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Sleydo’, Molly Wickham of Wet’suwet’en Nation

30th November 2023, 11:09:02 UTC

Molly Wickham, also known as Sleydo', is the Wing Chief and spokesperson for the Gidimt'en Checkpoint in Canada. She was one of more than two dozen people arrested in November 2021, during an RCMP crackdown to dismantle Wet'suwet'en blockades, and she faces an upcoming trial in January 2024. She lives on her family’s territory in a cabin she built in 2012. Sleydo’ is one of the most visible land and water protectors trying to stop the pipeline company, alongside many other women. Being on the frontlines of the struggle to defend their ancestral territory, she has experienced a multitude of harassment and surveillance for her work. In the Canadian province of British Columbia on unceded land, the Indigenous Wet’suwet’en Nation is protecting its territory and sacred sites against the construction of a gas pipeline. The Wet’suwet’en hold title and rights to their 22,000 kilometres of territory, and their Chiefs say they have not consented to the pipeline according to their laws and customs. Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their supporters who oppose the construction of the pipeline are experiencing surveillance, harassment, intimidation, and unlawful arrest at the hands of the pipeline’s private security company and Canadian police. Eight land defenders have already started trial in April and July 2023, or will go on trial in October 2023, and January 2024. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to prison. We are calling on the Canadian government to drop the charges, stop the pipeline, and respect the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples everywhere.