Earlier this month, over a dozen people were arrested for protesting against a pipeline that would go through Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia, Canada. Members of Arcade Fire, Destroyer, U.S. Girls, Tanya Tagaq, Owen Pallett, the Weather Station, and even more bands have signed an open letter of solidarity with the protesters.
“We call the Canadian government to account,” the letter states. ” As musicians, we know a PR campaign when we see one: since 2015 Justin Trudeau has promoted a message of Truth and Reconciliation and professed the goal of building meaningful nation-to-nation relationships, but his government’s actions don’t align. Meaningful nation-to-nation relationships are not made at gunpoint. In response to questions regarding the violence in Wet’suwet’en last week, Trudeau said that it wasn’t “ideal” but that Canada is “a country of the rule of law” inferring that his hands were tied. In fact, he was sidestepping the inconvenient truth that the Supreme Court of Canada found in the 1997 Delgamuukw decision that Indigenous land rights and title were not extinguished at the time of colonization. As such, the Canadian rule of law states that Wet’suwet’en nation’s hereditary leaders have decision making power on their unceded territory.”
If this is any indication, 2019 will be the year that even mainstream indie music gets political.
