal designs on either side of the door. The ground around the house is dirt and grass. To the left is a banner that reads "Kwekwecnewtxw Watch House".

The watch house or Kwekwecnewtxw (henqeminem for "a place to watch from") is a traditional structure built at the tanker farm on burnaby mountain . It overlooks the large construction operation at the end of the TMX pipeline.

The project is led by members of the Tsleil Waututh nation. It serves as a place to keep watch over their enemies and threats to their territory. It is grounded in cultural traditional and in spiritual practice. The watch house provides a way to connect back to old teachings and knowledge of spiritual leaders and elders in the community .

Dakota access pipeline

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is an oil pipeline which begins in North Dakota on the territory of the Sioux and Cheyenne and running south to Illinois, ending on the territory of the Miami and Osage.

This pipeline was met with continued resistance movements by indigenous groups, centered around the Standing Rock reservation of the Sioux nation. Mauai, whose mother is from Standing Rock, sees the pipeline as a "threat to our source for clean water, the source of our well-being" . The project was met with a continued occupation and blocking of construction by indigenous led groups at Standing Rock. These protestors were forcibly removed and attacked with rubber bullets and water cannons by the military. This demonstrates the continued presence of colonial violence in a post-colonial society. Furthermore, there is an implicit "environmental rac­ism and social injustice" in the pipelines route, as it avoids settler communities like Bismarck, while passing through unceded Indian land.

DeRoin and Eppink who provided legal support at Standing Rock see this action as part of a tradition of resistance to colonial occupation. They echo the words they heard in orientation at Standing Rock

"Indigenous history in the americas is one of uninterrupted resistance to colonisation, from 1492 to today. You may be unaware of this history or not recognise the forms it takes in indigenous cultures."

This sentiment means resistance practice overlaps with the idea of indigenous resurgence. In resistance efforts like Standing Rock, the strength and persistence of indigenous culture against colonialism is affirmed. Indigenous resistance efforts are not isolated, but part of a historic pattern of action. Acknowledging this continuity of resistance is crucial, as it acknowledges that colonisation has never stopped on indigenous land.

Implications for environmental activism

These forms of resistance draw attention to the intersection between environmental activism and decolonization. Deem discusses this in their paper "Mediated Intersections of Environmental and Decolonial Politics in the No Dakota Access Pipeline Movement" . They look at the complexity that exists in digital activist spaces. Particularly at the "#NoDAPL" hashtag in which tweets for "environmental accountability figure nearly as frequently as calls for Indigenous rights" . The two issues clearly interact and intersect, but the interaction is blurred by the vastness of the space.

On the surface it is possible to construct environmental activism and indigenous resurgence as two issues which can exist separately. But Deem rightly problematises this approach. By separating these movements it generates a colonial ecological activism which ignores indigenous sovereignty and environmental practice. This activism prioritizes colonial 'climate science' over ancestral knowledge of indigenous people.

I want to affirm in this article the importance of centering indigenous resistance when talking about or engaging in environmental activism. Environmental movements are inherently intertwined with colonialism as they seek to dictate what is 'good' for the land. In this way, we need to be critical of environmental action that doesn't center indigenous people and knowledge. These movements are very likely repeating a pattern of colonial violence onto the land, by devaluing indigenous activism.

Further reading

• Estes, Nick, and Jaskiran Dhillon. Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement. University of Minnesota Press, 2019.

External links

• Native Land website for finding finding traditional territories of indigenous nations, languages, and treaties.
• Tiny House Warriors
• Kwekwecnewtxw