A Nation Not Our Own

A long day's journey from where I live, there resides a small nation surrounded on all sides by a far larger, far stronger nation. Over time, this small nation has seen its borders trespassed, its children stolen, the sustenance of its land and water despoiled and eroded, its culture and language threatened with extinction, all by that larger nation which surrounds it. The life of this nation has been challenged now for over a hundred years, but remarkably-miraculously, even-its people still hold on to their heritage. Despite relentless efforts to eliminate their identity, they have not forgotten who they are. And now, faced with continuing threats to their self-determination and livelihood, they must hold on to that more than ever...

The above lines could describe countless indigenous nations all around the world. Whether "surrounded by" Canada, the US, Brasil, India, Australia, or numerous other nations, First Peoples everywhere have shared the oppressive experience of colonization. But lest we make a grave error, let us remember that this is not simply a destructive pattern belonging to a regrettable but finished past. We all move in the currents of history, and the channels it has dug are not undone in a day, a year, or even a hundred years. Colonization is a contemporary experience for indigenous peoples. And it is an experience I-a white, male, middle-class descendant of British settlers-profit from.

What does it mean to follow the God who delivers slaves from their oppressors in Egypt, when I am an Egyptian?

It's a question that led me last week to a territory about an hour's southwest of Houston, in central BC, the traditional lands of the Unis'tot'en clan of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation. At the Unis'tot'en camp, one family has built and moved into a cabin directly in the way of a proposed natural gas pipeline, the Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP). Here in BC, there has been a lot of noise about the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, transporting raw bitumen from the tar sands in northern Alberta to the coastal town of Kitimat, where it would be shipped overseas to China. There's a lot of good reasons to oppose it: dangerous potential for spills for tankers navigating to and from Kitimat, the several major watersheds in BC crossed by the pipeline, the fossil fuel dependence it would further entrench in the Canadian economy, devastating impacts of extraction practices on land, forest, water, and rural communities in Alberta... What people don't know is that Northern Gateway is just one piece of a whole Energy Corridor the Harper and Christy governments want to develop, including numerous pipelines crisscrossing BC, a new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Kitimat, and the Site C Dam. Northern Gateway is still under review, but PTP was already approved as of April this year. And if it is built, the Northern Gateway pipeline could very readily slip through along the same route, PTP paving the way.

This is what colonization looks like today. Historically, large swaths of land in BC were never legally ceded over by First Nations peoples to the government, meaning much of this industrial development is essentially illegal, imposition on foreign lands. At the Unis'tot'en camp, the Wet'suwet'en First Nations are again taking up their territorial responsibility, asking all visitors - politicians and corporate reps included - to abide by traditional protocol analogous to the United Nations' requirement for Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) with indigenous peoples. When I arrived at the camp, I was asked to explain who I was, why I was there, and whether I had been involved in industry harming their traditional territories. It was their decision whether I would be allowed on their lands. Anyone who fails to respect this protocol has been turned away.

In respecting their protocol, however, I experienced a profoundly humbling welcome, one of gracious acceptance rather than arrogant entitlement. I stayed with the family and some of their other allies about four days, long enough to do a little cabin renovation, chop timber and cook on a wood stove, almost freeze in an attempt to sleep outside in the wintery conditions, and to dip my head into the rushing waters of the nearby Morice River, one of the few uncontaminated rivers remaining in the area. I left with a strong desire to return, to continue my own journey out of Egypt by walking alongside an oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and self-determination.

Posted by Jason Wood member of God's House of Many Faces


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