Three Indigenous land defenders to be sentenced in Canadian court today at 11:00 am Pacific Time (8:00 pm Central European Time)

Published by Brent Patterson on October 17, 2025 October 17, 2025

Today at 11 am Pacific Time, three Indigenous land defenders will be sentenced at the conclusion of a three-day hearing in Smithers, British Columbia.

Land and territorial rights defenders Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko will be sentenced by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen as Wet’suwet’en, Gitxsan and Gitanyow hereditary chiefs watch from a jury box in the courtroom.

Crown prosecutors are seeking 30 days in jail for Sleydo’, 25 days in jail for Jocko and 20 days in jail for Sampson less time already served in custody with a further reduction of 2-5 days for acknowledged violations of their Charter rights.

Defence lawyer Frances Mahon is seeking a sentence of time served or a conditional sentence order, with 100 to 150 hours of community service. The defence is also asking if the court concludes that additional jail time is required that this be served in the community rather than in a provincial jail as the Crown is seeking.

The sentencing dates back to their arrest by heavily armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) officers on November 19, 2021, at an ancestral village site being used for a drill pad by Coastal GasLink as it built their fracked gas pipeline across the Wedzin Kwa river without free, prior and informed consent on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia.

This past February, the court ruled during an abuse of process hearing that RCMP C-IRG officers had made “grossly offensive, racist and dehumanizing” remarks during the arrest and that there would be a reduction in their sentences for criminal contempt as an “appropriate” remedy. There has also been a finding that officers entered without a warrant the cabins the land defenders were residing within.

The sentencing hearing this week is being observed by representatives from Peace Brigades International-Canada, Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders.

At this time, PBI-Canada recalls:

There is a global pattern of aggressions against land defenders: Last month, Global Witness noted: “Over 2,200 killings or long-term disappearances of defenders appear in our database since 2012 – with 146 cases documented in 2024.” They further highlighted: “Indigenous Peoples were victims of around a third of lethal attacks [in 2024], despite making up around 6% of the global population.”

There were repeated letters to Canada from the UN to stop construction of the pipeline: The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had repeatedly called on Canada to stop construction on the Coastal GasLink pipeline, to remove the RCMP from Wet’suwet’en territory, and to seek consent for the pipeline. Canada is a signatory to the Convention that this Committee is tasked to uphold.

Studies document skewed injunctions: The Canadian Press has reported: “A study of over 100 injunctions published by the Yellowhead Institute found 76 per cent of injunctions filed by corporations against First Nations were granted, compared with 19 per cent of injunctions filed by First Nations against corporations.” The criminal contempt charge against the land defenders stems from their violation of a court injunction while upholding Wet’suwet’en law on their unceded territories within Canada.

Damage has been done to the yintah with the risk now of compressor stations: The Narwhal has previously documented sites along the CGL pipeline route “overwhelmed by spring melt and numerous environmental infractions including slope failures, flooded worksites and sediment entering wetlands and waterways.” If an expansion of LNG Canada export terminal proceeds, two compressor stations would be built on Wet’suwet’en territory in proximity to important cultural sites causing further damage.

There is RCMP surveillance and intimidation of land defenders: Amnesty International has documented that: “Since [Coastal GasLink/CGL] pipeline construction activities began, the RCMP, CRU [the new name for the C-IRG] and employees of Forsythe Security (the private security firm hired by CGL), have subjected Wet’suwet’en land defenders within their territory to intrusive and aggressive surveillance, harassment and intimidation.”

A systemic investigation of the C-IRG has no end date as the CRGT pipeline moves forward: The federal Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) launched a systemic investigation of the RCMP C-IRG on March 9, 2023. As the third anniversary of this investigation with no deadline or release date in sight, we are concerned that this controversial unit will be deployed against Gitanyow land defenders opposed to the construction of the PRGT pipeline on their lax’yip just as it was used against the Wet’suwet’en on their yintah.

We continue to follow this and will be reporting on the sentencing later today.

PBI-Canada is honoured to collaborate with the team from Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders monitoring this sentencing hearing.