The Indigenous youth fighting for Wet’suwet’en sovereignty

As I approach the British Columbia Parliament building, I see a ceremonial fire burning on the steps. More than a hundred people spill across the steps and onto the lawn in downtown Victoria. Some are talking, some have brought dogs, some are doing coursework, others are preparing to give speeches. There is color everywhere: in banners, face paint, bandanas, red dresses for remembering murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. I hear someone call out, “It’s great you are here today. We need you to keep showing up. Keep answering the call.”

Drummers and dancers in ceremonial dress draw my attention to a ceremony of Indigenous youth. They are gathered around the fire, giving speeches and leading us in song. Someone is offering smudging, inviting people to pull the smoke of purifying sage toward them and over their bodies. This ritual points us to the ceremony the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are leading more than 700 miles away, where they have constructed a healing lodge at the Unist’ot’en Camp, near the central British Columbian town of Smithers. The ceremonies there bless the water under threat from oil and gas development. “Heal the people. Heal the land” is a recurring phrase in both ceremonies, connecting Indigenous people and their traditional lands, in hopes of undoing the harm caused by centuries of colonization.

As it gets colder in Victoria, people share blankets and crawl into sleeping bags for the night. Many sip donated coffee or hot chocolate or eat a donut. An event tent becomes a shelter for dozens to sleep under. It is February 2020, and over the course of several weeks, hundreds of Indigenous youth and allies have set up camp in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en leaders defending their land. The hereditary chiefs have been fighting for Indigenous sovereignty on unceded, traditional land in northern BC since colonization, and this fight for recognizing Indigenous sovereignty is one in a long line.