News Updates

RCMP C-IRG/CRU could be linked to British Columbia’s “Civil Disobedience Work Plan” to counter land defenders

Image from BC’s Secretive Plan to Tighten Protest Response (Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee, August 28, 2024). Amanda Follett Hosgood of The Tyee reports: “On the heels of the last significant police action on Wet’suwet’en territory [against Indigenous land defenders opposing the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline], Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

The RCMP C-IRG and the Site C dam flooding Indigenous heritage sites and burial grounds in British Columbia

CBC photo (March 1, 2016): “Tuesday, RCMP flew in to a remote Site C protest camp and stood in a snowy, forest clearing to read protesters Monday’s BC Supreme Court order requiring them to leave or face arrest. (Christy Jordan-Fenton)” The Canadian Press reports: “BC Hydro says it has begun Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Nisga’a land defenders establish highway blockade in opposition to construction of PRGT pipeline

We are following social media posts on X/Twitter and Instagram about the blockade established by Nisga’a land defenders in opposition to the construction of the PRGT gas pipeline on their territory. A media release issued this morning also highlights: “Now is a crucial time to stop this pipeline. They’ve brought Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Colombia meets with UN Working Group that raises concerns about the exploitation of natural resources, corporate transparency

Photo by Indepaz. The Bogota-based Center for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia) highlights in this feature article in El Espectador the recent visit to Colombia of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights. The visit was led by UN Working Group Chairperson Fernanda Hopenhaym Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs close road to LNG trucks in resistance to the planned PRGT pipeline

Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Watakhayetsxw (Deborah Good) says: “As of tonight, I am closing the Cranberry Connector from 11 kilometers to 31 kilometres. …I am closing the road and I will keep it closed. There will be no trucks permitted through the territory. No LNG equipment will be permitted through the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

1,358 Palestinian human rights defenders may have been killed over the last 10 months

Photo: Journalists holding placards protest the killing of journalist Mohamed Abu Saadeh in an Israeli attack on August 7, 2024. Photo by Doaa Albaz/Anadolu Agency. Front Line Defenders has noted: “People considered to be human rights defenders in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] include journalists, lawyers, medical workers, fieldworkers, international Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Vancouver Island University calls on RCMP to remove Palestinian Solidarity Encampment after August 18 deadline

Photo from PSE on Instagram. On Thursday August 15, the Canadian Press reported: “Pro-Palestinian protesters who set up an encampment at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, B.C., have been told to pack up within 72 hours. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says a judge in Vancouver granted an injunction ordering Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Mexico salutes Indigenous communities working in defence of territory, water and their self-determination

Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanies the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water at the first Assembly of Cholultec Peoples convened by the Union of Peoples and Subdivisions against the Sanitary Landfill and in Defense of Life to reaffirm their rights to self-determination and autonomy; May 14, 2024. On August 10, Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Honduras sends condolences on the murder of CNTC campesino leader and land defender Olman Garcia

PBI-Honduras has posted: “From PBI Honduras, we send our deepest condolences to the @CntcTegucigalpa [National Union of Rural Workers] and to the family of peasant leader and land defender Olman García, who was murdered on August 4 in Ceibita Way (Esparta, Atlántida).” The image below states: “In memory of land Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS screening of “The Wounds of the River” documentary

CREDHOS has posted on Facebook: “With much excitement and mixed feelings, we launched our mini-series documentary; ‘The Wounds of the River’, an audiovisual piece that highlights the voices of victims, artisanal fishermen, women, defenders and human rights defenders, who narrate the victimization against the region and our most important river Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago