North Dakota pipeline decision celebrated
Dene Nation chief, local artist not surprised to see indigenous people join forces across North America against project
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The chief of Dene Nation says a decision south of the border that stops the Dakota Access Pipeline from following its current route could have implications in Canada.
A crowd of people holds up signs and a banner made for the Denendeh Against DAPL demonstration in support of Standing Rock earlier this year outside the post office. - NNSL file photo |
The comments from Bill Erasmus follow the announcement Dec. 3 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it would not issue the approval necessary for an oil pipeline to continue construction on its current route, through sacred Standing Rock Sioux lands. This decision has followed months of protest and several clashes with police.
Several people from Yellowknife travelled to the protest site in North Dakota earlier this fall. One of them, Daniel T'seleie, 34, was to appear in court in Mandan, N.D. earlier this month to plead not guilty to a charge of felony reckless endangerment, along with three misdemeanors - obstruction, trespassing and disorderly conduct. The charges were laid against him at the protest site back in September.
Erasmus said the decision shows that how governments work with indigenous people is a global issue.
"When you do stuff like (development on indigenous land without permission) you're going to have people travelling right across the continent to support one and other," he said in a phone interview with Yellowknifer last week. "We congratulate the people from here that went down as well as the people in North Dakota."
Local indigenous artist and musician Casey Koyczan has been following the Dakota Access Pipeline protest closely - he even wrote a song about it. He was glad to hear that construction was halted but is still concerned that the possibility still exists of sacred land being tarnished elsewhere.
"It's good to see our local and Canadian representatives (like Denendeh Against DAPL and members of the Dene Nation) taking part in the protest, as Standing Rock housed thousands of people uniting from numerous tribes throughout North America," Koyczan stated. "Some people, like our locals, travelled a great distance to be there, and that's admirable. In Dan's (T'seleie) case, I wasn't surprised to hear that he was one of the first locals to protest down there, and to personally hear of his experience was an eye-opener as to the extent that businesses and corporations will go to in order to harvest what fossil fuels they can in order to appease their buyers. I'm glad he wasn't physically harmed in the process of his activism."
