In 2019, construction began on a natural gas pipeline that would cut through the unforgiving homelands of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in western Canada. Wet’suwet’en land and water protectors were forbidden to come near the construction area which by Coastal Gaslink, owned by TC Energy. However, the project met with resistance almost immediately and gained international attention due to the tribe’s use of traditional law. Under Wet’suwet’en law, the pipeline trespassed on Wet’suwet’en land. With no treaty signed with Canada or Britain, Wet’suwet’en argue that their laws still apply – a political status recognized by the Canadian Supreme Court – and they have the right to drive Coastal Gaslink, and its pipeline, out of its homelands.
In 2021, Chief Dsta’hyl, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief, and a group of land and water protectors commandeered a battery of excavators owned by a Coastal Gaslink contractorthen a week later blocked two roads used by construction crews. In the aftermath, he was arrested for violating a court order, known as an injunction, that prohibited the group from disrupting the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. In early July 2024, he was sentenced to 60 days of house arrest.
Hereditary chiefs, such as Dsta’hyl, are tasked with preserving their tribe’s culture, land and people, and represent a different, older legal order than the band council system – elected officials of the tribe’s six bands recognized by the Canadian government . While Coastal Gaslink consulted and received approval from the Wet’suwet’en band councils, the company did not receive consent from the hereditary chiefs.
Chief Dsta’hyl’s non-violent approach to resisting the pipeline caught the attention of Amnesty International, who called him Canada’s first prisoner of consciencea distinction given to people incarcerated for their politics, religion or ethnicity, as well as other personal and protected statuses. Amnesty International said that there is potentially thousands of prisoners of conscience around the worldand asked for Chief Dsta’hyl’s immediate release.
Grist spoke with Chief Dsta’hyl at his home in Wet’suwet’en territory about his resistance to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and his recognition as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
My English name is Adam Ganon, but my respected main name is Dsta’hyl, which in our language means “in the wake of a whale.” For more than 40 years now, I have been one of the heads of inheritance in the Sonhuis. I was in my mid 20s when I got the name. I have a lot of responsibility towards the Sonhuis and our tribe. Once you start doing work for your nation, you keep doing it, from the time you take the name until you translate from this world.
Q. You were arrested three years ago outside your camp on Wet’suwet’en territory. Can you tell me how it went and where it happened?
A. It was cold and wet when they arrested me. I was nowhere near the camp we had. I just went for a ride and I just did a reconnaissance ride to see what the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was doing. Two Coastal GasLink trucks followed me, which I didn’t mind. But I think they were on the same channel as the RCMP. So, when they knew I was leaving camp, they radioed ahead and when I got on a bridge, the RCMP lights came on and they blocked me. That’s where they made the arrest.
Q. From what I understand, Coastal GasLink did not consult with the hereditary chiefs, they went to the band councils, which only have jurisdiction on reserve. But hereditary chiefs were found to have authority over traditional lands in 1997 by the Canadian Supreme Court. Can you tell me more about it?
A. In no way did Coastal GasLink ever communicate with their hereditary chiefs to get permission. What the provincial government did was to encourage them to deal with the band councils and not deal with the landowners, the real hereditary chiefs, because band councils are just puppet governments for the federal government, and they only have jurisdiction over reserve and it’s only 2 square miles.
What we decided to do is to move under Wet’suwet’en-wet because the government did not look after us. The courts did not look after us. No one took care of our land. So, the hereditary chiefs decided that we were going to use our old trespass laws, which have been around for thousands of years, to basically deal with the trespassers on our territory.
Q. Can you explain what a hereditary chief is?
A. Hereditary chiefs come from different groups. In the Wet’suwet’en we have 13 house groups. And in those 13 house groups we have five clans. We have the Gilseyhu, which is the Big Frog tribe. The Laksilyu is the Little Frog. Then we have the Gitdumden, which is the bear and wolf tribe. Then we have the Tsayu, the Beaver tribe, and the Laksamshu, which is the fireweed tribe, which is us.
So, the hereditary chiefs, they get their name assigned to them. They go through the festivals there before they are fully recognized by the rest of the hereditary chiefs.
When I got my name, one of the things I took care of was knowing that the moment you accept that name, you are no longer your own person. From that moment on, you will only act in the best interest of your people. I have full responsibility, right until the day I die, to protect what we have.
One of the things the matriarchs used to say, back in the 70s, I heard them say, “You know you can sell your land and the money will be spent in a few years, and then you’ll have nothing? ” So what they said is, “We’re not selling our land, because the land is just who we are.” If you don’t have your land, what will your children have, and what will their children have? It continues generationally.
Q. The Canadian government recognizes the authority of the hereditary chiefs, so if they claim to recognize your authority, how could this pipeline have been built?
A. It’s a smokescreen. They are trying to appease the nation and appease the other First Nations by making these claims. But the willingness to follow is not quite there. What they are doing is using it as a means to try to negotiate and chisel us out of more and more land. One of the things they try to do is just deal with the band councils for all the different land claims, which undermines all the chiefs.
Q. I saw a video of you helping serve an eviction notice on the construction crew. I would be scared. What did you feel when you did it?
A. If you do right, you are not afraid. When you do something here that is real, there is no fear involved. Nothing brings me fear, I’ve been that way all my life. When I see injustice, I must work for it and mitigate problems we face. Come up with a solution. As a chief, our job is to mitigate all the situations, not dwell on them and complain about them, but meet them head on and meet them honestly.
Q. In 2020, a year after the construction of the pipeline, the Wet’suwet’en sued the Canadian government for his lack of movement on climate change. Can you talk about how climate change affects your work and the country you’re on?
A. One of the things we’re faced with is that we’ve logged more than 80 percent of our areas, which means it’s just a lunar landscape now. When spring comes, there is no canopy to allow the snow to slowly melt. We’re dealing with drought because in the past, snow would be there for half the summer, so you wouldn’t get the very rapid runoff that we have today.
My father was in the logging business all his life and when I was young one of the things I observed was that they used pretty responsible forestry because everything was selectively logged. And then suddenly in the late 60s, the industry started pushing for clear logging with these big multinational companies. They are trying to destroy what little we have.
It disrupts wildlife, all the larger mammals that we live on. All the elk, moose and deer are displaced. We are displaced. Bears have been displaced. Everything is displaced.
The province wanted to trap moose, and we already have a shortage of moose in our areas, and they just wanted to trap more to starve us out. It’s like the same thing with bison on the prairies, they killed all the buffalo to try and starve all the First Nations people. Just cowardly tactics there to try and eliminate First Nations people.
Climate change is very serious here. Because you look at what oil and gas have done. They also call it natural gas, and it is practically all hydraulically fractured gas, which disrupts all the water tables and aquifers. It destroys water.
Q. While he was being trained as a hereditary chief, did your father talk about being part of the logging industry, and how the industry became more exploitative?
A. My father never ever talked about anything like that. My mother was more concerned. She was the one who started taking care of me as a hereditary head at 13. She made me think about it and told me: “The moment you take that name, you will no longer be your own person. From today you will belong to your people, and from that day you will act in the best interest of your people.” This is a great responsibility given not only to myself, but to any chief.
Q. In your mind, how do you feel about this fight now while you’re under house arrest?
A. It brings me strength to what I am going through now. It only makes me stronger. Wet’suwet’en laws must be recognized across the country, and I will continue to fight.
