• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022 January 31, 2023
Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB January 31, 2023
Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty January 31, 2023
Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds January 31, 2023
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Next
Prev
Opinion & Analysis

Opinion: Obsolete Law Being Applied to Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders

June 19, 2022
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Susan Tanner @SusanTannerCon

Anonymous/Wikimedia Commons

Anonymous/Wikimedia Commons

17
SHARES
 

Wet’suwet’en land defenders are facing the threat of criminal records for their idealistic fight to save precious sacred resources for all of us.

Yes, they are working hard for all of us. They are courageously demonstrating the value shift we all face if we want our children to survive the ecological collapse that is now occurring everywhere.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

Yet our laws do not value Mother Nature and her protectors—and for that reason, they are obsolete.  A society’s laws are a reflection of its values and are meant to change as the values of the society change. Unfortunately for us, law reform tends to lag behind values shift.

What these land protectors understand, and the law enforcers do not, is that we are running against the extinction clock. This is a race we have not encountered before and our institutions are not built to win.

We all know the examples of slave laws and women’s oppression. The brute force of the state was used to enforce these unjust laws until “progressive values” made it into the halls of Parliament and then of justice.

Vested economic interests were also at play in regard to slavery and women’s oppression. Rich plantation owners did not want to lose a cheap labour force. Men did not want to lose control of women’s labour and their bodies.

As well, some of the resistance to human rights evolution was the fear of change. Even some of the enslaved and oppressed—those with compassionate masters or husbands—resisted emancipation. They resisted change because at least they knew how to navigate in that old, familiar world.

But now the world has changed around us with climate change, species extinction, and ecological decline. Scientists and Indigenous leaders around the world are telling us we must change the way we live on the planet. Human life depends on a healthy ecosystem, a healthy environment.

We do not have a choice and so much needs to change in our daily lives that it is easy to become overwhelmed. We are worried about our jobs, our safety, our food, our health.

And the social values challenge before us is not limited to how we treat each other as humans. It is also about how we view the natural world.  Our current society treats Mother Nature very badly—much like a slave—exploiting her with no care for her continued existence.

Indigenous people have been persecuted and killed in an effort to extinguish their very beings—their spirituality, language, knowledge, and traditions. Yet it is exactly that Indigenous knowledge and spirituality, the treasuring and stewardship of nature, that Canada and the whole world now urgently needs if humanity is to survive on the planet.

We do not have time to wait another generation until the children of corporate and political leaders force them to change their practices and the laws. We cannot wait passively until institutions fall from their own weight.

We must not give in to paralyzing fear and hide under the covers gorging on chocolate or alcohol. Nor greedily seek profit from the crisis. Nor ignore reality and just continue on with life and business as usual.

When we see brave, clear-sighted people put their bodies on the line for the necessary social, economic, and spiritual change, we should honour them as our representatives of all the great social change leaders of human society.

The Wet’suwet’en land defenders should not be charged as criminals. Ultimately, they will be recognized as great leaders in human history—that is, if we manage to overcome our fears and make the changes necessary for humanity to survive.

Susan Tanner is a retired public servant with Masters degrees in law and environmental studies. In 1982, she was the founding chairperson of the Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), formed to promote the rights of women under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.



in Canada, Climate Action / "Blockadia", First Peoples, Legal & Regulatory, Opinion & Analysis, Pipelines / Rail Transport, Sub-National Governments

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Mike Mozart/Flickr
Ending Emissions

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
331
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures
Canada

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE
Ending Emissions

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61

Comments 1

  1. Frances Deverell says:
    8 months ago

    Right on! Thank you Susan Tanner.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
331
Sam Balto/YouTube

Elementary School’s Bike Bus Brings ‘Sheer Joy’ to Portland Neighbourhood

February 5, 2023
262
Kenuoene/pixabay

$50B Opportunity Means ‘Go Time’ for Canadian Renewables: CanREA CEO

December 19, 2022
574
EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
326
RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.4k
United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
123

Recent Posts

Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
125
/snappy goat

Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds

January 31, 2023
94
Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

World Bank Climate Reforms Too ‘Timid and Slow,’ Critics Warn

January 31, 2023
42
Doc Searls/Twitter

Guilbeault Could Intervene on Ontario Greenbelt Development

January 31, 2023
132
Next Post
Matt H. Wade/Wikimedia Commons

Countries Pledge Faster Action on Methane, Cleantech, ZEV’s, Food Security at Biden Climate Forum

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}