Something extraordinary is happening at Standing Rock

UPDATE:  

Since we aired this show back in November, a lot has happened in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

The camps were cleared in winter and in January and President Donald Trump signed an executive memo that pushed pipeline through. It has since been completed and oil has started to flow. But a recent court decision handed the Sioux a partial victory.

In June, a federal judge ordered more environmental reviews.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers "largely complied" with environmental law when permitting the pipeline. But he also said they didn't adequately consider how an oil spill under the Missouri River might affect the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's fishing and hunting rights, or whether it might disproportionately affect the tribal community

Dave Archamabault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, called it "a significant victory."

The judge has asked both sides to submit written arguments in July and August.

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Something extraordinary is happening in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

It began in April, with a few Sioux people on a small piece of land that has grown into an international movement. Attracting thousands of people from all nations and backgrounds.   

It is a fluid population that ebbs and flows like the nearby Cannonball River. 

They are there to stand in solidarity with Standing Rock against a pipeline that would carry crude oil across Sioux territory, and threaten their primary water source.

They say they plan on staying for as long as it takes to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

This week on Unreserved we head to Standing Rock to meet the people who have set up camp. 

There are three different camps set up at Standing Rock. The first is Sacred Stone camp. It's located on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and overlooks the other two camps because it is up on a bluff. From the all three camps you can look up to a bluff on the south end where a house stands silent watching over the people.  

The house belongs to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard. Standing Rock began with her. Sacred Stone camp is on her property and from her house she can see the pipeline being built about two miles away.

Unreserved's Kim Wheeler headed to Standing Rock with some pre-conceived ideas but quickly found out a lot of the rumour and innuendo in social media was actually true. She shares her story of being in the camp alongside the water protectors.

Camping out in the cold in North Dakota is not all fun and games. Thousands of people from around the world have spent time in Standing Rock. At any given time there are up to 1500 people and tensions are bound to rise. CBC's Stephanie Cram explains how those issues are being dealt with. 

Harmony Lauritzen came to the camps at Standing Rock from her home near Portland, Oregon. She only intended to stay a few days but has taken over lunch duties in one of the main kitchens. She explains how cooks at camp get creative.  

If you walk around the Oceti Sakowin campsite you'll discover there are plenty of youth who have traded in their modern lifestyles and gone back to the basics. Tiar Wilson brings you their reasons for being here. 

Those at Standing Rock say the occupation is about protecting the water for future generations. Part of how they are doing that is through ceremony. Unreserved's Erica Daniels has been connected in ceremony for many years and will explain the role ceremonies play in the camps.

This week's Playlist

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Neil Young - Indian Givers