In this toolkit, you will find template emails, shareable graphics, quick links and template social media posts to amplify the response from Gidimt’en Checkpoint.
WET’SUWET’EN HEREDITARY CHIEF’S MET WITH RBC
In this toolkit, you will find template emails, shareable graphics, quick links and template social media posts to amplify the response from Gidimt’en Checkpoint
What’s happening: Context: Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs recently secured a meeting with RBC Leadership to deliver their demands, in a major move in the decade-plus fight to protect Wet’suwet’en territory from a fracked gas pipeline. We’re building public momentum and getting supporters to email RBC CEO Dave McKay to demand that RBC defund Coastal GasLink. CALL TO ACTION: Email CEO Dave McKay Tool https://act.stand.earth/page/
Social Media Draft Copy
Hashtags #DivestRBC #DefundCGL #AllOutForWedzinKwa
Social Media to amplify: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gidimten/
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- BREAKING: Wet’suwet’en Hereditary leaders met with @RBC executives to demand the bank #DefundCGL and stop funding climate destruction. Read their full list of demands and statement here: [link] #DivestRBC #AllOutForWedzinKwa
- BREAKING: In a long-awaited meeting with @RBC executives, Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs demanded the biggest fossil bank in Canada #DefundCGL, giving them a deadline of March 11th to respond. Read the Chiefs’ full statement here: [link] #DivestRBC #AllOutForWedzinKwa
- For the first time, Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs met with @RBC to demand they #DefundCGL. The @CoastalGasLink pipeline would pollute our climate & destroy pristine waterways through Wet’suwet’en land. C Read the Chiefs’ full list of demands here: [link] #DivestRBC #AllOutForWedzinKwa
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- Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs met with RBC leadership for the first time ever in ten years of resistance to the fracked gas pipeline RBC is financing in Wet’suwet’en territory, threatening their drinking water & ancestral land. Wet’suwet’en chiefs gave RBC up to March 11th to respond. Read the Chiefs’ full statement & list of demands here: [link]
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- MAJOR VICTORY in the fight to stop a fracked gas pipeline – the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en nation secured a meeting with @RBC! The chiefs delivered their message: RBC must defund @CoastalGasLink pipeline and stop fueling climate destruction. RBC has until March 11th to respond to the demands — read the Chiefs’ full statement at the link in bio.
LAUNCH Posts – Video
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- BREAKING: Wet’suwet’en leaders met with @RBC executives to demand the bank #DefundCGL & respect Wet’suwet’en rights, presenting a video compilation of violence perpetrated on land defenders over the last years. #CW: Police violence on women & Indigenous people https://youtu.be/ca8knkhIaIA
- BIG NEWS: Wet’suwet’en chiefs met with @RBC to demand the bank #DefundCGL & respect Wet’suwet’en rights. They presented this video compiling footage of violence on land defenders, giving RBC til March 11th to respond to demands. #CW: Police violence on women & Indigenous people https://youtu.be/ca8knkhIaIA
LAUNCH Posts – Call to Action
- Twitter: (these are click to tweet links)
- HUGE NEWS: Wet’suwet’en Chiefs met with @RBC executives for the first time, & listened to the Chiefs demands to #DefundCGL & stop fueling climate chaos. With the spotlight on RBC, help ramp up the pressure on RBC now: https://bit.ly/3tdHbx7 #AllOutForWedzinKwa
- For the first time, Wet’suwet’en Chiefs met with @RBC CEO to demand they #DefundCGL & stop fueling climate chaos — giving RBC until March 11th to respond. Make your voice heard in solidarity & send an email here https://bit.ly/3tdHbx7 #DivestRBC #AllOutForWedzinKwa
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- Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs met with RBC leadership for the first time ever in ten years of resistance to the fracked gas pipeline RBC is financing in Wet’suwet’en territory, threatening their drinking water & ancestral land. Send your message to RBC’s CEO: Stop financing Coastal GasLink pipeline now! https://bit.ly/35stSka
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- MAJOR VICTORY in the fight to stop a fracked gas pipeline – the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en nation secured a meeting with @RBC! The chiefs delivered their message: RBC must cancel crucial financing for the @CoastalGasLink pipeline and stop fueling climate chaos. Use the link in our bio to send your own message now to #DefundCGL #AllOutForWedzinKwa
All graphics in drive
More art and graphics can be found here: Wet’suwet’en Solidarity art kit
Background
Right now in British Columbia, Canada, Indigenous Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and land defenders are resisting the construction of the fracked gas Coastal GasLink pipeline bulldozing through their territories. Gidimt’en Checkpoint is a reoccupation site of Cas Yikh (Grizzly Bear House) territory where Wet’suwet’en people are asserting their jurisdiction over their unceded land. Gidimt’en Checkpoint has been seeking a meeting with the banks financing the Coastal GasLink pipeline and calling on them to cut off their financing and financial service relationship. On October 19th 2021 the Gidimt’en Checkpoint from the Wet’suwet’en Members issued a letter to over 35 Coastal GasLink (CGL) investors and banks, demanding they cease and withdraw all support from Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada. Canadian bank RBC sent an unsigned and dismissive letter on November 8th 2021 back to Gidimt’en Checkpoint leadership, claiming to “highly value the relationships we have with Indigenous Communities and the unique social, cultural and historic contributions that Indigenous peoples have made in Canada.” December 8, the chiefs replied: “In our letter, we identified specific violations of our sovereignty under ‘Anic ‘niwh’it’én (Wet’suwet’en law), international law and domestic law. These include violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (with its right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, that is also now being integrated into Canadian law) and the Delgamuukw decision wherein the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recognized that, where treaties have not been signed, underlying title continues to rest with the Indigenous nation. As you are no doubt aware, the Delgamuukw case was brought to the court by the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs (and the Gitxan nation), whose rights you now ignore. None of the violations of these laws detailed in our letter are addressed in your response. It is unacceptable to attempt to sidestep these concerns by redirecting us to speak with the project proponent. The RBC Environmental and Social Risk Management Framework that you reference in your letter claims that “projects we finance and advise on are developed in a socially responsible manner and reflect sound environmental management practices.” As the rightful titleholders, we are informing you that this is not the case with respect to the Coastal Gas Link pipeline. We hereby repeat our request to meet with you to discuss these matters. Unsigned letters that ignore our substantive concerns are unacceptable in 2021.” “Reconciliation isn’t financing a project that’s destroying our land, without our consent. Coastal GasLink has not engaged in respectful consultation with us. Backing this project implicates investors in perpetuating violence to our land and on my people,” says Molly Wickham, Gidimt’en, Wet’suwet’en Nation, Hereditary name Sleydo’. “If investors are serious about their commitments to social responsibility and racial justice, they must commit to not financing projects that threaten Wet’suwet’en sovereignty, violate our land and sacrifice our future. Otherwise, when companies talk of reconciliation, it’s just empty promises — and we’ve had more than enough of those already.” The Coastal GasLink pipeline violates Wet’suwet’en rights and title, and lacks consent of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. It would transport liquefied natural gas to the proposed LNG Canada terminal, the largest ever LNG terminal proposed in Canada. By financing Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada, these investors and banks are implicated in violent and destructive extractivism on unceded Gidimt’en territory. They are also breaking their own commitments to social responsibility, racial justice, and reconciliation.
- Coastal GasLink will put Wet’suwet’en land and water at risk of toxic chemical pollution as a byproduct of fracking.
- The pipeline also threatens culturally significant archaeological sites.
- All Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs of each clan oppose the pipeline and issued an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink, which was ignored.
- The Hereditary Chiefs have re-asserted their right to jurisdiction over their own lands, their right to determine access and prevent trespass under Wet’suwet’en law, and the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent as guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — but Coastal GasLink will not listen
- The Wet’suwet’en have been fighting to stop this pipeline on their land for almost a decade.
Quick links
- Link to original Investor letter sent to RBC and other banks.
- Link to response letter from RBC
- Link to response from Wet’suwet’en to RBC Bitly: https://bit.ly/RBCresponse
- Graphics Drive
- Share the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ca8knkhIaIA
Follow the Frontlines
Gidimt’en Checkpoint on social media Twitter Facebook Instagram
Important Reading and Resources
- Gidimet’en Yintah Access: Main site for Gidimt’en opposition to the Coastal GasLink project
- Unist’ot’en Camp: The Unist’ot’en Camp is an Indigenous re-occupation of Wet’suwet’en land
- Office of the Wet’suwet’en: Central office for the Wet’suwet’en Nation
- riginal Investor letter sent to RBC and other banks.
- November 8, 2021 response letter from RBC
- December 6, 2021 Response from Wet’suwet’en to RBC
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The Struggle Continues! -Unist’ot’en Solidarity Brigade