I’m writing to update you about the Indigenous-led fight against Line 3 here in Minnesota. First, thank you for the solidarity you’ve shown my community, Camp Migizi, as well as our ally, Lakota People’s Law Project. It has been a hard but rewarding year for us. Sadly, despite our best efforts, construction of Line 3 is now virtually complete — but we’re still resisting best we can. As COP26 unfolds in Scotland, we’re grateful we’ve been able to raise consciousness throughout the world about the need to fight hard against fossil fuel infrastructure.
 
Please watch and share this moving video that aired several days ago on ABC Nightline — you’ll hear from me and other Ojibwe women leading this struggle.

Watch: Nightline traveled to MN to interview me and others about the movement

As many of you know, Line 3 is a thousand-mile pipeline owned by Enbridge, a Canadian company. It stretches from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest and will carry some of the world’s dirtiest, most climate-warming fuel. Biden could shut it down, but he hasn’t. The 1 million petitions our coalition has submitted to the White House haven’t fallen on deaf ears: we’ve heard that some of Biden’s staff are lobbying the President to act, but those further up the food chain are balking. Over the next 3 years we must pressure the President to fulfill his promise to act aggressively against climate change.
 
Meanwhile, my team at Camp Migizi went to D.C. on Indigenous People’s Day last month to protest. We sat on the fence of the White House, and some of us joined the first take-over of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building since the American Indian Movement first did that in the 70s. 500 arrests were made. Overall, more than one thousand of us have been taken into custody as part of this struggle. And we’ve learned in recent days that Enbridge paid $4.25 million to local law enforcement to fight us. This collusion between private industry and state police reminds me of Standing Rock, where my friend Chase Iron Eyes faced prosecution in 2017. 

At our camp near the Fon Du Lac reservation in Minnesota we’re erecting structures for prayer, as we shift from being only a protest space to also being a sacred ceremony grounds in the coming months. For one, we’ll invest more time searching for missing and murdered Indigenous persons. Our movement has many fronts, and we cannot forgo any of them. The work goes on. Please continue to stand with us! 

Miigwech – my deep appreciation for your solidarity!
Taysha Martineau
Camp Migizi via Lakota Law