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The tensions were carried out in the framework of the gas pipeline project in the northern part of the BC. there were questions about who should be consulted with indigenous leaders in the management of a major project: heritage leaders or selected saints?
Inheritance leaders are against the project, despite a court order. However, several councils of Wet & Suwet elected groups signed agreements with the coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TransCanada Corp, for a natural gas pipeline from North B.C. to the coast where a LNG project is planned.
Look at what we know about the situation:
Who is trying to stop the gas pipeline in the territory of Wet & suwet?
All bands of the first nations, except the Hagwilget Nation Village Council, have signed agreements with Coastal Gaslink. This includes Skin Tyee First Nation, Wet & # 39; First First Nation, Witset First Nation and Nee Tahi Buhn Band.
However, hereditary leaders say that these agreements do not apply to traditional territories.
"All 13 house chiefs of five Wet & # 39; s clan members said" no "to all pipelines and pipelines in our territories," said Carla Lewis, spokeswoman for the Gitdimt & # 39; s Master of Management of Indigenous Peoples.
Lewis says that these clans ratified their opposition to all oil and gas on their territory, which they tested three years ago by balancing cultural, environmental and economic impacts.
Why there are two types of authorities in the Wet & Suicides territory?
The group's management has reached agreements with the coastal pipeline, but hereditary leadership is contrary to the project.
RCMP officials watch when contractors, through their roadblocks as supporters of Unist & # 39; s camp and Wet & # 39; suwet & # 39; First Nation, gather at a camp fire off sign roads near Houston, BC, in Wednesday, January 9, 2019. (CANADIAN PRESS / Chad Hipolito)
How does the group's leadership work?
The community of the first nations has elections for the president and the council – given the number of members they hold – every two years. Group leadership is not a traditional form of government. Instead, there are creations of the Indian law.
While people in the community elect the world, it is the responsibility of the federal government.
The band was introduced by the federal government in 1876 as part of a policy of assimilating after a confederation.
"The federal government considered that the way in which communities are managed back," says Bob Joseph, the founder of autochthon entrepreneurial training that helps businesses and organizations better work with the First Nations.
"This was direct imposition of already self-governing autochthonous communities," said Joseph.
How does successive leadership work?
Inherent leadership differs from community to community, but Wet & Suwet leadership is based on the clan and house system. A wet 'suwet' hereditary leader inherits his role through his matrilineal line through the potlatch system, which is their leading structure.
In the case of Wet & # 39; suwet; if the successor of the head does not take the lead seriously or fails to meet expectations, that person can be deprived of a hereditary role and other persons may appoint other clan leaders in the potlatch.
Different levels of decision-making and authority have created tensions between hereditary leaders, provincial and federal governments, and sacred bands.
How does the community decide who is responsible?
Each community is different, but Joseph says that most groups of councils are solely responsible for the responsibilities that the federal government usually carries out, such as healthcare and education.
Wet suwet, hereditary commander Na & # 39; mocks, one of the leaders who protests against the pipeline, describes her authority as a concern for land and rights and ownership of it.
"Elected leaders and councils are competent only within the boundaries of the reserve that are elected to the service, and support the pipeline," said the chief of Na'o Moks.
"We have 22,000 square kilometers for which we are responsible," he added.
How is this organ held in court?
Lawyers are pointing to the 1997 decision of the 1997 Supreme Court of Canada in the Delgamuukw case to describe how the authority in the Wet & Suwet territories is limited.
In this decision, it was found that the rights and property of indigenous land did not extinguish during the colonization period. The case was designed around a traditional, hereditary leadership, according to lawyers.
"The bands of the gangs are, by their very nature, the founding of the federal government and the Indian law, and in many cases they do not correspond to the existing autochthonous legal order," said Kate Gunn, a lawyer for the first human rights law in Vancouver.
She says that Delgamuukwa's decision found that the Wet & Suwet People were organized and organized through the hereditary system.
"Did the Indian bands sign agreements or not support the people and the procedure for obtaining this support was not fulfilled," she said.
If you are a company like TransCanada, who are you consulting?
Bob Joseph says TransCanada, which announced plans to change its name to TC Energy on Wednesday, launched a consultation process six years ago.
Today, Joseph says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trying to make rapid changes, such as the decommissioning of the Indian law – where municipal councils are gaining strength. Trudeau also spoke for a long time about how the autochthonous groups are treated as a national nation, and not as a federal government.
Joseph says this could mean that companies like TransCanada should consult the whole community and not with specific guidance. On the other hand, he says that communities will have to organize referenda for the whole community before making decisions for which they are not all inclined.
On Tuesday, Trudeau told a group of autochthonous leaders in Ottawa that "there is still a lot of work to be done to improve the relationship between the federal government and the first peoples."
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