CPJ has joined ecumenical leaders in signing on to a letter, organized by Christian Peacemaker Teams, expressing our support for the Haudenosaunee Land Defenders at 1492 Land Back Lane. Based on CPJ’s support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we are committed to the principles of free, prior, and informed consent; Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty; and Indigenous Peoples’ inherent land rights.
The Land Defenders are exercising their right to protect their lands. The open letter calls on the federal government to “enter into Nation to Nation dialogue with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council and Land Defenders.”
By signing onto this open letter, CPJ also denounces the criminalization of these Land Defenders and their supporters. This includes raids, arrests, injunctions, as well as shooting rubber-coated steel bullets and using tasers against Land Defenders. As stated in the letter, “People seeking justice should never have to face violence.”
Read the letter and a list of signatories here.
