Free Prior and Informed Consent Protocol

Share

Free Prior and Informed Consent

Freda Huson leads protocol at the bridge over Wedzin Kwa

 

The Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) protocol used by the Unist’ot’en is a request of permission to enter the lands of the traditional chiefs and matriarchs. Visitors are asked to identify themselves and their relationship to the hosts, as our ancestors did. Like a border crossing, the protocol questions make Unist’ot’en land a safe place. FPIC ensures peace and security on the territory.

In ancient times and even today in canoe journeys, and community resistance building gatherings, there exist Protocols where visiting peoples have shown who they are in relation to asking permission to enter the Traditional Lands from the Traditional Chiefs and Matriarchs of the hosting lands.

This is a living breathing assertion of the Traditional Laws of the Wet’suwet’en, which have been asserted via protocols like this on the lands for thousands of years, and renewed by today’s sovereigntists.

Free Prior and Informed Consent is now also written into the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).