Amnesty International could designate three Indigenous land defenders in Canada as prisoners of conscience

Published by Brent Patterson on February 21, 2025February 21, 2025

Photo: Corey Jocko, Sleydo’ and Shaylynn Sampson. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood/The Tyee.

On Tuesday February 18, CBC reported that BC Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen ruled that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) breached the Charter rights of three Indigenous land defenders during a militarized raid on Wet’suwet’en territory in 2021.

Those land defenders are Sleydo’ (Wet’suwet’en), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan) and Corey Jocko (Kanien’kehá:ka-Mohawk).

Amnesty International now says that it “is reviewing the implications of Tuesday’s decision. Should they receive a sentence that arbitrarily deprives them of their liberty, Amnesty will designate the affected land defenders as prisoners of conscience.”

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, says: “If the Canadian state decides to unjustly criminalize and confine Sleydo’, Shaylynn, and Corey, Amnesty International will not hesitate to designate them as prisoners of conscience. Canada is on the sadly long list of countries in the Americas where land defenders remain at risk for their essential work.”

France-Isabelle Langlois, general director of Amnistie internationale Canada francophone, adds: “The Court’s decision to uphold the convictions of the three land defenders is part of a broader context of shrinking civic space in Canada, where Indigenous land defenders, environmentalists, and human right defenders are frequently the victims of political or police repression.”

Photo by Amnesty International

Maximum sentence of five years

Justice Tammen found the three land defenders guilty last year of criminal contempt of court for breaking an injunction against blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory. CBC reports: “Tammen said the maximum sentence for criminal contempt is no more than five years imprisonment.”

APTN adds: “The case will be back in court on April 3 to fix a date for sentencing.”

Chief Dsta’hyl

Video: Chief Dsta’hyl and Gitxsan land defender Kolin Sutherland-Wilson detained by the RCMP C-IRG, October 27, 2021.

The Amnesty International statement further notes: “If Amnesty International names Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko prisoners of conscience, it will be the second time the organization has applied that designation to a person held by Canada. In July 2024, Amnesty declared another Wet’suwet’en land defender – Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl – a prisoner of conscience after the British Columbia court sentenced him to 60 days of house arrest.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: RCMP C-IRG snipers repeatedly deployed against Wet’suwet’en land defenders and water protectors (PBI-Canada, February 20, 2025).

PBI-Canada social media post.

Click here: The Yintah Access link to donate to help support the legal costs of the land defenders challenging RCMP C-IRG violence.