The Rational
110-360 Columbia St V6A 4J1 Vancouver, BC, Canada

On Day 2 of Unity Camp to stop Transmountain Pipeline we draw our collective attention to the destruction and danger this pipeline poses to our collective terri...tories. Secwepemc Nation members have been patrolling the pipeline route for months leading up to this camp and have documented the ongoing violations of consent on our lands and waters. We have never forgotten our ways, our ceremonies and our traditions, we have used our territories for hunting, fishing, berry picking and gathering our medicines and we are in real danger of losing all of these, the things that make us, teach us and nourish us as Secwepemc, as a Nation. There is a pipeline, tanker or mine spill in the news everyday. The tar sands tailings ponds are leaching into the water system, pipelines that have been buried under water explode after dredgers hit the lines, tankers spill oil into the oceans and every year, less and less of our wild salmon come home. We have never consented to this present reality, we have never consented to this as the future we want for our children and grandchildren and we will not leave this legacy on our territories. We are a Nation of warriors, spiritual people and healers, we are not powerless, we are full of the power of our ancestors, our songs, our language, and our ceremonies and we call them all to us now. We have, each of us, a responsibility to act in accordance with our culture, language and ceremony and we encourage members of our Nation take action to protect our waters, our territories and our future generations.

***COMMUNITY ALERT & MEDIA ADVISORY*** A Secwepemc woman was arrested today and removed from her territories in a coordinated action by the Secwepemc to demonst...rate the lack of consultation and absolute lack of consent for the federally owned TMX pipeline currently attempting to drill under the Thompson River. We are following the RCMP caravan holding our sister unlawfully, to the Kamloops detachment and wait for her release. The RCMP removed our sister on the basis of a court injunction that was filed to clear Burnaby Mountain and which they are using at all TMX pipeline construction sites. The RCMP, the courts, the Canadian government have no jurisdiction on our territories and they will not push a pipeline through without our consent and a court injunction cannot displace us from our territories. We the Secwepemc remain as guardians, stewards and protectors of our lands and waters since time immemorial. We have never forgotten our laws and never stopped practicing our ceremony and traditions on our own lands. Unlike the Canadian Federal government, the owners of the TMX pipeline, we lay no claim to territories that are not ours and today, like every day, we challenge the Canadian state in their violent and destructive claims of jurisdiction on our People, our lands and our waters. We ask for full transparency and accountability as to who is signing these deals, how much they are paid to do so and who will be responsible for the inevitable oil spill clean up? We hold up our sister who stopped construction this morning with the full jurisdictional, cultural and ceremonial support of her Nation, family and of our hereditary Chief. We hold collective title and absolute jurisdiction over the entirety of our Territory. We have never ceded, surrendered or sold our right and title to any nation state, company or corporate interests. We exercise our sovereignty as a Nation and our jurisdiction as a People today by saying and demonstrating we do not consent and have never consented to the formerly Kinder Morgan, now TMX Pipeline in our territories. We rely on our rivers, we rely on our salmon, we rely on our water for our survival and we will defend our right to survive until we do not have to anymore. We will not be displaced. We do not consent to oil spills in our water, the destruction of wild salmon spawning habitat and the construction of man camps that threaten our community, all demonstrated and evidenced outcomes of pipelines in other territories. We will be heard. Our actions align with our traditional practices of sovereignty and jurisdiction in protection of our water, our territories and our future generations. Our first environment is water, we have never left our territories, we give thanks for the only home we have. The TMX pipeline will not pass. Contact: 250-320-0335

Potential alternatives to always relying on police. What do you think?