Thank you very much.
First, I would like to thank the Algonquin for allowing us to do business on their territory. Also, thank you to the committee for having me here today.
My name is Theresa Tait Day. My hereditary name is Wi'hali'yte. I'm the fourth generation in my family to hold this name. As a hereditary sub-chief of the House Beside the Fire, Kun Beghyukh, of the Laksilyu or Small Frog Clan, I have been involved in the governance of the Wet'suwet'en for many years. I sat at the OW table.
My training comes from my grandparents, who were active in the political system for governance rights and title. They were involved in the Calder case and the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa case, as well as the formation of the Native Brotherhood of B.C. I served as a director of native programs at the Legal Services Society for almost a decade, and I think that's where I met John Borrows a long time ago.
I am the co-founder of the Wet'suwet'en Matrilineal Coalition, with five hereditary chiefs representing the five clans. The Wet'suwet'en Matrilineal Coalition was asked by hereditary chiefs and the community at large to come up with a solution to facilitate decision-making within our nation. We have been working particularly with LNG and Coastal GasLink. Our people wanted a benefit, and they wanted to be able to make a decision on a positive note. However, we've experienced lateral violence and coercion since then by the five chiefs who claim to represent the nation.
I speak on behalf of the WMC—as a hereditary female leader—my fellow hereditary chiefs, band members, our elected band councils, and members of my house group as an appointed sub-chief and designated spokesperson.
With regard to Coastal GasLink and the protesters, our communities came to the world's attention when members of our hereditary chiefs loudly broadcasted their opposition to Coastal GasLink, despite the fact that it has strong community support. These chiefs' voices have been amplified by the skills and the resources of outside environmental activists who say that they support Wet'suwet'en, but whose primary interest is to stop the pipeline.
The protest organizers are conveniently hiding behind our blanket as indigenous people while forcing their policy goals at our expense. This compromises our nation's social well-being and our people's economic future.
They have held up the hereditary chiefs who oppose the pipeline as defenders of traditional governance, leaving the impression that the chief and council are running roughshod over the wishes of the community. It's not that simple. Hereditary chiefs in our communities do not rule alone. They make decisions collectively. They gather in community halls. In these meetings, people are allowed to speak. An effort is made to work toward consensus. At the end of the process, the community and band-elected chiefs inform the hereditary chiefs of the community's message to be shared with the public. This project has been hijacked by the five chiefs.
The hereditary chiefs are representative decision-makers. They are not autocrats. They are told by the community what the decisions are, and that's how we move forward. This is not happening. The band and the community have been left out.
Based on a survey of Witset, the largest community, first nation, in our territory, over 80% of our community say they want LNG to proceed. There is a gap between what people say and what the hereditary chiefs are claiming.
You are being told that these men speak for our nation, but they often fail to understand even the basic traditions. The improper wearing of regalia in protest offends the most progressive traditional leaders. It shows a fundamental disrespect for our customary laws. How can we be governed by these people who don't understand them?
As for the Office of the Wet'suwet'en, it is structured and controlled by its own benefactors, who draw a salary from the operations and manage spending decisions. They are not accountable to our community.
By negotiating directly with the office, Canada and British Columbia legitimize a group of bullies and abusers of women.
Moreover, by refusing to hear from elected councils, these governments have, without merit, prevented the most credible current voices from being heard. The Indian Act system must be reformed, but that does not invalidate the role of the elected councils. While imperfect, they continue to speak for our people until a better model is implemented. That's why I'm here today to appeal to you to create a better model for decision-making.
The women's voices have been suppressed by dissent. As female Wet'suwet'en members and community leaders, we want to be heard and involved in the decision-making. That is our way. But our voices have not been heard. Many of the male hereditary chiefs are acting out of internalized historical oppression. We face patriarchal domination. In a very sick way, the voices of the privileged and non-indigenous protesters are taking precedence over indigenous women. They assert their agenda in solidarity to avoid facing the scrutiny of their policies.
This is both about a pipeline and not about a pipeline. What is happening here determines our process as a nation. A people's wishes have not been heard. I agree with John Borrows that there are beliefs, but in our nation we have been oppressed for 150 years, and we continue to be oppressed under the current regime.
At the draft agreement consultation on February 28, a number of hereditary chiefs attended a meeting prior to the male hereditary chiefs' meeting with the province and the federal cabinet ministers. We met until it was promised that the chiefs would have a community meeting open to the public. Instead, they decided to have these small clan meetings, where 20 people or five people come and make decisions about this. This is not what a democratic system looks like.
The two major issues at hand—the Wet'suwet'en's position on Coastal GasLink, and the role of hereditary chiefs in our governance—are properly left with the Wet'suwet'en. Our communities have been working on these matters for years, and we'll resolve them in our way. As a community, we need to implement a process in which the Wet'suwet'en create a decision-making model, a process for major projects. We need a system that will allow us to work together toward economic reconciliation, job creation and the rebuilding of our nation as well. We need a new model.
The Indian Act targeted us as women, and continued violence targets us as women, both within and outside our communities. While supporting decolonization as part of reconciliation, supporters of indigenous people must also support efforts to combat sexism and the continued oppression of Indian women.
We respectfully demand accountability and procedural fairness from the hereditary chiefs representing the Office of the Wet'suwet'en. We ask the government to help us to provide the resources necessary for our nation to co-develop a path forward for economic reconciliation that is inclusive, democratic, open and fair, as you can see in your government's system. You have this system; we do not have a system of fairness.
We have a way forward. We call for a community-wide meeting and for the protesters to stop misrepresenting the Wet'suwet'en. We are ready for a new system of governance that is inclusive of our nation.
I realize that you've heard a lot of things here today. I agree with John Borrows on the principles, but those principles must be part of our nation's dialogue, and we haven't had the ability to really dialogue with our nation. We don't have a mechanism in place where everybody has a say, and when everybody knows what the topic being discussed is. It has been decided by a group of people without the community and without the nation's input.
We've come to the eleventh hour, when all of a sudden the minister has come to the table and talked to the five groups of people who have not actually had our permission to do so.
It's the communities that say what should happen, and hereditary chiefs do not act alone. They take direction from the membership. What we are facing, as Wet'suwet'en, is a lack of a mechanism in place whereby everybody would have a say in a democratic, open and fair way.
Currently, under the system of having clan meetings, when you have 20 people at a meeting.... Currently Likhts’amisyu is under Warner Naziel's leadership—who took the name from the rightful owner, Gloria George. He has a meeting, and 20 people say, “Yes, go ahead”. These small meetings do not make a decision for our nation, so I am here to talk to Minister Bennett and ministers to try to create a mechanism where we are all informed and all involved in whatever decision has to be made with respect to our communities. Title and rights exist within Wet'suwet'en. They haven't gone away. These agreements will not change the fact that today my clan and my house can go and protest.
I think the best way forward is for the government to think of how these governance models fit in today's world. We cannot go back 100 years—and, in fact, these meetings are oppressive to our nation. We feel like we are stuck in the 1800s. We need to move forward economically. We need to have the benefits from our land. We need to be able to have equity stakes in our projects that come forward. We need to benefit from them, and we don't have a mechanism in our community to address that particular problem. Title and rights, yes, we need to address that, but we also need a mechanism to make decisions today about these projects that are coming down the pike.