04 June 21
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Jonathan Chait | Trump Believes He Can Regain the Presidency, He Can't, but the Insurrectionists Aren't Going Away
Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
Chait writes: "The position of mainstream Republican leaders in Congress is that the January 6 insurrection, while regrettable, is behind us now."
he position of mainstream Republican leaders in Congress is that the January 6 insurrection, while regrettable, is behind us now. It does not require congressional investigation nor any further rebuke. What is needed, instead, is a series of state-level laws to clamp down on voting and make it easier for Republican poll-watchers and legislatures to challenge any results they don’t like.
In the Trumpiest portions of the party, the view is quite different. The rioters are martyrs, their plight needs redress, and their cause remains very much alive.
Maggie Haberman and the Washington Post report that Donald Trump has been proclaiming to anybody who would listen that his return to power is imminent. Trump is obsessively following a so-called “audit” in Arizona, which actually consist of right-wing grifters conducting alchemical procedures on ballots in order to supply a predetermined conclusion that Trump was robbed. The defeated president “has become so fixated on the audits that he suggested recently to allies that their success could result in his return to the White House this year, according to people familiar with comments he has made,” reports the Post.
The comical proceedings in Arizona have attracted Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania, who are interested in staging their own farcical ceremony to uphold Trump’s claim to power. In the Trumpist mythology, the Arizona cyber-ninja “recount” will be the “first domino,” followed by other states overturning their election results, culminating in Trump’s “reinstatement.”
Trump’s self-styled presidency in exile continues to focus on somehow seizing power. Pillow-monger Mike Lindell has reportedly persuaded Trump that his restoration will occur in August (though, as the Daily Beast notes, his timetable presumes a series of Supreme Court rulings that should have already begun to drop, but obviously have not). Trump recently met with Jeff Brain, CEO of the social-media site CloutHub, who helped organize the January 6 caravans, reports Hunter Walker.
Meanwhile, American Greatness, a journal dedicated to the proposition that one can stay loyal to Trump while maintaining a highbrow affect, has undertaken an editorial crusade to rehabilitate the Capitol rioters. One AG essay claims the real insurrectionists are “running the country and the bureaucracy, having imprisoned a few sad-sack political opponents who did not understand the rules of the game being played.” Another proposes that the rioters are heroes who should be elected to Congress.
Trump obviously is not going to be reinstalled as president this summer, or any time before 2025. But the neo-insurrection is no joke. Trump and his dead-enders have won the argument, or at least staked a claim to a large enough segment of their party that they can’t be cut off.
The party elite may roll its eyes in private, but its public agenda is to placate the insurrection. The Republican mainstream is refusing to talk about it not because it’s too weak to be taken seriously, but because it’s too strong. In the red states, Republicans are laying the groundwork to make the next insurrection easier. Trump and his diehards are busily rehabilitating the last one.
Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Getty)
Bernie Sanders Renews Call for Action on Voting Rights Bill After Texas Legislature Drama
John Bowden, The Independent
Bowden writes: "Senator Bernie Sanders called for the Senate to pass S. 1, a landmark piece of voting rights legislation, on Tuesday while celebrating a walkout by members of the Texas state legislature that resulted in a GOP-led elections bill to be defeated."
If passed, S. 1, commonly known as the “For The People Act”, would institute a number of nationwide provisions including automatic voter registration and early voting, and would also restore voting rights for federal elections to Americans who are released from prison after felony convictions.
“Congratulations to Democrats in Texas for protecting democracy and the right to vote. Let's see if Democrats in the U.S. Senate have the same courage,” Mr Sanders tweeted.
Over the weekend, members of Texas's state House walked out to prevent the passage of a bill Sunday that would have cut back on hours at polling places and reduced access to mail-in voting, which was expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We MUST pass S. 1, the For The People Act. The future of American democracy is at stake,” the Vermont senator and two-time presidential candidate added.
The legislation faces a steep path to President Joe Biden’s desk despite widespread support among the Democratic Party’s base due to the split control of the Senate, and the requirement that the For The People Act would need 60 votes to pass the chamber. The bill faces near-total opposition from Republican lawmakers and conservative organisations, which have decried the bill as a federal takeover of election procedures.
Some activists have pushed Democrats to end the Senate’s legislative filibuster as a means of passing the legislation, a move that is not supported by some centrist members of the party including Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
Protesters set a dumpster on fire after a shooting on Thursday in Minneapolis. (photo: Richard Tsong-Taatarii/AP)
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Misconduct Files, According to ACLU Lawsuit
Unrest Erupts in Minneapolis After Police Fatally Shoot Man During Arrest
Hannah Yang, Associated Press
Excerpt: Crowds vandalized buildings and stole from businesses in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood after officials said a man wanted for illegally possessing a gun was fatally shot by authorities who were part of a task force trying to arrest him that included U.S. Marshals."
rowds vandalized buildings and stole from businesses in Minneapolis’ Uptown district after officials said a man wanted for illegally possessing a gun was fatally shot by authorities who were part of a task force trying to arrest him that included U.S. Marshals.
Following the Thursday afternoon shooting, a small crowd gathered in the area where the man was shot, shouting expletives at police.
Around a dozen businesses near the site of the shooting were vandalized or looted during the overnight unrest.
According to Jill Osiecki, director of the Uptown Association, a non-profit group which promotes the Uptown area and its businesses, a CVS, Walgreens and T-Mobile store were looted. Other businesses reported being broken into.
A dumpster was burned and windows were smashed. Arrest totals weren't expected to be available until later Friday.
Members are feeling the strain, said Osiecki, especially since business started ramping up after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
“It seems to be this circle that just is never ending. We have some hope to see the end of some of this unrest,” she said. “Unfortunately, things like this that are out of control will continue to happen. It’s frustrating.”
Osiecki said the group has reached out to the city to see if there might be extra safety assistance for the area over the weekend.
Little is known about Thursday's shooting. The U.S. Marshals Service said a task force was trying to arrest the man on a state warrant for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The man, who was in a parked car, didn't comply with law enforcement and “produced a handgun resulting in task force members firing upon the subject,” the U.S. Marshals said in a statement. Task force members attempted life-saving measures, but he died at the scene, they said.
It was not clear how many law enforcement officers fired their weapons. A spokeswoman with the U.S. Marshals said the U.S. Marshals leads the task force, which is comprised of several agencies. Other agencies with personnel on the scene at the time of the shooting include sheriff's offices from Hennepin, Anoka and Ramsey counties, the Minnesota Department of Corrections and the Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Marshals said a female who was in the vehicle was treated for minor injuries due to glass debris.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, an aerial view of the top level of the parking ramp where Thursday’s shooting reportedly occurred showed a silver sport utility vehicle with a shattered back window. It was surrounded by many other vehicles near a white pop-up tent. Several officers were nearby and in a glass-enclosed stairwell.
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms both tweeted that they were responding to help investigate. The Marshals said the state BCA is leading the investigation.
The Minneapolis Police Department said it was not involved in the shooting.
The city has been on edge since the deaths of George Floyd, a Black man who died last year after he was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis officers, and Daunte Wright, a Black motorist who was fatally shot in April by an officer in the nearby suburb of Brooklyn Center.
Before Thursday night's unrest, tensions in Minneapolis already had risen after crews early Thursday removed concrete barriers that blocked traffic at a Minneapolis intersection where a memorial to Floyd was assembled after his death. Crews also cleared artwork, flowers and other items from 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where Floyd was killed, informally known as George Floyd Square, but community activists quickly put up makeshift barriers.
Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death, and three other officers await trial on aiding and abetting charges. Former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter is charged with manslaughter in Wright's death.
Donald Trump's ex-White House counsel Don McGahn. (photo: Zuma Wire)
After a 2-Year Legal Fight, Ex-Trump Aide Don McGahn Will Testify on the Russia Investigation
Ryan Lucas, WABE
Lucas writes: "Don McGahn, who served as former President Donald Trump's first White House counsel and was a key witness for investigators during the Russia probe, is set to testify Friday before the House Judiciary Committee."
McGahn will sit down for a transcribed interview behind closed doors more than two years after the Democratic-led panel subpoenaed him for testimony about the Russia investigation and Trump’s possible obstruction of justice.
As White House counsel from January 2017 until October 2018, McGahn was in Trump’s inner circle for most of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
McGahn provided critical testimony to Mueller’s team as a witness to several potential acts of obstruction by Trump, including his efforts to fire the special counsel.
Days after the redacted version of Mueller’s report was released to the public, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed McGahn, with the panel’s chair, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., saying in a statement that McGahn’s testimony would “help shed further light on the President’s attacks on the rule of law, and his attempts to cover up those actions by lying to the American people and requesting others do the same.”
The Trump White House blocked McGahn from appearing, citing a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion that asserts that senior presidential advisers enjoy absolute immunity from testifying before Congress.
The House Judiciary Committee filed suit in federal court to challenge that assertion and try to enforce its subpoena. That led to a lengthy legal battle that was resolved last month after the committee and the Biden Justice Department reached an accommodation, or agreement, to allow McGahn to testify.
Under the deal, McGahn will sit for a transcribed interview in private before committee members and staff. He will be allowed to have counsel with him, and an attorney from the Justice Department will be allowed to attend as well.
A transcript of the interview will be released afterward.
The scope of the questions, however, is limited to information attributed to McGahn in the redacted version of Mueller’s report and whether the report accurately reflected McGahn’s statements to the special counsel.
McGahn can refuse to answer questions outside that narrow line of questioning, including queries about communications between McGahn and other administration officials that do not appear in the public version of Mueller’s report.
That limited scope raises questions about how much the committee and the American people will learn from McGahn’s interview beyond what’s already publicly known.
Civil rights activists are blocked by National Guard members brandishing bayonets while trying to stage a protest on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. (photo: Bettmann Archive)
Historian Uncovers the Racist Roots of the 2nd Amendment
Dave Davies, NPR
Davies writes: "Do Black people have full Second Amendment rights?"
That's the question historian Carol Anderson set out to answer after Minnesota police killed Philando Castile, a Black man with a license to carry a gun, during a 2016 traffic stop.
"Here was a Black man who was pulled over by the police, and the police officer asked to see his identification. Philando Castile, using the NRA guidelines, alerts to the officer that he has a licensed weapon with him," she says. "[And] the police officer began shooting."
In the 1990s, after the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the National Rifle Association condemned federal authorities as "jackbooted government thugs." But Anderson says the organization "went virtually silent" when it came to Castile's case, issuing a tepid statement that did not mention Castile by name.
In her new book, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, Anderson traces racial distinctions in Americans' treatment of gun ownership back to the founding of the country and the Second Amendment, which states:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
The language of the amendment, Anderson says, was crafted to ensure that slave owners could quickly crush any rebellion or resistance from those whom they'd enslaved. And she says the right to bear arms, presumably guaranteed to all citizens, has been repeatedly denied to Black people.
"One of the things that I argue throughout this book is that it is just being Black that is the threat. And so when you mix that being Black as the threat with bearing arms, it's an exponential fear," she says. "This isn't an anti-gun or a pro-gun book. This is a book about African Americans' rights."
Interview Highlights
On the crafting of the Second Amendment at the Constitutional Convention
It was in response to the concerns coming out of the Virginia ratification convention for the Constitution, led by Patrick Henry and George Mason, that a militia that was controlled solely by the federal government would not be there to protect the slave owners from an enslaved uprising. And ... James Madison crafted that language in order to mollify the concerns coming out of Virginia and the anti-Federalists, that they would still have full control over their state militias — and those militias were used in order to quell slave revolts. ... The Second Amendment really provided the cover, the assurances that Patrick Henry and George Mason needed, that the militias would not be controlled by the federal government, but that they would be controlled by the states and at the beck and call of the states to be able to put down these uprisings.
On Black people's access to arms after the American Revolution
You saw incredible restrictions being put in place about limiting access to arms. And this is across the board for free Blacks and, particularly, for the enslaved. And with each uprising, the laws became even more strict, even more definitive, about who could and who could not bear arms. And so free Blacks were particularly proscribed. And so we see this, for instance, in Georgia, where Georgia had a law that restricted the carrying of guns.
On the Founding Fathers' fear of a slave revolt, which was stoked by the Haitian Revolution
When Haiti began to overthrow the French colonial masters and were seizing that country for themselves, when Blacks were seizing that country for themselves, the violence of the Haitian Revolution, the existence of the Haitian Revolution, just sent basically an earthquake of fear throughout the United States. You had George Washington lamenting the violence. You had Thomas Jefferson talking about [how] he was fearful that those ideas over there, if they get here, it's going to be fire. You had James Madison worried. ...
Whites ... were fleeing Haiti and were bringing their enslaved populations with them, their enslaved people with them. ... [There was a fear that] the ideas that these Black Haitians would have, that somehow those ideas of revolution, those ideas of racial justice, those ideas of freedom and democracy would just metastasize throughout Virginia's Black enslaved population and cause a revolt. You had that same fear coming out of Baltimore that then began to open up the public armory to whites, saying, "You are justified in being armed because they're bringing too many of these Black Haitians, these enslaved Haitians, up here who have these ideas that Black people can be free."
On how the Black Panthers responded to restrictions on Black people's ability to bear arms in the 1960s
What the Black Panthers were dealing with was massive police brutality. Just beating on Black people, killing Black people at will with impunity. And the Panthers decided that they would police the police. Huey P. Newton, who was the co-founder of the Black Panthers along with Bobby Seale, ... knew the law, and he knew what the law said about being able to open-carry weapons and the types of weapons you were able to openly carry and how far you had to stand away from the police arresting somebody or interrogating somebody. ... And the police did not like having these aggressive Black men and women doing that work of policing the police. And the response was a thing called the Mulford Act, and the Mulford Act set out to ban open carrying of weapons. And it was drafted by a conservative assemblyman in California with the support and help of an NRA representative and eagerly signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan as a way to make illegal what the Panthers were legally doing.
People gather and shoes are left in recognition of the discovery of more than 200 children's remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. (photo: Jason Franson/AP)
Canada Pressured to Find All Unmarked Indigenous Graves After Children's Remains Are Found
Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News
Talmazan writes: "Canada has been dealt a somber reminder of one of the darkest chapters of its history over the past week."
Lawmakers and First Nations groups are calling for all former residential schools across Canada to be examined for signs of unmarked graves.
anada has been dealt a somber reminder of one of the darkest chapters of its history over the past week.
The remains of 215 children were found last month buried in unmarked graves at a former residential school, one of more than 150 institutions in a defunct system that for well over a century forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families to assimilate them into Canadian society.
The discovery sent shock waves through the nation, prompting communities from coast to coast to lower their flags to half-staff and hold moments of silence in honor of the children. From Vancouver to Ottawa, children's shoes, toys and candles have been left at makeshift memorials.
Now, lawmakers and First Nations groups are calling for all former residential schools across Canada to be examined for signs of unmarked graves.
For decades, residential school survivors have been telling "horror" stories about children who disappeared without a trace, Terry Teegee, regional chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said by phone from Prince George, British Columbia.
"Finding these 215 children just confirms those stories," Teegee said. "It's really important, as part of a healing journey, to acknowledge and understand how many of our children perished in the schools."
The school where the remains were found is in Kamloops, about 160 miles northwest of Vancouver. The institution, the biggest residential school in Canada, operated under the auspices of the Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969. The Canadian government then took over and oversaw the school until it closed in 1978. Enrollment peaked in the early 1950s at 500. There are official records of at least 51 children who died at the school from 1900 to 1971.
The graves, which were discovered with ground-penetrating radar last month, are believed to be undocumented, said Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, who announced the discovery May 27. Searchers acted on a "knowing in our community" to look for the unmarked graves, she said.
Some of the children are believed to have been as young as 3, Casimir said.
In the wake of the discovery, Teegee is among a growing number of First Nations leaders calling for more former residential schools to be searched.
"It's part of the truth-telling in terms of true reconciliation," he said. "We need to know and understand where these children are."
While the sheer number of children's remains found in Kamloops is shocking, it is just the tip of the iceberg, and the discovery is by no means an isolated incident, said Linc Kesler, director of the University of British Columbia's First Nations House of Learning. He supported the calls to examine other former residential school grounds, saying full acknowledgment of this part of Canada's history is "absolutely requisite."
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, told the TV station Global BC: "If this has taken place at the Kamloops Indian residential school, there is no reason not to believe that it happened right across the country. I think we have not heard the worst of this."
An estimated 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were required to attend the state-funded residential schools from 1831 to 1996. Many never went home.
In 2015, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission declared that the residential schools played a central role in Canada's "cultural genocide" of Indigenous people.
The schools were designed to force First Nations children to assimilate into Canadian society. Children were taken from their homes and communities, and students were harshly punished for speaking their own languages, according to the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. The schools were often crowded and underfunded, and staff members were not held accountable for how they treated the children. Thousands of students suffered physical and sexual abuse, the center said.
The commission identified more than 4,100 children who died while in residential schools. The true number of victims may never be known because of incomplete or missing records.
A week after the announcement of the discovery in Kamloops, the story continues to dominate Canadian headlines.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the news broke his heart; Carolyn Bennett, the minister of crown-Indigenous relations, said Canadians are now "confronted with the truth."
"Sadly, this is not an exception or an isolated incident," Trudeau said Monday.
Asked whether he would commit federal funding to future research and excavations at residential schools across Canada, Trudeau said that some money has already been allocated for initiatives around residential school cemeteries in previous budgets and that "there will be more that we will do." He did not elaborate.
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said in an email Tuesday that nearly $34 million was earmarked in 2019 over three years to support efforts to continue building a register of residential school student deaths and support the work of communities in finding, memorializing and commemorating the children who died at the schools.
Bennett and Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday that the Catholic Church and the pope should apologize to the victims. Miller said it is "shameful" that an apology has not been offered before.
Examining more former residential schools could come with a string of challenges. Access could be difficult, as many have been sold off, repurposed or redeveloped.
Of the over 150 schools that were open in Canada, fewer than 20 have buildings that are still standing or partly standing, said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Access to the sites varies greatly, which can create barriers to research, Turpel-Lafond said in an email.
Then there is the issue of missing or incomplete records, which would be essential to identify the remains and understand how the children died.
Turpel-Lafond said some names were recorded with no first or last names, such as simply "Indian Girl No. 237" — evidence of the inadequacy of the records. Misspelling of cultural names, new names that were assigned in English and French or anglicized versions of names mean records are difficult to navigate, she said.
Finally, there is an issue of how to deal with the unmarked graves.
Turpel-Lafond called on the government to appoint a special rapporteur to bring international standards to Canada when it comes to mass burial sites.
"Mass graves are a legacy of conflict and human rights violations in other parts of the world — such as Srebrenica, Bosnia and Iraq," she said. "We need to show survivors that we take this discovery seriously, and treat it with respect."
Kesler said the United Nations could play a significant role through its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to bring attention to the deaths and "really add to the demand for accountability."
The U.N. Human Rights Office said in an email Thursday that Canadian authorities should ensure "prompt and exhaustive investigations" into the deaths of Indigenous children and "redouble efforts" to find their bodies, including by searching unmarked graves.
The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops is working with a radar specialist to complete the survey of the school grounds. It expects a full report by mid-June.
Casimir of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation told the Canadian public broadcaster CBC on Sunday that there will be a debriefing with the nation's membership this week, adding that other chiefs across Canada are having similar conversations with their communities.
"We're all grieving," Casimir said. "There's so many unanswered questions that our membership wants. The world wants to know."
Minnie Kenora, 83, harvests maple syrup with her friend on her traditional lands. (photo: VICE)
ALSO SEE: Sexual Violence Along Pipeline Route Follows
Indigenous Women's Warnings
Pipeline Workers Are Scaring Indigenous Elders Away From Their Own Lands
Brandi Morin, VICE
Morin writes: "Liz Skinaway, a 52-year-old grandmother and homemaker, has lived on the lands of her ancestors in the upper Mississippi River basin all her life."
Indigenous folks—even those who aren’t on the front lines of pipeline battles—report regular harassment and intimidation. But they’re going on their land anyway.
iz Skinaway, a 52-year-old grandmother and homemaker, has lived on the lands of her ancestors in the upper Mississippi River basin all her life. It’s where she learned to harvest birch bark and make baskets and how to cultivate wild rice. Her homelands are sacred, she said. But now she doesn’t feel safe on them due to the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline expansion nearby.
In April, she said she felt uncomfortable visiting a cultural camp where she practices traditions such as harvesting medicines, planting rice, fishing, and ceremony near the pipeline. “There were two guys from Enbridge watching us, keeping an eye on us. They were not friendly. It was cold and I felt threatened,” said Skinaway, a member of the Sandy Lake of Mississippi Chippewa.
Three weeks before that, Skinaway’s sister who was over for a visit left at 1 a.m. to make the short drive to her cabin home across the lake. A few minutes later she called Skinaway in a panic. An Enbridge truck was parked on a dirt road near a turnoff by her cabin.
“He was parked there in the middle of the night, why? This is remote,” said Skinway. Her sister ended up home safely, but both women were shaken the next day, Skinaway said.
Their fear shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering communities near resource extraction sites regularly report concerning increases in harassment and violence. Just in February, seven men were arrested in a sex trafficking sting operation in Minnesota. Two of the men were contract pipeline workers helping to build Line 3.
The Enbridge Line 3 crude oil pipeline cuts through thousands of miles of pristine woods and wetlands in North America. The oil comes from Alberta, Canada’s tar sands, and is shipped to Superior, Wisconsin. Roughly 340 miles of the pipeline expansion runs through Minnesota—and across ancestral lands—without the consent of Indigenous leaders.
This month the Minnesota Court of Appeals is expected to rule on a legal challenge by environmental and tribal groups that are seeking to overturn state regulators’ approval of the expansion. Pipeline opponents are mobilizing for large-scale protests and civil disobedience this weekend, and preparing for mass arrests.
Pipeline projects like Line 3 are also making it hard for community members to move around safely and freely in and around their territories, even if they are not on the front lines of anti-pipeline activism. Elders, who often serve as teachers, healers, and counsellors, told VICE World News they are being prevented from accessing traditional medicines and growing and harvesting traditional foods near pipeline construction zones.
“I don’t think they (Enbridge) have any business on the rez. We’ve been here for millennia. They need to stay off our territory and stop what they’re doing,” said Skinaway.
A representative for Enbridge Energy told VICE World News via email the company is unaware of the incidents, but said it maintains communication with Indigenous stakeholders.
“We work regularly with Indigenous communities and local landowners to make available safe and appropriate access during normal pipeline operations,” wrote Michael Barnes.
“During active construction uncontrolled access to the right of way is unsafe for the public and the workforce. However, if access is needed during construction, individuals should contact Enbridge.”
According to Sheryl Lightfoot, the North American Representative for the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigneous Peoples, governments and states are “completely side-stepping” Indigenous human rights in the process.
Lightfoot said altercations between industries and Indigenous peoples happen all too often. Tensions escalate because industrial companies broker deals with countries and local governments to gain access to extract resources without consultation and consent of traditional Indigenous communities.
“This is a colonial practice and it’s been happening for a long time,” said Lightfoot, who is also the Canada Research Chair of Indigenous Rights and Political Studies at the University of British Columbia. “States are making those decisions without Indigenous input… It’s not even on their radar in some places. Indigenous peoples are always at a disadvantage just due to the structural disadvantages that lay ahead of us, but that doesn’t mean we’re powerless.”
Access to traditional lands is an Indigenous right affirmed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which both the U.S. and Canada support. But those rights are increasingly threatened by extraction industries, and the resolution has no teeth; it’s non-binding.
Lightfoot said Indigenous peoples having trouble accessing their land can take judicial action, but that’s often a lengthy process and involves navigating colonial court systems.
Other people are fighting industry more directly. “Our communities are increasingly placing ourselves between industry and access to our land,” Lightfoot said.
It’s not just on Line 3, either. Where industry goes, stories of harassment follow. Whether hunting, monitoring the land and animals, or harvesting food and medicine, numerous Wet’suwet’en elders in northern British Columbia told VICE World News about being regularly accosted by Coastal Gas Link (CGL) pipeline workers.
Likhsilyu Clan Elder Chief Kaliset said she and other Wet’suwet’en elders were staying at the Uni’stot’en Healing Camp for a week of cultural activities teaching youth the traditional knowledge of the Wet’suwet’en last summer. Uni’stot’en is at the centre of a dispute between CGL and hereditary Wet’suwet’en leadership who oppose the $6.6 billion pipeline’s construction in their traditional lands.
On Kaliset’s third day at the camp, the group had tracked down lupin, a plant used to treat high blood pressure and insulin sensitivity, among other ailments, high up on a nearby mountain. “All of a sudden a CGL truck came by. I was thinking, ‘What the heck are they doing way up here?’”
A few minutes later the truck returned. This time it slowed down and watched the group for an extended time.
“That was intimidation of the worst kind. I was very angry, then sad… The sadness that our ancestors, my grandmother, had lived and raised her children there. Our women ancestors who walked on that land to protect it for us,” said Kaliset. “You feel helpless.”
“There’s no concern whatsoever for our people or our titles to the lands,” Kaliset added. “And our rights didn’t hold any water with the federal, provincial governments and industry.”
Similarly, when Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Gisday’wa of the Gidimt’en Clan, Fred Tom, 76, was accompanied by a group of Wet’suwet’en youth for on-the-land learning in Gidimt’en territory last summer, they were stopped by RCMP patrolling the industry roads, he said.
“There was a ‘no trespassing’ sign. So, I stopped the bus and got out and asked the two cops, I said, ‘What the hell is this? I can’t go through there? This is my territory; I can go through there if I want!”
And while the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down construction on the CGL pipeline, sources said Indigenous peoples are still being denied access to the lands. In late March, Molly Wickham, a Gidimt’en Clan member and land defender, said she was blocked from accessing the Morrice River. “A security officer came over and claimed we weren’t allowed in our territory. He told us it was because of COVID-19. I went down to another road and security was parked there too. They told me they’d call the RCMP.”
CGL did not respond to requests for comment.
Over 800 kilometres southwest in Neskonlith territory near Kamloops, B.C., Minnie Kenora, 83, lives a traditional way of life. She is a member of the Secwepemc Nation, whose territory Canada’s billion-dollar Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is ripping up.
“Industry keeps pushing us out, overpowering us, and killing us,” Kenora said. “But our strength is our rights to our lands. To others out there I say, go out on the land! Do ceremonies, feed your children out there. When you go out there, that’s your home. I know we aren’t alone in this—the ancestors and the Creator are with us.”
Skinaway said she’s sick of the nightmare unfolding around her. Although she knows the name of every kind of tree in her territory, can recognize the clear, fresh taste of the water she drinks, and celebrates the harvests of each season, she’s not sure if her grandchildren will enjoy the same one day. Her ultimate prayer is for U.S. President Joe Biden to stop the pipeline like he shut down Keystone XL on his first day of office. Line 3 opponents are publicly advocating for Biden to halt the development, but the White House has remained silent on the matter.
“I thought Biden would do the same for this one. I wish he could come and see, come watch what it’s like here,” said Skinaway. “It makes me sad because I don’t think people understand. They say they care about the environment, but they don’t. They care about big dollars.”
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