Stop using the 'rule of law' as a weapon against Indigenous peoples

Protests against the RCMP’s attempts to remove Wet’suwet’en traditional leadership from their homeland gained steam this week, with First Nations and allies setting up blockades on railways, bridges and public buildings across Canada.

As the civil disobedience grew and began to affect urban Canadians, many of whom found themselves inconvenienced in this way for the first time, a new refrain began. Politicians and the media demanded that the “rule of law” be enforced. The rule of law, we are told, is threatened by protesters blocking railways and defying injunctions.