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Spanning more than a decade, the film follows Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham as their nation reoccupies and protects their ancestral lands from several of the largest fossil fuel companies on earth.
YINTAH is about an anti-colonial resurgence—a fierce and ongoing fight for Indigenous and human rights in the face of a colonial government committed to seizing lands at gunpoint.
Wet’suwet’en land is unceded: There is no treaty, no bill of sale, or no surrender placing the land under Canadian authority. In 1997, the Dinï ze’ and Tsakë ze’ (Hereditary Chiefs) of the Wet’suwet’en people proved in Canada’s top court that they had never given up ownership to 22,000km2 of land.
Yet, despite this court ruling, Canada has authorized fossil fuel giants to build pipelines across Wet’suwet’en land. The result: a decade long clash between Wet’suwet’en land defenders and Canadian police seeking to seize Wet’suwet’en land at gunpoint.
YINTAH is the story of the Indigenous right to sovereignty over Indigenous territories. Freda, Molly, and the Dinï ze’ and Tsakë ze’ are part of a centuries-long fight to protect their children, culture, and land from colonial violence. For the Wet’suwet’en, their very future is at stake.
Jennifer Wickham
Jen is Cas Yikh (Grizzly House) from the Gidimt’en (bear/wolf) clan of the Wet’suwet’en people. Jennifer grew up in and around Wet’suwet’en territory, and has actively participated in her nation’s governance system since 2008. Jen's background is in writing and Indigenous resurgence, with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Victoria and an Education degree from the University of Northern British Columbia. She has worked as an educator, a mental health advocate, and community support worker. She is a founding member of the Indigenous Life School on Wet’suwet’en territory. From 2018 to 2020, Jen worked as the Executive Director of the Witsuwit’en Language and Culture Society. Since 2018, and currently, Jen has been the Media Coordinator for the Gidimt’en Checkpoint.
Freda Huson is the face of Indigenous sovereignty in Canada’s Northwest. After quitting a well-paying job and abandoning a comfortable life on the reservation, she moves onto her ancestral lands to protect them. As she coordinates hundreds of volunteers to build cabins, lodges, and a three story healing center in the path of several pipelines, she is dubbed an “Aboriginal extremist” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and her home is labeled Canada’s “ideological and physical focal point of Aboriginal resistance to resource extraction projects.” Facing off with pipeline workers and police, a woman with no prior background in politics or public relations becomes the spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en people of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. It’s a role entrusted to her by the elders and highest ranking chiefs of her clan, who honour her by giving her the chief name Howilhkat.
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