The day that LNG Canada authorized the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brimmed with glee as he announced the project in a press conference. "[This] represents the single largest private sector investment in the history of Canada," he proclaimed, looking around the room proudly as he soaked in the applause. "You know what, I liked that sentence so much I'm gonna say it again: the single largest private sector investment in the history of Canada."
That day marked the beginning of the Wet'suwet'en nation's renewed struggle for sovereignty over their 22,000 square kilometres of unceded land, which LNG Canada (a syndicate of multinational oil giants Shell, PetroChina, Petronas, KOGAS and Mitsubishi) and TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) threaten to infringe upon with the construction of the pipeline.
Yintah, meaning "land" in the Wet'suwet'en language, obliges viewers to witness and share in the courage, frustration, pain and fortitude of the individuals the documentary highlights. Throughout nearly a decade's worth of footage, viewers follow Tsakë ze' Howilhkat Freda Huson, Tsakë ze' Sleydo' Molly Wickham, and several other Wet'suwet'en chiefs and land defenders as they tenaciously stand their ground against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), local law enforcement, and LNG Canada and TC Energy workers and executives.
During its first hour, Yintah highlights the historical context of the Wet'suwet'en nation and of First Nations peoples in Canada as a whole. Of particular importance to the film's narrative is the Delgamuukw decision of 1997. In this landmark case, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that the Wet'suwet'en nation never ceded its land title to British Columbia. However, in the two decades that follow, it becomes clear that neither the government nor LNG Canada plans to respect this decision, and that law enforcement will not protect the Wet'suwet'en nation.
The second half of Yintah focuses on the community's effort to block the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through Wet'suwet'en territory. In 2021, the land defenders served an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink. After it refused to evacuate its employees by the deadline, the land defenders and sympathizers erected blockades on the main road. On and off for nearly two years, the land defenders' efforts to erect blockades and protest the construction were countered with RCMP raids.
Throughout the film, co-director and director of photography Michael Toledano zooms into the cold, unfeeling stares of police officers as they face off against the land defenders. In one particularly visceral scene, a police officer duct tapes a car window as the cameraperson narrates the event from inside the car. With a terrifying crash, the car window is hammered in, and the camera shakes and falls as its wielder shrieks in fear.
Despite the poignant anger and grief that resounds through the Wet'suwet'en struggle, Toledano and co-directors Jennifer Wickham and Brenda Michell make a point of accentuating the beautiful moments of everyday life on Wet'suwet'en land: the northern lights over the mountain peaks; ancestral ceremonies and traditions; Molly giving birth to her third child; black bears climbing up trees by the lake. These scenes illustrate everything that the Wet'suwet'en nation and the land defenders stand to lose, and what they are fighting so hard to protect.
Wickham, Michell, and Toledano's film is an ambitious, raw portrait of the Wet'suwet'en people's struggle and a necessary reminder that their efforts are ongoing. Although people across the nation rallied their support for the Wet'suwet'en nation in 2020, LNG Canada and TC Energy not only completed the Coastal GasLink, but according to the film's end credit screen, the federal government also continues to authorize new pipelines through the land. Yintah is as visually stunning as it is rousing, honestly and urgently claiming the Wet'suwet'en nation's sovereignty.