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Arcade Fire & More Canadian Artists Sign Letter Supporting First Nation People's Stand Against Gas Pipeline

Arcade Fire, Destroyer, Stars, Peaches, Tokyo Police Club, Tanya Tagaq, Owen Pallett, U.S. Girls, Fucked Up and Arkells are just some of the 160 Canadian musicians who have signed a statement in solidarity with the First Nations Peoples in northern British Columbia blocking access to a proposed pipeline route through their unceded land.

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Addressed to the Unist'ot'en Camp, who are the land defenders in Wet'suwet'en territory, the signees note how "we watched, infuriated" as "militarized" Royal Canadian Mounted Police forcibly removed 14 protestors at gunpoint.

Coastal GasLink Pipeline Limited proposes to build an approximately 670-kilometre pipeline from the Dawson Creek area to the west coast of British Columbia, including 22,000 square kilometers of Wet'suwet'en land. The pipeline will carry natural gas to the proposed LNG Canada processing facility near Kitimat. The project is a joint venture between Shell, Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Mitsubishi Corp., PetroChina Co. and Korea Gas Corp for a historic 40 billion Canadian dollar investment. In addition to obtaining approvals from the National Energy Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans and BC Hydro, LNG Canada and TransCanada's Coastal GasLink Pipeline Limited say they secured signed agreements from all 20 elected First Nations bands to build the pipeline through the land.

The contention is that hereditary leaders, who inherited their roles, claim band councils only have jurisdiction over reserve lands where First Nations were forced to live under The Indian Act of 1876 -- not traditional territories occupied by First Nations before Canada existed. (First Nations have occupied British Columbia -- which was incorporated as part of Canada in 1871 -- for 10,000 years and with few treaties in place, ownership is still a major legal and political issue.)

"The continued invasion of unceded Wet'suwet'en land by Coastal GasLink pipeline workers without your consent violates Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People and 'Anuc niwh'it'en (Wet'suwet'en Law)," reads the statement. "We have heard your hereditary chiefs say "No" to the Coastal Gaslink development and we intend to amplify it."

The letter also targets Prime Minister Justin Trudeau his actions, even after pledging his commitment to indigenous rights and Truth and Reconciliation -- a resolution by a government to right past wrongs.

"We call the Canadian government to account," the statement continues, adding that Trudeau might say one thing "but his government's actions don't align. Meaningful nation-to-nation relationships are not made at gunpoint." It also asserts Trudeau has been "sidestepping the inconvenient truth that the Supreme Court of Canada found in the 1997 Delgamuukw decision that indigenous land rights and title were not extinguished at the time of colonization. As such, the Canadian rule of law states that Wet'suwet'en nation's hereditary leaders have decision making power on their unceded territory."

The statement concludes with a concern for the environment, praising the Unist'ot'en and hereditary government: "This statement is being written 3 months after the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned us that there are only 12 years left for us to take decisive action in order to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5C. This will require the halt of fossil fuel development and a quick transition to clean energy. Those in power who care for the future of life on this planet have no business building more pipelines. Your hereditary government is showing more leadership in climate action than Canadian elected officials."

Natural gas proponents contend that natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel and tout it as a more sustainable substitute for coal.

The pipeline project is meanwhile gathering support of its own, touting $4.8 billion investment in new construction, the creation of 2,500 jobs and 620 million Canadian dollars in contract work to indigenous business with another anticipated 400 million Canadian dollars in additional contract and employment opportunities for indigenous and local communities.

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