Activists disrupted the world’s largest mining convention to hold a vigil for the people killed in opposition to Canadian mining projects around the world. The protest came four days after Bertha Cáceras, an Indigenous leader from Honduras, was assassinated in her home. This short video was produced for Submedia.tv, an independent media channel run by Franklin Lopez.
I spent several months filming this short documentary in Unist’ot’en territory as the RCMP and pipeline companies increased their presence in the area and attempted to force fracking infrastructure onto unceded Indigenous land. As of May 2016, this video has been viewed nearly 8 million times on Facebook. Edited by Franklin Lopez.
I filmed and edited a number of update videos from Unist’ot’en camp in the summer and early fall of 2015.
June 2015 update: Throughout May and June, TransCanada made repeated attempts to survey a route for their Coastal Gaslink pipeline by trespassing in Unist’ot’en territory. A new checkpoint was established on the Chisolm Forest Service Road, while supporters at the main camp encountered a helicopter that landed without the clan’s consent. The clan continues to make sure that no pipelines will be built on their unceded territores. This was viewed by approximately 40,000 people on facebook and embedded in the reports of the Vancouver Observer.
July 23rd, 2015: Representatives of Chevron attempted to enter unceded Unist’ot’en territory with a gift of bottled water and tobacco, seeking to conduct work for their Pacific Trail Pipelines hydraulically fractured gas line. They have not obtained consent from the clan’s hereditary chiefs and were turned away.
This video was viewed over 1.9 million times on Facebook.
August 28th, 2015: Unist’ot’en clan members preserve salmon amid reports that the RCMP are planning to raid their camp.
August 30th, 2015: Richard Sam, plaintiff in a Wet’suwet’en court victory against Canfor, checks out the Pacific Trail Pipeline right of way as it is cleared by Chevron. The right of way is cleared up to 2km away from Unist’ot’en camp.
To stop oil projects from moving forward, the Unist’ot’en have set up an encampment on traditional territory
My first short film with AJ+ from October 2014, co-created with Franklin Lopez, reached almost 2 million people via youtube and Facebook.
This site was created May 2015 and is still being updated. View writing samples, videos, photographs, and for older content please see my Tumblr.