Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
A vehicle exploded in Washington, DC, the United States.
The Israeli occupation forces are carrying out extensive air raids on eastern and northeastern Gaza.
Israeli media: One Israeli soldier killed in a "security incident" in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip
Israeli media: Intense exchange of fire in Khan Younis
Israeli media platform reports on a tough incident in Gaza still under media censorship
Iran's judiciary says 71 killed in Israeli strike on Evin Prison
Trump: Make the deal, get the hostages back
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: 67 Palestinians were martyred in 24 hours in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip
Israeli media: For the first time, Prime Minister Netanyahu is signaling that he wants to end the war on Gaza
Israeli Channel 12, citing an American source: We want to have entered a path toward captive release and a ceasefire before Netanyahu arrives in Washington

Canadian groups pose as 'Indigenous champions' for support

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: The Guardian
  • 12 Mar 2022 20:50
  • 3 Shares
5 Min Read

The Guardian reported that oil and gas companies are ‘Indigenous-washing’ their ads to garner support for projects on First Nation lands, and guess who is helping them promote their lies?

  • x
  • Canadian groups pose as Indigenous champions to garner support for projects
    Canadian groups pose as Indigenous champions to garner support for projects.

Canadian oil and gas companies have been heavily investing in campaigns to appear as defenders of Indigenous interests in response to evident protests against a controversial natural gas pipeline on First Nation land, a recent probe by Eco-Bot.Net and The Guardian has found.

One of the 21 advertisements that targeted British Columbia in 2021 read, “I’m being a steward to my land and I’m being a defender,” quoting a Coastal GasLink worker from Nak’azdli Whut’en’ First Nation.

While the ad that shows Indigenous support for the pipeline was shown on social media platforms of people in the Canadian province, 30 Wet’suwet’en Nation members and supporters were being violently forced out of their lands along the pipeline. Police broke into two cabins while holding an ax, a chainsaw, and a dog unit, with snipers aiming at the door.

“The thing I remember most is the dogs … barking and whining, pulling their leashes trying to get at you,” says Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, a member of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en, who was arrested.

Wickham remembers a recording the police put out over their radios. He said, “They were playing a horror film audio. You know, where the little child sings, ‘I know where you are, I’m gonna get you, I’m coming for you.’”

Over the past two years, over C$122,000 (US$95,249) were spent by fossil fuel groups on over 400 Facebook and Instagram ads about different oil and gas projects all over the country. Last November, following actions and solidarity protests across Canada taken by Indigenous people on defending their land, the ads, which were shown some 21m times in total, went viral. 

Coastal GasLink is one of three multibillion-dollar pipelines facing opposition by Indigenous and environmental groups in Canada.  

Meta's role exposed

Eco-Bot.Net has conducted an analysis of the Facebook ads that were showing from January 2020 to the present and found that "Indigenous-washing" ads from a company behind the pipeline, TC Energy, have been flowing steadily.

The protests started when a hereditary chief was arrested after he tried to block the construction of the pipeline. Following the incident, TC Energy and some affiliated groups started to launch ads, for which they paid C$14,000 to Meta.

Eco-Bot.Net was launched and founded by disinformation researcher Bill Posters and Massive Attack’s Rob Del Naja, during the COP26 climate talks, with the aim to scrape databases of social media advertising paid for by the world’s most polluting companies.

Related News

Meta sued in Ghana over extreme content's toll on moderators

Meta faces scrutiny after ending fact-checking on Facebook

The probe used Meta’s Ad Library, by searching keywords such as “Indigenous”, “First Nations”, “pipeline” or “oil”, to find Indigenous-washing actors in Canada. Afterward, disinformation researchers analyzed the ads run by the accounts of these groups in the last two years.

The analysis found that the ads use terms such as land “defender”, "reconciliation", and “eco-colonialism” to portray the oil and gas companies as supporting Indigenous groups.

“The very fact that they’re pushing [these ads] is like a drowning man getting caught in a swift river. A piece of straw goes by and he wants to grab it, hoping it’ll save him,” said the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Na’Moks, who opposes the pipeline.

Earlier this month, land defenders filed a submission to the UN Human Rights Council that details police raids in recent years, which have resulted in the arrest of 74 people.

In one of those raids, The Guardian exposed officers who were getting ready to use lethal force against land defenders. 

However, social media platforms' ads narrate the story differently, such as in the following ads:

“Meet Shirley & Alma, Wet’suwet’en members who see the opportunities Coastal GasLink is bringing to their community.” 

Another ad claims that land defenders are “disrupting potentially game-changing opportunities for Indigenous communities."

Facebook adverts claim broad support from the Wet’suwet’en by promoting the company’s agreements with the bands only, while the pipeline cuts across unceded Wet’suwet’en land under the jurisdiction of hereditary chiefs, according to a 1997 supreme court ruling.

The ads obviously portray oil and gas development as vital for the economic development and poverty alleviation of the Indigenous. 

“A strong oil and gas sector is key for Indigenous education and prosperity.”

In the meantime, the leaders in such communities consider building the pipeline as a threat to their land. 

“We as hereditary chiefs have to think thousands of years in the future,” said Chief Na'Moks, adding, “We protect our lands. That’s what we’re doing right now, peacefully. Yet they come at us with guns.”

  • Facebook
  • Canada
  • social media
  • Meta
  • indigenous people
  • Oil and gas

Most Read

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a protest following the US attacks on nuclear sites in Iran, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP)

Iran declares victory as ceasefire forces Israeli retreat

  • Politics
  • 24 Jun 2025
Iran launches strikes on Israeli targets, despite alleged ceasefire

Iran victorious as ceasefire with 'Israel' takes effect

  • Politics
  • 24 Jun 2025
The site of a direct missile strike launched from Iran in Tel Aviv on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP)

Op. True Promise 3, wave 21: Multi-warhead missiles rain on 'Israel'

  • Politics
  • 23 Jun 2025
Iran says targeted US Qatar air base under Op. Annunciation of Victory

Iran says targeted US Qatar air base under Op. Annunciation of Victory

  • MENA
  • 23 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Women comfort each other by a vehicle that was burnt overnight by Israeli settlers in an attack that killed three Palestinians and burnt several vehicles and damaged homes, in Kafr Malik, east of Ramallah, Thursday, June 26, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Settlers shoot and assault Palestinians in Hizma, Masafer Yatta

Syria's interim leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, walks in the presidential palace ahead of a meeting in Damascus, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP)
Politics

Syria open to Sharaa-Netanyahu meeting at UN assembly: Israeli media

Former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks with media at the Interior Ministry in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 31, 2024 (AP)
Politics

'Israel' failed to topple Iran, lost 12-day war, Larijani says

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP)
Politics

War on Gaza failed to achieve objectives in Gaza: Israeli media

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS