Land defenders continue their abuse of process claim against the RCMP C-IRG, September 3-11
Photo: Corey Jocko, Shaylynn Sampson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham. Photo for The Tyee by Amanda Follett Hosgood; January 2024.
As noted by Sleydo’ in this video from this past June, the abuse of process court hearing will resume this coming September 3-11 (next week!).
The first part of the abuse of process application was heard in a courtroom in Smithers, British Columbia on January 12-19 this year.
The second part was to take place from June 17-21 but needed to be postponed until this coming week.
The application alleges the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) used excessive force and violated the Charter Rights of Indigenous land defenders resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory.
Yintah Access update on Instagram
Ricochet article by Brandi Morin
Journalist Brandi Morin also reports:
“In June and July 2022, the B.C. Prosecution Service charged 20 land defenders with criminal contempt for breaching the injunction order. Among the group, seven land defenders pleaded guilty, while charges against five others were dropped.
Three additional Indigenous land defenders, who were convicted of criminal contempt for defying the injunction terms, are currently contesting the legal process in an abuse of process application with their trial set to resume in September.”
Photo: Wing Chief Sleydo (Molly Wickham) of the Gidimt’en (wolf and bear) Clan at her home on Wet’suwet’en territory. Photo by Amy Romer.
Morin adds:
“About an hour and a half’s drive up the mountain road near the CGL pipeline route is a log cabin and several smaller structures. The view from this clearing is stunning — a glistening lake, rugged mountains, thick forests beneath wide-open skies with fireweed and Indigenous flowers growing wildly.
In the home of Sleydo’, Molly Wickham, a Wet’suwet’en matriarch of the Gidimt’en Clan and mother of three, who helped lead the resistance against CGL’s pipeline, she looks out the window over the lake.
In January, Sleydo’ was convicted of criminal contempt for attempting to block the pipeline. She and two other convicted land defenders are scheduled to attend an abuse of process hearing which alleges the RCMP used excessive force during their arrest and that they were treated unfairly while in custody. The filing asks, if the judge does not suspend their charges, then consider lessening their sentences, in light of the treatment they received from the RCMP.
Since the RCMP pulled out of the territory, Sleydo’ said she’s had a chance to breathe. The years of harassment and militarization of her homelands took a toll, and she developed PTSD.
“It was literally like a war zone. And you can’t heal when you’re still in a war zone. So, this last year my health has improved dramatically. I’ve been able to start processing things, and feeling a lot more stable, and doing a lot more healing work.””
The full article can be read at Meet the hereditary chief who Amnesty International calls Canada’s first prisoner of conscience (Brandi Morin, Ricochet, August 27, 2024).
Our overview of the first hearing can be read at Twelve concerning things we learned about the RCMP C-IRG during the first week of the abuse of process hearing (January 20, 2024).
We will be following this court hearing.
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