Indigenous Land Defender, Vanessa Gray, was targeted at her home by Toronto Police Services who charged her in connection to a solidarity action in Toronto attended by hundreds of people on November 21st in response to a violent raid on Wet’suwet’en Territory. Vanessa has been released with conditions, but her targeted arrest must be condemned. 

 

On November 18th and 19th the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) carried out a militarized raid on Wet’suwet’en Territory. Using axes, chainsaws, assault rifles, and attack dogs, the RCMP arrested over 30 people including legal observers, journalists, Indigenous elders, and matriarchs who were defending their territory from the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline – a pipeline threatening the sacred waters of the Wedzin Kwa that is being shoved through at gunpoint without the consent of the Hereditary Chiefs.

 

The RCMP raid has resulted in waves of protests and railway blockades across the country, as people from coast to coast unite to support the right of Indigenous self-determination. Charges have been laid against a number of people in other cities. 

 

Vanessa Gray is a respected Anishinaabe Land Defender known for her environmental justice work concerning pollution in Ontario’s Chemical Valley, which is on the territory of her community of Aamjiwnaang First Nation. She has fearlessly committed herself to the liberation of her people. 

 

The targeting of Gray is part of a larger pattern of colonial violence in which the Canadian state collaborates with corporations to criminalize Indigenous Land Defenders for the sake of industry interests. 

  

We, the undersigned organizations, demand that all charges against Gray be dropped immediately. We condemn the Toronto Police for harassing Gray by showing up at her home. Across Turtle Island Indigenous Women have faced violence and been made vulnerable by the Canadian government. We demand an end to this targeted harassment. We condemn all attempts to criminalize and silence Indigenous Land Defenders and all attempts to violently displace Indigenous peoples for industry and capital profits. We support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs as they protect their lands and waters.
 

 

In solidarity with Indigenous Land Defenders from Tkaronto to Wet’suwet’en,

45 Initial Signatories

CPT – Turtle Island Solidarity Network
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network
World BEYOND War
Idle No More
Rising Tide Toronto
Black Lives Matter Canada
Black Lives Matter-Toronto
Peace Brigades International-Canada
Urban Alliance on Race Relations
Porcupine Warriors
No One is Illegal Toronto
Council of Canadians – Ontario, Quebec
United Steelworkers Toronto Area Council
Toronto Prisoners Rights Project
No More Silence
No Pride in Policing Coalition
Climate Justice Toronto
Showing Up for Racial Justice – Toronto
Independent Jewish Voices – Toronto
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction
Movement Defense Committee
OPIRG Toronto

240 Additional Signatories

350 Bay Area
Academics for Palestine-Concordia University (Montreal, Canada)
Action Environnement Basses-Laurentides (Québec)
Actions4Palestine
Advocates for a Student Culture of Consent
Akali Tange Association Inc
Aluna Theatre
American Indian Movement Southern Ontario
Anakbayan Toronto
Anonymous for the Voiceless, Scarborough
Anti-Imperialist Alliance
Antler River Rally
Arab Canadian Lawyers Association
ARCA–Artists for Real Climate Action
Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation
ARMU
ARP Books
Artists for Real Climate Action (ARCA)
Autonomous Sinixt
Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services (BCS)
Banking on a Better Future
Barmard-Boecker Centre Fdtnn
BIPOC in Politics
Blue Planet Project
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
Broadleaf Theatre
Camp Micah; Leadership for Peace and Justice
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Canadian BDS Coalition
Canadian Homestead Alliance
Canadian Voices Against Racism
Caribbean Solidarity Network
Centre de Medecine Intégrée
Centre for the Arts
Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar
Children’s Peace Theatre
Church of St Stephen-in-the-Fields
Citizens’ Climate Lobby – Toronto
Climate Action Club
Climate Justice Guelph
Climate Pledge Collective
Climate Strike Canada
ClimateFast
CODEPINK SF Bay Area
Committee for Future Generations
Concordia University Centre for Creative Reuse
Council of Canadians – Toronto chapter
Council of Canadians Guelph Chapter
Council of Canadians Hamilton Chapter
Council of Canadians Kent County Chapter
Council of Canadians Kitchener-Waterloo Chapter
Council of Canadians Medicine Hat Chapter
Council of Canadians Nelson chapter
Council of Canadians Northumberland Chapter
Council of Canadians Windsor-Essex Chapter
Council of Canadians-Avalon Chapter (NL)
Council of Canadians, Peterborough and Kawarthas
Council of Canadians, Powell River Chapter
Council of Canadians, Regina Chapter
Cree Warriors Society
CUPE 1281
CUPE 3906
CUPE Toronto District Council
Decolonize Together
Defend Ohiyo
Democratic Socialists of Canada – Ecosocialist Caucus
Democratic Socialists of Canada – Toronto
Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO)
Divest Dal
Divest UVic
Dwayne Gretzky Band
Earth Education League
East Los Angeles-Revolutionary Action Party
Eco-Just Food Network
EmergenciaAmazonia
Environmental Data & Governance Initiative
Equity FIRST
Extinction Rebellion Greater Toronto
Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area
For Our Kids Toronto
Fossil Free UWaterloo
Fridays for Future
Fridays for Future Calgary
Fridays for Future Toronto
Friends of Chinatown TO
Gaiadigm Books, Inc.
Golden Egg Permaculture
Greater Toronto for BDS (BT4BDS)
Green Majority Radio
Green Wave West
Greenpeace Canada
GRIP-UQAM
Guelph Anti- Pipeline
Guyanese Organization of Indigenous People (Affiliate)
Hamilton 350 Committee
Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion
Hamilton Community Legal Clinic
Hamilton Encampment Support Network (HESN)
Hamilton Students for Justice
Health Providers Against Poverty
Heung Coalition
HR4A Saskatchewan
Idle No More
IfNotNow Toronto
Ikake Rising
In Defense of Liberation
Indigenous Anarchist Federation
Indigenous Faculty and Staff of University of Toronto Mississauga
Indigenous Solidarity Committee/Seniors for Climate Action Now!
Indigenous Solidarity Working Group – CUPE3906
Indigenous-Italian-Canadian-Connections Initiative, University of Toronto
International Socialists
InterReligious Task Force on Central America
Intersex London Canada
Islamic Family (IFSSA)
Island Natural Growers
Italian-Canadians for Black Lives
Japanese Canadians for Social Justice
Just Earth
Justice for Palestinians, Calgary