Title: Colonialism in Canada: What is happening at Unist’ot’en?
Director: Kolin Sutherland-Wilson
Duration: 15:30
Year: 2020
Keywords: Pipeline; Unist’ot’en; Wet’suwet’en; Transmountain; Indigenous-Rights
Link to the Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Ifk8Rh-S8
Reviewer: Marvin Board
The film covers the Transmountain pipeline construction that was set to go through the native lands of the Unist’ot’en people. It tells the tragic story of the rights of these native people being abused and overshadowed. Their laws, which the government of Canada swore to abide by, were cast aside in favour of our own, as protestors and blockades were pushed through and dismantled, and the construction of the pipeline track began.
Mr. Sutherland-Wilson claims that he is not a part of the Wet’suwet’en clan or from the Unist’ot’en territories, claiming that he merely is doing this to get the knowledge of what has happened out in the world for all to see. The movie consists of clips of the blockade, protests, interviews with lawyers, and news clippings, with Mr. Sutherland-Wilson’s voice guiding the viewer through all of the scenes. This voice, however, is often difficult to hear and is overshadowed by the music at certain points, making subtitles a necessity at those times.
This film fully explains, who the Wet’suwet’en people are, what their culture and laws mean to them, the events that have unfolded, and what their history with the Canadian government was like in the past. The Wet’suwet’en people rose up and protested against the proposed plan for the pipeline. After the blockades were set, legal issues were pursued, and (in the end) RCMP officers forced their way through the blockade and made the Wet’suwet’en people stand down in fear of their lives and of being arrested.
A lot of the inspiration for the movie came from another film on the subject: Invasion (available at: https://unistoten.camp/media/invasion/). However, Colonialism in Canada, explains the situation in far greater detail and greater impact. Mr. Sutherland-Wilson does this in a shorter time frame as well, focusing on facts and how the narrative flowed over time.
With protests starting all around Canada over this issue, this is clearly a topic people want to know about. The protest around the parliament building in Victoria BC, beginning in January 2020, being started by non-other than the director of the film himself: Kolin Sutherland-Wilson.
Mr. Sutherland-Wilson’s contributions to the protest and the initiation can be read here:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/01/27/Wetsuweten-Solidarity-Actions-Changed-Their-Lives/
This is a protest that I personally attended, demonstrating alongside friends, that I as well did not support this kind of action by our government. However, since the pandemic hit, almost all news of the situation had disappeared. The outcome was unknown and I had figured that things had settled down just like everything else in the world.
This movie showed me how wrong I was. The movement is still going, and more information on the subject can be found at: http://unistoten.camp/supportertoolkit2020/?fbclid=IwAR1qbua3l4gYZjROCZpe9JmCbOo7MDnKZhRPeGfs6OP5b44lLc1rNTnE3Jw
Construction of the pipeline continues, and the lands of the Unist’ot’en people are continuing to be invaded. The media portrays this as a settlement that had been reached, when in reality, most were so scared for their own lives and the lives of their clan that they ended up retreating in defeat. No solution was found, and now the sacred lands of the Wet’suwet’en is being treated as if it never belonged to them.
One claim the movie makes, that horrified me, was the one where commanders of the National Police Force apparently stated that RCMP officers were allowed to use as much violence as they needed in order to overcome the barrier and protest.
Mr. Sutherland-Wilson claimed that the document came from a strategy session before the raid, leaked by the guardian, from an unknown source. (Link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/20/canada-indigenous-land-defenders-police-documents) You can find the article he uses in the movie, but finding the notes of this ‘strategy session’ mentioned within the article was impossible. One is sent through an endless loop of different articles all referencing the same notes for this ‘strategy session’, but none actually leave a link to document itself.
The RCMP also has not made any comments about this document, but apparently there is an internal investigation currently ongoing as to where this information may have come from and how it was leaked.
So the situation is still up in the air as to if this document actually exists, but this doubt is also exactly the type or propaganda that governments have used for hundreds of years in order to discredit their opposition. This could be exactly what is currently happening, which is why it is important that movies like these get the information out to the public.
The movie was made over three days and nights and while the quality of the film is far from professional, the drive and emotions conveyed by Mr. Sutherland-Wilson make this a masterpiece.
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