For the third time the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has sent a letter to the Canadian government to raise concerns about Canada’s escalated use of force, surveillance, and criminalization against land defenders and peaceful protesters and for Canada’s failure to obtain the free, prior, and informed consent from First Nations for the Coastal Gas Link project and the Trans Mountain Project (TMX).

səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/Tsleil-Waututh Territory (May 11th, 2022) – Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) is frustrated and dismayed with the 28-day jail sentence of Will George, a Tsleil-Waututh member, sentenced yesterday by the BC Supreme Court. Will George was acting in peaceful land defence against the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project (TMX), a project that puts his ancestral lands and waters and community at significant risk.

As Spring comes into bloom, it’s the perfect time to take a moment for gratitude, to stop and behold the beauty of the land and waters we share. For Earth Day, 2022, it’s important to remember what we’re fighting for when we protect our waters. This week, the TWN field crew were surprised and delighted to observe evidence of extensive herring spawn in the waters of the territory. 

Early on Thursday April 14th, Reuben George, Tsleil-Waututh Sacred Trust Initiative spokesperson, attended the TD Bank’s annual general meeting (AGM) to speak in support of a shareholder proposal put forth by SumOfUs for “No New Fossil Fuel Financing”. Here are Rueben’s words from the AGM:

“Good morning. My name is Rueben George,

Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust is turning our lens towards potential buyers of the Trans Mountain pipeline project. Investing in this oil pipeline brings great risk: it infringes upon the rights of TWN, it contributes to the climate crisis, the pipeline itself is vulnerable to climate impacts as we saw this November, and with the new cost update of $21.4 billion,

BC’s Trans Mountain conditions leave significant gaps in spill response – Tsleil-Waututh Nation

Tsleil-Waututh Territory- On Thursday, February 24, the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation issued their changes to the province’s Environmental Assessment Certificate of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (“the Project”),

səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/Tsleil-Waututh Territory, February 22, 2022 – Announced today, Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s Sacred Trust Initiative is calling the economic viability of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project a delusion, following a construction cost update from Trans Mountain this past Friday February 18th. The estimated cost is now $21.4 billion. This represents a 4-fold increase in cost since the project was purchased by Canada in 2018 for $4.5 billion.

Despite gaps in Indigenous consultation and questions around inadequate engineering surveys, Trans Mountain has applied for a route change on the Fraser River crossing of their oil pipeline. Trans Mountain recently had a significant setback on their horizontal directional drilling (HDD). Problems with soil stability and equipment resulted in a spill into a fish bearing creek and sink holes on the Mary Hill Bypass in Coquitlam.

The Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) is allowing Trans Mountain to hide the names of the insurers of the pipeline over the express concerns of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN). In February, Trans Mountain applied to the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) requesting they keep the names of their insurers secret, arguing that public pressure makes it more expensive and harder to insure the project.