Wet'su'weten solidarity protest disrupts Canadian transport minister Marc Carneau at Embassy reception

Video-the entire protest 1 min 25 sec

On the 4th of March, supporters of First Nations Wet'su'weten land defenders disrupted a speech by Canada's minister of transportation Marc Carneau at a "Gresat Lakes Day" reception at the Canadian Embassy. His job makes him responsible for all that railroad shipping that has been halted in so-called Canada by Indigenous and other allies of the Wet'su'weten, who are fighting to block the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline.

Protesterss unfurled a banner right in front of the podium and delayed or replaced his speech with one of their own, stating "Indigenous law is environmental law" before breaking into chants of "kill the pipeline, save the water!" There were supportive comments from a number of people in the audience, and the protest went on over a minute before security was able to respond.

Due to Marc Carneau's role as Minister of Transportation, it is possible he may bear responsibility for police arresting people at the Tyendiga Mohawk railroad blockade. Such arrests and even injunctions have NOT been successful in clearing Canada's rail lines, many of which remain shut down by a combination of blockades and sabotage. The injunctions in particular are useless against saboteurs who cannot be found, and the more harassment peaceful protesters get, the more "night action" teams step up to keep the same railroads blocked. The only thing that will end the blockades is for TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) to cease and desist all attempts to push the Coastal Gaslink pipeline through Wet'su'weten land. Talking about respecting Indigenous land won't do it, only actually respecting Indigenous land by not trespassing upon it will.