UN Sends Second Letter Condemning Canada’s Treatment of Wet’suwet’en and Secwepemc Land Defenders, Calls for Pipeline Shutdowns

In a second letter in as many years, the United Nations are calling for the shutdown of both the Coastal GasLink and TransMountain pipelines.

A letter initially sent in November of 2020 condemned Canada’s handling of Wet’suwet’en and Secwepemc land defenders.

That letter called for Canada to end the use of force, surveillance, and criminalization used to remove and evict Nation members from their territories.

Penned by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, it gave Ottawa until November of last year to provide information on the measures taken to address those concerns.

However, Canada failed to respond in time, and the Committee now says they have received information indicating an escalation in those tactics.

Their letter asks Ottawa to immediately cease construction on both projects until consent is obtained, engage in negotiations and consultations with involved parties, investigate allegations against the RCMP, cease evictions of land defenders, and more.

It gives them until July 15th to respond with the actions being taken to address those requests.

You can find a full copy of the letter at this link.