On February 4th 2020, just days before the RCMP launched military-style raids on Wet’suwet’en territory, the Métis National Council (MNC) released a statement applauding a court decision to uphold the Trans Mountain pipeline approval, calling it a “nation-building project”. The MNC say they support “a balanced approach to economic development, one that encourages economic development while protecting the environment and the rights and interests of our people”.

Then, on February 21st, after weeks of nation-wide solidarity actions and ongoing RCMP presence in Wet’suwet’en territory, the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) felt it appropriate to release a statement explicitly rejecting solidarity with Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and land defenders, calling the conflict an internal dispute. Referencing the Métis nation’s long history of resistance to cushion the blow of taking this position, and repeating Canadian government talking points about outside “environmentalists and sympathizers”, the MMF insists that the only legitimate actions may be taken under the direction of Wet’suwet’en Indian Act governments.

To date, none of the provincial Métis organizations have issued any statement of support with a people who are continuing to face violence from the RCMP, a current iteration of the North-West Mounted Police; that paramilitary organization launched against the Métis and our allies to forcibly remove us from our lands, who murdered, and continue to murder our citizens and political leaders alike to advance the colonial interests of the Canadian state. Nor have these provincial or national organizations issued a condemnation of the Canadian Prime Minister who yesterday declared “we have exhausted our capacity to engage in a positive, active way to resolve this and the onus is now on Indigenous leadership to move forward on reconciliation.” It is incumbent upon Métis leadership to remind the Canadian Prime Minister that reconciliation is not a cudgel to use against First Nations, Métis, and Inuit to ensure our compliance.

Yes, the issues are complicated. Questions of political legitimacy are not isolated to the Wet’suwet’en but also lay at the core of Métis relationships with provincial and national organizations that claim to represent us as nations. The Canadian legal landscape in this situation is muddled by ignorance around and misunderstandings of Supreme Court decisions like Delgamuukw [1997] and Tsilhqot'in [2014], of the recognized authority of Hereditary Chiefs versus Indian Act elected band councils, of environmental regulatory processes that we now know rejected Coastal GasLink’s environmental assessment report, and how this raises vital questions about how the RCMP had any authority whatsoever to impose an injunction without this legal basis for the commencement of work on Wet’suwet’en lands.

The Indigenous legal landscape is much clearer; as Indigenous peoples, our nations have a responsibility to our human and non-human kin, our lands and waters. Further, as Indigenous nations we continue to face genocidal violence in all aspects of our lives under a white supremacist, settler colonial system that does not even regard our non-human kin, the lands or the waters, as beings with inherent rights, but rather as objects, “resources” to be extracted, even destroyed. When conflict occurs between the Canadian state, and First Nations, Métis, or Inuit peoples, it is vital that our leadership at all times recognize that violence visited upon any Indigenous community can just as soon be violence visited upon our own families. Regardless of how “complicated” situations can be, we must not default to siding with the state that continues to administrate Indigenous oppression, that fights in their courts to continue discriminating against First Nations children, that denies truth to the survivors of Residential and Day Schools, that criminalizes land defence and Indigenous dissent, and that weaponizes “reconciliation” against us.

Métis call ourselves otipêyimisiwak, the People Who Own Themselves. Throughout our history we formed governing structures when needed, and then dissolved them when they no longer served their purpose. We are not shackled to the provincial and national organizations that claim to be our voice and our sole legitimate political representation, nor will we be silenced by them. We have always relied upon the political, social, and familial ties we have with other Indigenous nations such as the Cree, Saulteaux, Nakota, and that relationality requires constant care and renewal. We can and should be doing the work to expand these international relationships with all Indigenous peoples within so-called Canada as well as beyond these colonial borders.

As Métis, affiliated with provincial Métis organizations or not, we the undersigned reject these positions taken by the MNC and MMF. We assert and affirm our support for Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders, now and in future struggles. We recognize and thank all those who have acted in solidarity, especially recognizing the leadership of the women, youth, and Two-Spirit organizers who have mobilized to help protect and support our human and non-human kin. These brave defenders are fighting for us and the generations to come. We stand with you. We unreservedly condemn the actions of the RCMP and join our voices with our Wet’suwet’en kin to insist that the RCMP be withdrawn from Wet’suwet’en Yintah. We voice our solidarity with land defenders, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike across the country and even internationally. We call upon the provincial and federal governments of Canada to cease hostile police actions against land defenders both on Wet’suwet’en territory and those putting their bodies and futures on the line in solidarity. We call upon these settler governments to meet with the Hereditary Chiefs in nation-to-nation talks and to respect the tenets of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.  Finally, we call upon all Metis provincial and national organizations to take up our responsibilities as a nation who have felt the full weight of military occupation and forced expropriation of our lands and to immediately take an unequivocal position of solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people and Hereditary Chiefs. We refuse to let the false promises of state recognition take precedence over our responsibilities as Indigenous people to all our relations.

In solidarity,

Please type your name, and if you want, your community and/or provincial Métis organization affiliation.
(See a list of all signatures here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1klX7tbzakDGH7ySd2VYO7ypEWplnlBXFlqangOA8UcU/edit?usp=sharing)