STU Sustainability, a student club at St. Thomas University, hosted a public rally Thursday, Feb. 27, in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people protesting the construction of a pipeline through their unceded and unsurrendered lands in British Columbia.
The rally is one of many protests happening across Canada against the Coastal GasLink pipeline and the mistreatment of Indigenous people and Indigenous lands.
Students met first in the upper courtyard at STU before making their way to block Duffie Drive, a red banner out front declaring “RCMP off Wet’suwet’en land.”
The crowd held up cars until 12:40, chanting “block the ports, block the rails, put the RCMP in jail.” The rally was cut short due to inclement weather.
Security arrived twenty minutes into the rally to help direct cars away. Multiple cars greeted the protesters with honks of support as they turned around.
Along with showing solidarity for the Wet’suwet’en protesters, the rally was also a way for students to demand a public statement of solidarity from the university itself.
St. Thomas University takes part in funding and profiting from TransCanada Energy—the company responsible for the Coastal GasLink project—through their investments. Students demanded the university stop it’s funding of the company as well.
The rally ended with an indigenous drumming circle and Wolastoq land song.