The Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory restates its solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en land and water protectors, who oppose the construction of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline on their traditional and unceded territory.
We believe it is imperative for the University community to speak out against ongoing violations of Wet’suwet’en sovereignty, and in support of the rights of their people to self-governance and a clean and safe environment.
The Canadian Government and the Government of British Columbia have committed to observing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), as well as fulfilling obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Article 19 of UNDRIP notes that “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.”
We call on the federal and provincial governments to honour their commitments to the reconciliation process and UNDRIP regarding proper consultation. We urge them to de-escalate this conflict by removing RCMP forces and meeting with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, as they have requested. We demand that they respect Wet’suwet’en nation’s right to protect their land and water.
We also urge the University to take a stand in support of the rights and sovereignty of the Wet’suwet’wen nation, in coherence with our commitments to the TRC process and environmental justice, expressed in UBC’s Climate Action Plan and other sustainability initiatives.
The undersigned:
Ignacio Adriasola
Alison Ariss
Krista Bailie
Matthew Ballantyne
Rosamunde Bordo
Dustin Brons
Lorna Brown
Ilaria Casini
Cesar Antonio Cu Unjieng
Dana Claxton
Adrian Deveau
Bryn Dharmaratne
Christine D’Onofrio
Jessica Fletcher
Jeneen Frei Njootli
Maxim Greer
Xiong Gu
Shala Gutierrez
Sol Hashemi
Josh Hite
Jasmine Hynes
Gareth James
Megan Jenkins
Andrew Keech
Erika Kindsfather
Jessica Law
Trey Le
Jillian Lerner
Georgios Makris
Jaleh Mansoor
Savannah Marlatt
Phillip McCrum
Michelle McGeough
Bahar Mohazabnia
Joseph Monteyne
Jeff O’Brien
Julia Orell
Jay Pahre
Manuel Pina
Shelly Rosenblum
Marina Roy
Maureen Ryan
Saygin Salgirli
Yasmine Semeniuk
Anthony Shelton
Erin Silver
T’ai Smith
Owen Sopotiuk
Dan Starling
Carolyn Stockbridge
Teresa Sudeyko
Camille Sung
Althea Thauberger
Anna Tidlund
Andrea Tuele
Scott Watson
Karen Zalamea
Barbara Zeigler
