We are writing to express our support and best wishes for the Dene Suline members of the Cold Lake First Nation holding a Peace Camp at Berry. We honour your struggle to defend your land where ceremonies and sacred burials are held, where you smoke fish and gather medicines. On July 27, the settler’s court ordered you to take down tents and remove vehicles from the shore of the English Bay Provincial Recreation Area; yet you remain. We praise your courage as you struggle on the ground and in the courts to defend your traditional lands and sacred sites from being turned into an RV park.

Living in the Unceded territories of the Katzie, Kwantlen, Kwikwetlem, Musqueam, Semiahmoo, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Tsawwassen nations, we are witness to the devastating effects of colonialism on the land and its peoples. As non-Indigenous supporters, we recognize that the history of Canada is a racist and genocidal one, marked by the forced dispossession of Indigenous peoples’ lands and resources, the suppression of Indigenous governments and laws, and the assimilation of Indigenous cultures and identities.

We, No One Is Illegal- Vancouver Coast Salish Territories, are a grassroots anti-colonial group striving for justice for refugees, migrants, and undocumented people. We believe that there are no “illegal” human beings, only illegal colonial governments and inhumane laws. Settler countries like Canada are built on the theft of Indigenous lands; exploitation of labour especially slave, migrant, and reproductive labour; and the global appropriation of natural resources. As multiracial settlers, migrants, refugees and people of colour struggling against racism and unjust border and immigration laws in Canada, we came four hundred years ago or yesterday and we recognize that our homes and our struggles are being built on Indigenous peoples lands.

A fundamental organizing principle for No One is Illegal is to build alliances in solidarity with Indigenous communities as we fight against racism, colonization, and global systems of apartheid. We are proud to stand up as your allies in this struggle.

We believe that people have the right to remain in their homes in the face of global displacement due to land theft, occupation, environmental degradation, and other capitalist and imperialist forces. In light of the unfettered freedom afforded to capital and armies across otherwise fortified borders, people should be free to move whether due to persecution, poverty, or simply in order to flourish with dignity. People also have the inherent right to return to the lands of which they have been unjustly dispossessed. We envision and actively strive for a humanity where everyone has the right to sustenance and the ability to provide it, where we are free of oppression, misery, and exploitation, and are able to live meaningfully in relationship to one another and in reverence for Mother Earth that sustains us.

In solidarity and respect, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver Coast Salish Territories