Statement of Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

Statement of Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

The Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto stands firmly in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation as they continue to assert sovereignty on their traditional territories. As a Centre, we strive to create an intellectual and ethical community in which to imagine and enact decolonizing social change.  We recognize that the Bonham Centre is located in Tkaronto, the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River, where Indigenous peoples continue to exist, thrive, and resist colonial, environmental, and racial violence. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission “94 Calls to Action” reaffirms that the Treaties with Indigenous Peoples must be lawfully honoured. We are all treaty peoples and are responsible for upholding those agreements. When these agreements are violated, we cannot be silent. We stand with the hereditary chiefs, matriarchs, land defenders, and water defenders of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, who continue to be the victims of colonial violence but nonetheless tirelessly defend their families, their air, their communities, and the planet: in peace and unarmed. We recognize the Wet’suwet’en as a sovereign, self-governing nation, and urge the colonial Canadian and BC governments to uphold Wet’suwet’en law and the United Nation’s Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which expressly condemns forced removal in Article 10: “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.” We issue a call to all academic units at The University of Toronto and across Turtle Island to lend their voices to condemn state violence against Indigenous nations.

In solidarity,

The Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies

University of Toronto