A personal account of one man's confrontation with colonization that
illuminates the philosophy and values of a First Nation on the front
lines of the fight against an extractive industry, ineffective
government, and the threat to the life-giving ocean.
It Stops Here is the story of the spiritual, cultural, and political
resurgence of a nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters,
law, and food systems in face of colonization. The book recounts the
intergenerational struggle of the Tsleil-Waututh to overcome the harms
of colonization and the powerful stance they have taken against the
expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline--a fossil fuel megaproject that
would triple the capacity of tar sands bitumen piped to tidewater on
their unceded territory and result in a sevenfold increase in oil
tankers moving through their waters.
The book provides a firsthand account of this resurgence as told by one
of the most prominent leaders of the widespread opposition to the Trans
Mountain Pipeline expansion--Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
He has devoted more than a decade of his life to fighting this project
and shares stories about his family's deep ancestral connections to
these waters that have provided the Tsleil-Waututh with a rich abundance
of foods and medicines since time immemorial. Despite the systematic
attempts at cultural genocide enacted by the colonial state, Rueben
recounts how key leaders of the community, such as his grandfather,
Chief Dan George, always taught the younger generations to be proud of
who they were and to remember the importance of their connection to the
inlet.
Part memoir, part call to action, It Stops Here urges policy makers to
prioritize sacred territory over oil profits and insists that colonial
Canada change its perspective from bending natural resources to their
will to respecting this territory and those who inhabit it.
