The Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians stands in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people, and denounces the invasion of Wet’suwet’en lands by the RCMP and Canada’s colonial state apparatus on behalf of transnational corporation Coastal GasLink.

Coastal GasLink/TC Energy is trying to force a 670 km fracked gas pipeline that would carry fracked gas from Dawson Creek, B.C. to the coastal town of Kitimat, where LNG Canada’s processing plant would be located. This is the single largest private investment in Canadian history. The LNG Canada export terminal and Coastal Gaslink Supply pipeline would dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions from Canada, further adding to climate change. The hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have not consented to this project and we stand with them and other indigenous people against this colonial project.

As Pakistani immigrants and settlers on this land, we recognize that the same colonialism that ravaged our places of origin continues to invade and destroy indigenous territories and people in this part of the world. We share a vision of the future where indigenous sovereignty all over Turtle Island is protected, and where climate change is dealt with in humane and sustainable ways.

The CPPC demands that the Canadian government stop the use of state violence in support of the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project through unceded and ancestral territories.

We ask that Pakistani Canadians, supporters, and community members speak up, stand up, and participate in solidarity actions with the Wet’suwet’en people, or organize their own actions in accordance with the call from the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.