“The drill pad site is prepared. They’re going to be pumping the Wedzin Kwa water—mixing it with chemicals and pumping it into the earth under the river to drill under our sacred headwaters where our salmon are spawning right now. We cannot let greedy industry and the state and the governments put an end to natural law.”
These words are from a video of Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, from the banks of the Wezdin Kwa, as the sacred headwaters rush by her. We are running out of time.
Over the past month, the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have been visiting communities across so-called Canada as part of their international ceremonial tour “Strengthening our Sovereignty,” to connect with other Indigenous nations. “This tour would build on our existing relationships and build new relationships based on braiding together the importance of ceremony, land, and the future generations,” reads the Gidimt’en Facebook page.
The tour, along with Sleydo’s call, hopes to gather healers, ceremonial people, and elders in 10 days ceremony for the Wedzin Kwa later this month.
“We have to think long term about how we are going to live as Indigenous people, and we have to show them by doing it,” says Sleydo’. “We need to do whatever needs to be done to protect our water and protect our future. It’s never too late to learn, and it’s never too late to do better. I especially invite all of our Wet’suwet’en people to be with us. I don’t care if you’ve been pro-pipeline, I don’t care if you’ve been unsupporting of this, this is for everybody, for all of us, and it’s time that we come together.”
Pray for the Water Protectors who continue to use their bodies to resist the violent industries that threaten the sacred Wedzin Kwa. Pray for strength, pray for wisdom, and pray for the work being done to build sustainable communities.
