ABSTRACT
For over a decade, Wet’suwet’en women have been leading the defense of the Yintah (their ancestral territory) against the construction of megaprojects, including the largest private investment project in Canada, the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline. The pipeline crosses over the north of the British Columbia province, from the east to the Pacific coast, including the Wet’suwet’en Yintah and Wedzin Kwa, a sacred and fundamental river for this Indigenous people. The Wet’suwet’en women-led mobilization, including their Hereditary Chiefs, is one of Canada’s most visible and supported. They have consistently argued that they have never granted consent to CGL to work in their territory. They have insistently called on the Canadian federal and provincial authorities and the corporations involved to stop the project in the Yintah, also raising the issue to the attention of an international audience. Yet, at the end of 2022, CGL started drilling under Wedzin Kwa. What explains that the Wet’suwet’en women-led mobilization has not impacted corporate behavior? Drawing on the “braided action” theoretical framework, which responds to a similar question in the context of Latin America, this chapter argues that one key aspect of a possible explanation is the legacies of a colonial past that persist.
