Event5 January 2020Statement

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs issue an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink

Days after the BC Supreme Court granted Coastal GasLink an interlocutory injunction (Dec. 31, 2019), the hereditary chiefs issued an eviction notice to the company citing Wet'suwet'en trespass laws. The chiefs hold that no pipeline may cross their traditional territory without their consent, and that the band councils, five of six of which had signed agreements supporting the pipeline, are responsible only for their reserves (CBC News, Feb. 5, 2020).

Date

5 January 2020

Kind

Statement

Where

Canada / British Columbia

Evidence

Statement: Something was said. Weighted lowest: words cost less than actions. How evidence is weighed

Who

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs (acted)

Sources

• CBC News, “What you need to know about the Coastal GasLink pipeline conflict” (external site), 5 February 2020. source record

Projects

• Coastal GasLink pipeline

Claims that rest on this event

• SupportsMechanism

  In the record so far, resource projects facing organized First Nations, Métis or Inuit opposition reached construction about as often as those without it (approved: 4 of 7 vs 1 of 2; under review: 2 of 4 vs 2 of 8); tiny, selected samples.

  Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs evicted Coastal GasLink in January 2020, after its approval: one of the four opposed approved projects that were built.