WNPA Olympia News Bureau

OLYMPIA – Climate activists erected tents and teepees Monday in front of the Washington State Capitol building, on the opening day of the Legislature’s 60-day session.

“We are here today in prayer,” said Paul Che Oketen Wagner. He is a member of Protectors of the Salish Sea and of the Saanich First Nation of Canada.

Wagner claims under the Medicine Creek treaty of 1854, the legislative grounds are native lands. He said the group hoped to occupy the space between the legislative building and the Washington State Supreme Court for the duration of...