"The Black Serpent": Wet'suwet'en Perspectives on the Coastal GasLink Pipeline

In 2018, Coastal GasLink (CGL) began construction on a 690km pipeline, of which a large proportion would go through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. This extractive mega-project cuts through the heart of the territory, leaving severe ecological damage and cultural consequences for the Wet’suwet’en people, who, like all First Nations, have been subjected to oppression and violence since the arrival of settlers on Turtle Island. The purpose of this thesis is, throughperspective of Wet’suwet’en Nation members, to understand the how the imposition of the CGL pipeline effects the lives of the Wet’suwet’en people and to understand how the ecological damage caused by the pipeline affects Wet’suwet’en ways of life and being. In order for an understanding that stems from Wet’suwet’en perspective five semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with Wet’suwet’en members. This thesis takes a decolonial lens, using Walter D. Mignolo and Aníbal Quijano’s theories on coloniality as well as Aileen Moreton-Robison’s theory on white possessive logics as the theoretical underpinnings through which to conduct this study. To analyse the rich data and insights collected from these interviews Braun and Clarkes (2022) Reflexive Thematic Analysis has been used. This resulted in the generation of three main themes; “Economic Smallpox”, “We have been thrown way back into the past” and “They are...injecting their poison into Mother Earths veins”. Each theme is further organised into subsequent subthemes. This paper argues that both CGL and the Canadian governments are complicit in the perpetuation of the epistemic destruction of Wet’suwet’en knowledge as well as the entrenchment of the oppressive Western hegemonic systems which maintain coloniality. Furthermore, this paper finds that the Canadian government is using the CGL pipeline to continue its historic denial of Wet’suwet’en sovereignty a policy underpinned by white possessiveness. Finally, this paper argues that thedestruction of Wet’suwet’en territory is an epistemological and cosmological violence against the nation as the land, air and water is at the very core of the Wet’suwet’en people and their identity.

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