Wet’suwet’en land defenders Eve Saint and Jocey Alec to be interviewed for Rabble podcast

Instagram photo of Eve Saint and Jocey Alec.

Wet’suwet’en land defenders Eve Saint and Jocelyn (Jocey) Alec are sisters who have been criminalized for defending their sovereign territory in northern British Columbia from a fracked gas pipeline being built on those lands without consent.

Eve was arrested by the RCMP on February 7, 2020, at the Gidimt’en checkpoint blockade at the 44-kilometre mark on the Morice River Forest Service Road.

There were 60-100 police officers present, including the Emergency Response Team (ERT), dressed in army green and carrying automatic weapons.

Before she was arrested, Eve said to them: “This is Wet’suwet’en territory. We are unarmed. We are peaceful. This is unceded territory. This is the territory of Woos. I am his daughter. You are invaders. You are not allowed here. You are not welcome.”

Eve was charged with obstruction of justice and held in custody for four days in cells in Houston and Smithers.

Jocey was arrested by the RCMP on November 19, 2021, while inside a cabin in proximity to Coyote camp near the 63-kilometre mark on the road.

Coyote camp was built on the Marten Forest Service Road near Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) to stop Coastal GasLink from drilling under the river to lay the pipe for its pipeline.

Jocey was inside her cabin with her partner and two allies when the RCMP used an axe and then a chainsaw to tear down its front door. The video of the raid on their cabin can be seen here. This happened just after the arrests of Molly Wickham and others in a nearby cabin. Michael Toledano filmed this footage of that first assault.

Jocey was charged with civil contempt for breaching the terms of an injunction granted to Coastal GasLink not released from custody until November 23.

Eve has said: “The post-traumatic stress is real. As Indigenous peoples, we don’t like to see these images of our relatives and loved ones being invaded with these colonial forces.”

Eve and Jocelyn will be interviewed for a podcast by PBI-Canada director and Rabble.ca contributor Brent Patterson that will be available here later this week.

Instagram photo of Jocey Alec and Eve Saint.