Arcade Fire, Destroyer, U.S. Girls, More Sign Open Letter in Solidarity With First Nation Land Protectors

Sam Sodomsky
14 people were arrested earlier this month for defending Wet’suwet’en territory against a planned pipeline project

On January 7, 2019, 14 people were arrested for defending Wet’suwet’en territory against a planned Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Now, 200 Canadian musicians—including members of Arcade Fire, Destroyer, U.S. Girls, Tanya Tagaq, Owen Pallett, the Weather Station, and more—have signed an open letter in solidarity with the land protectors.

“We call the Canadian government to account,” they write. “As musicians, we know a PR campaign when we see one: since 2015 Justin Trudeau has promoted a message of Truth and Reconciliation and professed the goal of building meaningful nation-to-nation relationships, but his government’s actions don’t align. Meaningful nation-to-nation relationships are not made at gunpoint.

The letter continues, “It’s 2019, and we refuse a willful ignorance, and take seriously the responsibility dealt to all Canadians by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to learn about Canada’s legacy of colonial violence.” Read the full statement here.

See the video.