Church leaders support Wet'suwet'en as some agreement emerges
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article42677
- Author
- Kidd, Joelle
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2020 April
- Author
- Kidd, Joelle
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2020 April
- Volume
- 146
- Issue
- 4
- Page
- 1, 13
- Notes
- "On March 1 [2020], hereditary chiefs of the Wet'su'weten Nation and senior government ministers announced they had reached 'a proposed arrangement to acknowledge land title rights established more than 20 years ago in a Supreme Court decision', according to reporting by the CBC. The agreement, still tentative as of press time, came after months of conflict over the proposed construction of a pipeline through Wet'su'weten territory. No agreement on the future of the pipeline was reached. In the midst of that conflict, leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada, declared support of the hereditary chiefs" (p. 1). "The Anglican Church of Canada also released a statement Feb. 11 [2020], signed by [National Indigenous Archbishop Mark] MacDonald; Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; Archbishop Melissa Skelton, metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon; and several other bishops. MacDonald also penned two online opinion pieces on the matter. Some Anglicans publicly disagreed with the church leadership's stance, taking to social media and sending letter urging Anglicans to avoid 'taking sides' in conflicts. Joseph Quesnel of Tracadie, N.S., wrote the 'Journal's' editor to share his own concerns about the Feb. 11 statement" (p. 13). "In 'Why I stand with the five traditional leaders of Wet'su'weten -- especially now', posted Feb. 25 [2020], MacDonald addressed the 'anger and divisiveness' generated by the conflict and expressed solidarity. 'The claim of the five traditional chiefs contradicts the approval of the pipeline by locally elected leaders, elected under a system imposed by the Canadian government', he wrote. .... All who disagree with the five chiefs should be respected, especially the elected officials'" (p. 13).
- Subjects
- Wet'suwet'en - Land tenure
- Pipelines - British Columbia
- Pipelines - Canada
- Pipelines - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Indigenous peoples - Canada - Claims
- Indigenous peoples - British Columbia - Claims
- Conflict management - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- MacDonald, Mark L. (Mark Lawrence), 1954-
- Quesnel, Joseph