Wet’suwet’en Activist Marlene Hale Warns Carney About Alberta Oil Deal: “There Will Be an Uprising”
by Global Green News
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly signed oil deal with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith — a plan to build a major interprovincial pipeline through British Columbia — has triggered an immediate and forceful warning from Wet’suwet’en land defender Marlene Hale: if the federal government pushes forward, a massive Indigenous uprising is inevitable.
In an extensive interview with Global Green News, Hale criticized both Carney and Smith for advancing what she calls a “dangerous, Trump-style resource agenda” at a moment of intensifying climate catastrophe and ongoing violations of Indigenous sovereignty.
“They made an example of our people of what lies ahead — not just in BC or Alberta, but for Indigenous people all around the world,” Hale said.
Context: The Previous Wet’suwet’en Resistance
Hale is referring to the 2019–2020 Wet’suwet’en conflict, when RCMP carried out militarized raids on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory to force through the Coastal GasLink pipeline despite the clear opposition of hereditary Chiefs. The raids — involving snipers, helicopters, and exclusion zones — sparked nationwide solidarity blockades, rail shutdowns, and international scrutiny of Canada’s colonial policing.
For Hale, that history is not distant: it is a warning of exactly how the Carney government will respond again.
Carney and Smith: “Appeasing Trump-style politics”
Hale reacted sharply to the decision by the prime minister to align himself with Smith’s fossil fuel expansion plans.
“I believe both of them are there to appease Trump — we all know that,” she said. “Danielle Smith is one of the most dangerous women in Canada right now.”
For Hale, the Carney–Smith pipeline deal represents not only a betrayal of climate leadership but also a deliberate political strategy to push federal policy sharply to the right under the guise of national energy development.
“We’re already living in a five-alarm climate emergency”
Hale described how climate disasters have escalated to the point where nearly every week brings new fires, floods, or extreme weather alerts.
She noted that Canada is already in a ‘five-alarm warning’ scenario — and yet the federal government is doubling down on fossil fuel expansion.
The pipeline as a blueprint for future repression
Hale warned that the Carney government is following the same political model used against the Wet’suwet’en: push fossil fuel expansion at all costs and treat Indigenous opposition as a policing issue rather than a rights issue.
“Environmental assessment is not for the people anymore… they just get a slap on the wrist.”
A coastal confrontation: “The biggest fight you will ever see”
If the pipeline reaches BC’s coastline, Hale warned that the fight will escalate dramatically.
“You will have the biggest fight in your hands with all the Chiefs along the coast,” she said.
Coastal Nations have a long history of resisting tanker expansion, protecting salmon, and defending old-growth forests. Hale argues that the Carney–Smith deal places the federal government directly in conflict with these longstanding Indigenous movements.
She warned that the state is already escalating its policing tactics, pointing to recent violent arrests of peaceful Palestine protesters in Vancouver as a sign of what’s to come. “They are putting the message out there that they are coming out very strong. But we have to come out even stronger.”
A warning to Prime Minister Carney
Hale’s message is direct: if Ottawa attempts to force a new pipeline through Indigenous lands, Canada will face a wave of resistance far larger than the Wet’suwet’en uprising of 2019, and the public must be prepared for the government’s response.
As Prime Minister Carney moves ahead with his deal, Hale urges Canadians and international observers to pay close attention to what unfolds next. The government’s pipeline ambitions have set the stage for a pivotal confrontation over Indigenous rights, climate survival, and the future of civil liberties in Canada. Whether Carney chooses escalation or dialogue, and whether the country chooses repression or reconciliation, will shape the political landscape for years to come. For Hale, one thing is certain: the world will be watching what happens next on Wet’suwet’en land, and so should we.
Reprinted from Global Green News.