Help Brandi report on Secwépemc resistance to TMX

We're making a feature documentary about ongoing Secwépemc resistance to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, triggered when the government-owned project went back on an agreement not to dig an open trench through one of their holiest sites.

These stories matter, but they cost a fortune. That's why we need your help!

At the end of last year, with permission of their Elders, members of the Secwépemc Nation lit a sacred fire in the path of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, and risked arrest in an attempt to halt construction through a sacred site named Pípsell.

Some have called the fight over TMX, of which this looming confrontation is a part, ‘Canada’s Standing Rock.’

Recently, TMX was given approval from Canada’s energy regulator to dig a kilometre-long open trench through Pípsell without the nation's consent. For thousands of years, Pípsell — meaning trout-place — has been a cultural keystone for the Secwépemc Nation.

"This is our Vatican,” Mike McKenzie, a Secwépemc knowledge keeper told CBC . “This is our Notre Dame. This is a place that gives our people an identity and kept our people grounded since time immemorial."

Stk'emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation say consent for the pipeline project was based on a commitment from the company that the pipeline would not dig an open trench through Pípsell.

That commitment has now been broken.

Award-winning Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin, alongside cinematographer Geordie Day and a local journalist working for IndigiNews, Aaron Hemens —who has been covering this story for months — spent nearly two weeks on the ground in Secwépemc territory this fall preparing reports and working on a feature documentary for Ricochet, IndigiNews and The Real News Network. During that time they were racially profiled by Trans Mountain security and a day later a security supervisor accelerated his truck towards Day, striking him lightly in the hip. Both incidents were captured on video.

The Trans Mountain pipeline is owned by the Government of Canada, and managed by CDEV, a subsidiary of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Our team are producing a feature documentary film on the Secwépemc’s last stand against the Trans Mountain pipeline, thanks to an innovative partnership between Ricochet Media, IndigiNews and The Real news Network.

This work is astronomically expensive. Last-minute flights, car rental, gas, and hotels add up. Then there are the costs associated with production of the film. And, as always, all the journalists involved will be paid fairly for their time.

The bottom line is that we need your help. Few other outlets have been to the area, and fewer still have the right tools to tell this story. But it is essential that it be told.

We’re raising $16,000, which is the bare minimum we need to complete this project. None of the outlets involved will get a cut; everything raised will go to the journalists and their expenses, and any unspent funds will be used for future journalistic projects.

Read below for Brandi’s personal note to you, her readers, and please consider making a donation right now. These brave journalists are on the front lines of Indigenous resistance to this government-owned pipeline, and they need your help to cover their expenses.

They have enough on their minds with telling the story, dodging aggressive security, and asserting their rights in the face of police forces that don’t always treat journalists well — they shouldn’t also have to worry about paying for their next meal, or their hotel for the night.

Ethan Cox, Cara McKenna and Maximillian Alvarez

For Ricochet, IndigiNews and The Real News Network

A personal note from Brandi Morin (Note: Written before their second trip to the area late last year):

Last week we were in Secwépemc territories, in the Kamloops, B.C., area where a portion of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is being constructed through unceded land.

Now, we’re headed back.

Trans Mountain recently changed its original plan not to drill through a sacred Secwépemc site, one which is connected to their creation story. TMX was given permission from the Canada Energy Regulator to build through the Pípsell site to avoid further delays and extra costs to the project — which is already way behind schedule.

We met with and interviewed Secwépemc Hereditary Chief Saw-Ses, a residential school survivor recently jailed for protecting his lands from the pipeline expansion; we also met with land defenders; had run-ins with aggressive pipeline security personnel and visited the former residential “school” where evidence of 215 unmarked graves of Indigenous children were found.

Now we are back to document the Secwépemc’s last-ditch attempt to stop the pipeline. Land defenders will light a sacred fire at the Pípsell site next to the pipeline construction site, and plan to break the injunction and risk arrest.

We need your help! Mainstream media doesn’t cover these stories, but they are some of the most important of our time.

As a journalist, I often witness state and corporate violence against Indigenous Peoples in so-called democratic countries that claim to uphold human rights.

The forcible construction of a pipeline through Indigenous lands represents an undeniable manifestation of greed, and disregard for the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous communities.

It is an act of violence that perpetuates the historical injustices inflicted upon these sovereign nations. As the pipeline cuts through their ancestral territories, it tears at the fabric of their cultural heritage and spiritual livelihoods, leaving scars that may never heal. This act of encroachment not only violates their sacred connection to the land but also threatens their access to clean water, disrupts wildlife habitats, and poses significant environmental risks.

It is a stark reminder of a system that prioritizes profit over people, betraying the trust and dignity of Indigenous communities who have endured centuries of oppression and exploitation.

Please help us to tell this story. Thank you.