Biography
Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) water protector charged with criminal trespass for the June 2021 Fire Light ceremonial camp opposing Enbridge's Line 3 tar sands pipeline. White Earth Tribal Court dismissed his case in 2022, holding that Anishinaabe people retain sovereign treaty rights including the right to hold ceremony and protect the water.
In a March 2026 first-person candidate statement published by the White Earth Nation, Keezer described his earlier work as a wildland-fire engine boss and registered EMT with White Earth BIA and the Minnesota DNR, followed by grassroots organizing with the Indigenous Environmental Network. He said he helped organize environmental and social-justice events and had recently co-founded a nonprofit focused on treaty-rights education and food sovereignty. This supplies background to his water-protection work; it does not establish any additional arrest, prison term or custody endpoint.
Anishinaabeg Today, White Earth Nation, March 4, 2026, page 22, Justin Keezer candidate statement.
