FLASHBACK: Indigenous land defenders on why they fight invasive development despite facing armed forces

Don’t Call Me Resilient

In this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, we take a look at the ongoing struggle for land rights and some of the women on the front lines of that battle. These women are the land defenders fighting to protect land against invasive development. Both our guests have stood up to armed forces to protect land.

Their work is about protecting the environment. But it is much more than that: it is fundamentally about survival and about the right to live openly on what is stolen land.

Ellen Gabriel has been resisting land encroachment for 31 years. She was at the centre of the 1990 Kanehsatake resistance, (known as the Oka crisis), a 78-day standoff to protect ancestral Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) land in Québec.

It was a moment in history that many say helped wake them up to Indigenous issues.

Anne Spice is a professor of geography and history at Toronto Metroppolitan University. Anne, who is Tlingit from Kwanlin Dun First Nation, was recently on the front lines in the defence of Wet'suwet'en land. After she was arrested on Wet'suwet'en territory last year, a viral video showed the RCMP pointing a gun at the land defenders.

Anne can be heard shouting, we are unarmed and we are peaceful.

These are the moments that capture our collective attention. But Ellen and Anne’s work goes well beyond what the cameras show.

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A full transcript of this episode can be found here: TRANSCRIPT