Wet'suwet'en - We Are All One Planet

Canada has the jurisdiction and power to regulate many sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and their inaction to do so is breaking global promises. Two Wet’suwet’en House groups of the Likhts’amisyu Clan are asserting their rights and holding Canada accountable to climate commitments for future generations. Are you in?

Life, liberty, and security of the planet

Two Wet’suwet’en House groups of the Likhts’amisyu Clan are taking Canada to court for violating their s.7 Charter rights to life, liberty, and security of the person. By asserting their rights, these Wet’suwet’en Houses are taking legal action to hold Canada accountable to their global climate agreements.

A win for these Wet’suwet’en groups is a win for us all. It would put in place systemic safeguards so projects and policies could only be adopted based on an assessment of future climate impacts now before it’s too late.

Your Turn To Make A Move

Join the Wet’suwet’en Houses in taking action to protect our planet. Donate to support their legal challenge.

Button Text

Learn More about the Challenge

The Background: the Paris Agreement

In December 2015, Canada and 194 other countries adopted the Paris Agreement in which the signatory nations committed to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.

The nations who signed the Paris Agreement formally recognised “that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet and thus requires the widest possible cooperation by all countries, and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, with a view to accelerating the reduction of global emissions.”

The stated aim of the Paris Agreement is to hold “the increase in global average temperatures to well below 2 ̊C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ̊C above pre-industrial levels.”

Canada’s 2021 Nationally Determined Contribution is 438 to 401 megatonnes of CO2 emissions per year by 2030. However, in 2022 (the most recent year for which data are available) Canada’s emissions were 708 megatonnes of CO2 emissions per year. Although Canada has signed on to the Paris Agreement, in 2024, Canada’s Environment Commissioner reported to Parliament that the country’s current measures remain insufficient to meet its emission reduction commitments.

The Issue

Canada has the discretionary decision-making power to bring down GHG emissions to align with the promises made in the Paris Agreement. For example, by implementing environmental assessment legislation that would apply conditions on approval of high GHG-emitting projects, Canada has the potential to meet its climate commitments. So, why aren’t they?

Canada is bending over backward to emission-polluting industries for profit over the planet, causing sea levels to rise, forests to burn, and glaciers to melt. Government inaction is affecting all of us now, particularly for Indigenous Peoples who are trying to protect their rights and territories from the worst of climate change.

What’s at risk for the Wet’suwet’en and us all?

We’re already seeing the devastating outcomes of climate inaction across the globe. Extreme weather events, devastating wildfires, and diminishing diversity in ecosystems to name just a few.

Some of the highest observed and projected temperature increases across the globe are happening in northern Canada winters. This leads to more frequent floods, reduced snowpack, less predictable stream flows, temperature and nutrient regimes, and shifts in salmon distribution and productivity.

Already, the Wet’suwet’en have experienced significant warming effects on their territories. These effects include pine bark beetle infestations, forest fires, and significant salmon population declines, all in part attributable to climate change. Past and current clearcut logging and land-clearing practices will exacerbate these climate effects. Forest cover reductions will, in turn, lead to lower populations of fur-bearing animals and culturally significant food animals, such as moose and fish.

Wet’suwet’en, like most communities and Nations across the world, are experiencing disruptions to their ways of life due to climate change. Community members have stopped or reduced fishing for their preferred salmon species for over two decades because of climate change. They are doing everything they can to protect their rights and territories, but rising temperatures threaten their cultural identity, their stewardship practices with the land and the life on it, and their food security.

Legal Action and Indigenous Law

This legal challenge is being brought forward in accordance with Wet’suwet’en’s own legal orders, which state a House group is responsible to other Wet’suwet’en, to other peoples, and to the spirit in the land for all acts on its territories. This Wet’suwet’en law, rooted in relational stewardship, means that the Houses are taking responsibility for large fossil-fuel infrastructure projects that are being built across their territories and the impacts that unchecked resource extraction have on climate change.

In this legal action the Likhts’amisyu Clan Chiefs are seeking:

Declarations that Canada has a constitutional duty to act consistently with the Paris Agreement to keep its emission levels in keeping with a 1.5 ̊C and 2 ̊C global temperature rise (“Temperature Commitment”);
An order declaring that Canada has breached and continues to breach its constitutional duty to act consistent with its Temperature Commitment;
A declaration that Canada has unjustifiably infringed and continues to unjustifiably infringe on the Likhts’amisyu members’ rights under s. 7 of the Charter, including the s. 7 rights of future members of theWet’suwet’en, by failing to act and take the necessary legislative steps required to manage Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that would meet the Temperature Commitment;
An order requiring Canada to amend its statutes and its decisions under them (see the Statement of Claim section to see list of relevant legislation) to make them consistent with the Temperature Commitment. This includes amending each of its environmental assessment statutes that apply to currently high greenhouse gas emitting projects so as to give the Governor in Council the discretion to cancel or vary the terms of Canada’s operational approval under any of those statutes if Canada is demonstrably not able to or does not meet its Temperature Commitment, or if Canada determines global warming to be a national emergency;
An order requiring Canada to provide a complete, independent, and timely annual account of Canada’s cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions produced within Canada and emissions produced outside of Canada but imported into Canada in the form of tangible goods, in a format that permits Wet’suwet’en to compare these cumulative GHG emissions with Canada’s fair carbon budget to meet its Temperature Commitment;

Canada has deprived and continues to deprive the Likhts’amisyu Houses’ members of their right to life, liberty, and security of person by making and continuing laws that facilitate the development and operation of high GHG-emitting projects. Canada’s fair contribution to keep global warming to non-catastrophic levels is not being achieved.

Canada, by its conduct and its failure to discharge its obligation to adequately meet its Temperature Commitment, has and continues to knowingly cause, contribute to, and exacerbate the impacts of climate change. This lack of commitment is depriving the Wet’suwet’en, their members, and their future members of their constitutionally guaranteed right to life, liberty, and security of the person under s. 7 of the Charter.

Although the Likhts’amisyu are holding Canada accountable for activities occurring on their territory — climate change is a threat to us all. We are all one planet. Donate now to support their legal action that aims to reshape Canada’s failing approach to the climate crisis.

Wet'suwet'en Campaign: A Timeline

August 2024 – AMENDED STATEMENT OF CLAIM FILED

The Wet’suwet’en filed their Amended Statement of Claim based upon the Federal Court of Appeal decision.

December 2023 – APPEAL GRANTED

Federal Court grants appeal by Wet’suwet’en in the Misdzi Yikh Charter challenge.

February 2023 – APPEAL OF JR DECISION

Federal Court hears Wet’suwet’en’s appeal of the Nov 2020 decision.

December 2020 – WET’SUWET’EN APPEAL

The Likhts’amisyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en appeals the Federal Court’s decision to strike the Charter challenge.

November 2020 – FEDERAL COURT STRIKES CLAIM

Federal Court strikes the Likhts’amisyu Charter challenge as “not justiciable”, i.e. not appropriate for the court to decide.

July 2020 – CANADA FILED MOTION TO STRIKE

Canada filed a Motion to Strike the claim in Federal Court to prevent a full trial.

February 2020 – STATEMENT OF CLAIM FILED

The Statement of Claim in the Charter case is filed in the Federal Court of Canada.

Questions & Answers

What is the Charter?

The Charter is part of Canada’s Constitution and is formally called the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter protects rights that can be broadly grouped into the following: fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, mobility rights, legal rights, equality rights, official language rights, and minority language educational rights. The rights within the Charter are not limitless, and Section 1 allows the federal or provincial government to limit rights and freedoms where there is an important goal that can be justified, and the limit is reasonable.

What is s. 7 of the Charter?

Section 7 of the Charter states:
Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

This section of the Charter is where many important rights are found. These include the right to be free of arbitrary detention, the right to make private decisions such as medical choices, the right to be free from the threat of deportation to a substantial risk of torture, and more.

More info can be found in Charterpedia here.

How does Charter litigation work?

Charter litigation usually involves a claimant being required to show a right is being limited by a government law or action, which cannot be justified, or the limitation is unreasonable. The claimant must be seeking a remedy. The government may argue that a right is not being limited, a right is not engaged, or that the justification is sufficient or the limitation is reasonable.

Is this legal case the same as the other Wet'suwet'en case that tried to quash the CGL pipeline?

No, the Charter case over s.7 rights is a different legal case than the judicial review of the CGL pipeline. That case was unfortunately dismissed by the BC Supreme Court back in 2021. However, this Charter case may affect the ways in which Canada and the provinces administer and approve LNG pipeline projects in the future.

Where does the money go?

All the funds raised for Wet’suwet’en campaign go to Indigenous litigation. 85% of the funds raised go to Wet’suwet’en to fund their legal challenge. RAVEN receives 15% of campaign funds raised to sustain our operations.

What happens if we can't use the funds raised?

If a legal challenge is terminated, and the money raised exceeds the litigation expenses, we place the remaining funds into the Discretionary Litigation Fund. We use the money in the Discretionary Litigation Fund to add funds to any of our litigation campaigns that need extra funds for any reason (e.g., to respond to a Crown motion, or to commission additional expert reports).