Featured Resources
Map of Wet'suwet'en yintah. Accessed from Gidimt'en Checkpoint.
Eagle down is our law : Wit'suwit'en law, feasts, and land claims by Call Number: BNA M55 E2 1994ISBN: 9780774805131Publication Date: 1994- Niwhts'ide'nı̈ hibi'it'ën = The ways of our ancestors : Witsuwit'en history & culture throughout the millennia byCall Number: ETS M677 N59 2016ISBN: 0987770713Publication Date: 2016"This book introduces Witsuwit'en people and their history. It explores the Witsuwit'en clan system in depth and how it relates to traditional Witsuwit'en land use, spirituality and values. Oral histories from various eras in Witsuwit'en ancient history are shared, as well as the recent history that formed the Witsuwit'en Nation and the Bulkley Valley, as we know them today."
Theses & Dissertations
- The Elders are watching: Wet'suwet'en perspectives on leadership's role in the management of conflict byPublication Date: 2010"This research project outlines the cultural thinking of the Wet’suwet’en people as this thinking relates to the role that leadership has in the management of conflict. An emphasis was placed on the Hereditary System of the Wet’suwet’en people particularly the relationship between the House groups and their organisation, the Office of the Wet’suwet’en (OW)."
- You’ve Got to Paddle Your Own Canoe: The effects of federal legislation on participation in, and exercising of traditional governance while living off-reserve byPublication Date: 2018"This project describes the challenges and impediments members of two clans experienced while growing up and living off-reserve... Through this project, our clan realized commonalities of experience, both positive and negative, as well as potential strategies to continue our hereditary governance system with increased efficiency and unity while we continue, through legislation, to live off-reserve."
Other links and resources
- Office of the Wet'suwet'en - GovernanceWebsite of the Office of the Wet'suwet'en. Non-profit society (not an Indian Band or Tribal Council).
Chief organization chart - Office of the Wet'suwet'en.
Wet'suwet'en and CGL
Resources about traditional governance and its intersection with Coastal GasLink, a pipeline proposed to go through Wet'suwet'en territory, under the Wedzin Kwa river. See also: Indigenous Land-based Activism research guide.
- Yintah Access: History and TimelineWebsite to learn about the Wet'suwet'en land defense, traditional governance, and history of the CGL project.
- Manufacturing Wet'suwet'en ConsentBy Jerome Turner, in Briarpatch magazine. Article explaining Wet'suwet'en governance and the conflict with CGL.
- First People's Law: The Wet'suwet'en, Aboriginal Title, and Rule of Law: an explainer"The RCMP’s enforcement of the Coastal GasLink injunction against the Wet’suwet’en has ignited a national debate about the law and the rights of Indigenous people. Unfortunately, misconceptions and conflicting information threaten to derail this important conversation. Below, we attempt to provide clear, straightforward answers to address some of these fundamental misunderstandings."
- APTN News: Wet'suwet'en Conflict"In early 2020, solidarity actions took place in support of hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline crossing their traditional territory in northwestern B.C. This page is a collection of stories from APTN News to give you a deeper understanding of the ongoing conflict."
- Submission to the Expert mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High CommissionerSubmission by Gidimt'en land defenders and the Wet'suwet'en Nation to the United Nations, in regards to militarized raids on Wet'suwet'en land.
