This film 'bears witness to the theft of unceded Witsuwit'en territories,' says one of its directors
The documentary Yintah was deliberately shaped by the Witsuwit'en community. Watch it now on CBC Gem
A note about the spelling of Witsuwit'en in this article:
Both Wet'suwet'en or Witsuwit'en are correct. The film Yintah uses the spelling "Witsuwit'en" as this is the preferred spelling of Witsuwit'en. A distinct Witsuwit'en orthography was developed by a linguist working with the language speakers for decades. Please see below for more details.
Clashes between the RCMP and the Witsuwit'en nation over the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C. have garnered attention from global media and human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, for years.
But a new documentary goes beyond the breaking news coverage and immerses viewers in the experiences of Witsuwit'en people committed to protecting their land and their laws.
The conflict easily creates a collage of meaning — one with countless perspectives: resource extraction, environmental stewardship, the economy, Indigenous rights, ecology, competing legal systems, capitalism.
Yet for the directors of Yintah — Brenda Michell and Jennifer Wickham, both Witsuwit'en women, and Michael Toledano, a non-Indigenous journalist and filmmaker from Ontario — the story is clear. This is about the Witsuwit'en asserting their sovereignty against a colonial oppressor.
And the story of how the film came to be is notable in its own right. Filmed over more than a decade, and drawing from over 1,200 hours of footage, Yintah was deliberately shaped by the Witsuwit'en community. The directors said every scene in the film was prioritized based on close consultation with Witsuwit'en leaders.
"The film bears witness to the theft of unceded Witsuwit'en territories and the seizure of lands at gunpoint," Toledano said. "And, you know, it documents the police's role in that.
"But underneath that issue is a failure of the Canadian state to deal in good faith with the Witsuwit'en people and to resolve the land question before it became, you know, the source of ongoing conflict."
The Witsuwit'en hereditary chiefs object to the pipeline and have long asserted that no pipelines can be built through their territory without their consent (the pipeline route crosses about 190 kilometres of unceded Witsuwit'en territory). The documentary focuses on those reoccupying the yintah — the Witsuwit'en word for "land" — to support that position.
Members of the Witsuwit'en community set up checkpoints to stop pipeline workers from accessing the nation's land. Then, in 2018, a B.C. Supreme Court injunction prohibited anyone from blocking pipeline work sites or access roads.
Year after year, there has been news coverage of a series of large-scale raids by the RCMP on Witsuwit'en territory and solidarity protests that grew to span the whole country — all while TC Energy sought assurances from the B.C. government that it could complete construction on the 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline from eastern B.C. to Kitimat, on the west coast.
'You are invaders'
Yintah's on-the-ground perspective allows for an intimate view of people like wing chiefs Howilhkat Freda Huson — building a life on the land while constantly attuned to trespassers — and Sleydo' Molly Wickham. (Sleydo' is the sister of director Jennifer Wickham.)
Because of the time span of filming, Yintah is able to offer a prequel of sorts, documenting the sequence of events years before the nationwide protests.
In 2011, Howilhkat began reoccupying her house group's territory in a strategic location identified as a proposed pipeline corridor.
Witsuwit'en governance is land- and familial-based, operating through five separate clans. Within those clans are 13 house groups, which have responsibilities and authority over specific areas of the nation's traditional territory, spanning 22,000 square kilometres in northern B.C.
The documentary shows how years later, when the B.C. government gave TC Energy the green light to build a pipeline that cuts through the territory, Witsuwit'en leadership came together to support Howilhkat and her house group. They agreed to set up additional checkpoints to create a buffer of protection between her and an inevitable clash with the police.
"You don't have consent to enter our territory — you are invaders," Howilhkat shouts at the RCMP in the opening scene of the film. The police are there to enforce the B.C. Supreme Court injunction.
Media and the public were repeatedly barred from accessing the sites during RCMP raids. But Yintah's camera operators were embedded within the exclusion zones, alert to any police action.
Yintah was crafted from a collective perspective, according to Witsuwit'en law
Yintah reveals how the conflict began long before TC Energy proposed the pipeline — and it's one that is far from over.
The film deliberately centres Witsuwit'en governance and laws to help viewers understand the nation's point of view.
"I think bringing the film to such a wide audience is, you know, educating them on our system and just reinforcing the legitimacy of it," director Jennifer Wickham said.
"Witsuwit'en law has been around since before colonial law, and people are really understanding that and getting that."
The directors said the final cut was distinct in that it was crafted from a collective perspective, according to Witsuwit'en law. In a typical documentary, the director's vision and style decide the overall narrative.
"In the credits of the film, you'll see that we acknowledge more than three dozen Witsuwit'en decision makers that were involved in helping to shape the story," Toledano said.
The directors said they also had lengthy consultations about what context was essential to the film; for example, what the Witsuwit'en governance structure looks like, the feast hall ban, and the 1997 Delgamuukw-Gisday'wa decision from the Supreme Court of Canada, which recognized that the Witsuwit'en people never gave up title to an area the size of New Jersey. (The court decision also recognized that Witsuwit'en hereditary chiefs are responsible for decisions about their ancestral lands.)
In practical terms, this meant screening hours of footage with house groups to solicit feedback.
"The most impactful and satisfying and terrifying screening was when we showed it to our community before we did our global premiere and heard all the feedback from chiefs of all these different clans," Wickham said. "I cried — a lot — just wanting to get it right."
She said the directors took the time to do things properly, for example, by putting off consultations if there was a death in the community.
"I think the construct of time was really challenged throughout the process, and I love it," she said. "I'm so here for it."
Michell said it's the involvement of so many Witsuwit'en people that makes the documentary great.
She agreed to join the directing team with the encouragement and support of her family. (Her sister, Howilhkat, features prominently in the documentary.)
"Without our input, and feedback from our community and our clan members, I think it would have been a whole different story," Michell said.
On perspectives not reflected
There are many different stories that have been and could be told about what's occurred over the past decade on Witsuwit'en territory.
If you read the news coverage, there is the familiar framing of events: the hereditary chiefs objected to the pipeline going through the nation's traditional territory, and yet five of the six elected band councils within the Witsuwit'en nation had signed benefit agreements with Coastal GasLink.
The documentary touches on that internal tension in a scene where the Coastal GasLink president is meeting with community members. But the directors said they were deliberate in not focusing on division within the nation.
Wickham said that version of the story has been told time and time again and ignores the fact that the reserve and band council system was imposed on the Witsuwit'en people.
"At the end of the day, the fact is that it's our hereditary system that was recognized as the territory holders, and that's the position that we want to represent because that's the position that is legitimate within our communities and also, you know, within … the legal frameworks of so-called Canada.…
"We're not here to embolden their divide-and-conquer tactics."
Michell and Wickham agreed it was important to them as filmmakers to show respect to community members who supported the pipeline for its economic benefits.
'It should be everybody's fight'
It's often hard to know when a story ends.
"We could keep filming to this day and we would still be gathering footage that feels urgent and important," Toledano said.
They point out how people are still being criminalized and appearing before the courts in connection with the B.C. Supreme Court injunction.
Wickham said the decision to put the cameras down and focus on editing happened when the team secured funding for the documentary and was facing deadlines.
When asked what they want people to take away from the documentary, Michell was clear. "It should be everybody's fight to protect the land and the waters — especially the waters," she said.
"Hopefully, everybody will stand up and start … making noise and making more efforts to hold our political leaders accountable for all the decisions they're making that really aren't good for the planet."
Where to watch Yintah
Yintah had its Canadian premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival earlier this year. It won the Hot Docs Audience Award and the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary.
Watch Yintah on CBC Gem and the CBC Docs YouTube channel.
What is the correct spelling: Wet'suwet'en or Witsuwit'en?
Both Wet'suwet'en or Witsuwit'en are correct.
The spelling "Wet'suwet'en" is most commonly used in the media because it matches the spelling used by various Wet'suwet'en organizations, such as the Office of the Wet'suwet'en, and is consistent with the spelling used throughout the landmark Delgamuukw-Gisday'wa Supreme Court of Canada decision.
The film Yintah uses the spelling "Witsuwit'en" as this is the preferred spelling of Witsuwit'en. A distinct Witsuwit'en orthography was developed by a linguist working with the language speakers for decades.
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