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Ottawa-based Gastops provides engine sensors for F-35 warplanes now being used to bomb Gaza

By
Brent Patterson
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The Breach reports: “According to a Breach investigation, Gastops is the only company in the world that produces engine sensors that go into U.S.-made F-35 combat jets—including the ones dropping 2,000 pound bombs in Gaza.”

That article adds: “ To make the F-35 warplanes sold to Israel, Lockheed Martin has relied on a global supply chain for components, with critical contributors from Canada, the UK, and Australia. Their manufacturing operates on a vulnerable ‘just-in-time supply chain’, with parts intended to arrive as needed. Gastops makes unique sensors that are designed to detect engine wear and tear and ‘keep aircraft in the air’, resulting in ‘less downtime, more flight time’, according to the company. Approximately two dozen employees are responsible for making the sensors at the company, which produced at least 3,500 of them over the past decade.”

What else do we know?

The relationship between Gastops and the Lockheed Martin F-35 program goes back more than 10 years.

In December 2012, Industry Canada noted in its Canadian Industrial Participation in The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program report that: “GasTOPS Limited of Ottawa developed the debris monitoring sensors for use on the F135 engine that powers the F-35 JSF.”

Journalist David Pugliese also noted in the Ottawa Citizen the relationship between Gastops and the F-35 program in January 2014.

MetalSCAN Oil Debris Monitoring sensors

A March 2021 media release from Gastops further notes: “Gastops, a company located in Ottawa, Canada that specializes in equipment intelligence technology, provides up to 4 engine sensors on the F-35A, B and C variants and is proud to announce that it has recently delivered its 3,500th engine sensor to the F-35 program.”

It adds: “At the forefront of these sensing technologies is Gastops’ MetalSCAN Oil Debris Monitoring sensors. MetalSCAN sensing technology offers a real-time condition indication of the health of critical components in the engine by enabling condition-based maintenance decisions rather than the outdated time-based methods.”

Image by Gastops.

Manufactured in Ottawa

In January 2024, Canadian Defence Review highlighted: “The company’s products, MetalSCAN and ChipCHECK … are designed, manufactured, and supported from its headquarters in Ottawa… With some 230 employees, Gastops now has offices in Halifax N.S, and Mount Pearl, NL, and a U.S. affiliate which services the U.S. DoD [Department of Defense].”

Government of Canada funding

In September 2005, Research Money reported: “GasTOPS Ltd, Ottawa, has received $1.4 million from Technology Partnerships Canada to undertake a $3.5-million project to further develop its MetalSCAN sensor technology to detect metallic debris in lubricating oil systems. The technology is being developed for specific applications related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.”

Gastops Ltd. also confirmed in May 2018 that “they are part of the Bell-led aerospace consortium to receive a $49.5 million Government of Canada investment” noting that “Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Minister Navdeep Baines announced the federal investment at the Aerospace Innovation Forum in Montreal” earlier that month.

Relationship with Carleton University

A December 2021 Ottawa Life article also notes: “Rooted in Ottawa, Gastops supports Carleton University’s Women in Engineering and Information Technology program, one of the first industry and government-sponsored programs of its kind in Canada.”

At CANSEC

Gastops has also highlighted that it participated in the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa this year.

CADSI member

Gastops is also listed as a member of the Ottawa-based Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), a business lobby group and the organizer of the annual CANSEC arms show.

The full article from The Breach can be read at Ottawa-based company is key to keeping Israeli warplanes bombing Gaza (September 12, 2024).

Further reading: 1,358 Palestinian human rights defenders may have been killed over the last 10 months (PBI-Canada, August 17, 2024).

Guapinol River water protector and CMDBCPT leader Juan López killed by gunmen in Tocoa, Colón, Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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Late last night (September 14), Guapinol Exige Justicia posted on social media:

“OUR COMRADE JUAN LOPEZ HAS BEEN MURDERED. Our great friend, colleague and coordinator was murdered as he was leaving the church by men on motorcycles just days after he asked for the resignation of the mayor of Libre Adan Funez for his links with drug traffickers. Our hearts are broken. Our deepest condolences go out to Juan Lopez’s wife and daughters, and to all those who have been hurt in this fight for dignity. We will not rest until there is justice for Juan and our martyrs.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project then tweeted:

“From PBI Honduras we send our deepest condolences to @guapinolre (CMDBCP) and the family of environmental defender Juan López, who was violently murdered yesterday in Tocoa.

Juan repeatedly denounced having received threats and harassment for his tireless defence of the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park.

Despite being the beneficiary of precautionary measures from @CIDH [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights], these have not been sufficient to guarantee his safety. It is essential that a prompt and impartial investigation be carried out and that measures be taken to guarantee the safety and integrity of the entire CMDBCP.“

Criterio.hn also reports:

“Tonight [September 14] around 8:40, Juan López, defender of the Botaderos mountain, the Carlos Escaleras National Park and the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers in the municipality of Tocoa, Colón, was murdered.

López was a man who professed the Catholic faith and was a celebrator of the word, he was leaving a religious service when he was attacked by hitmen when he was driving in a vehicle.

Despite all the warnings issued by national and international organizations about the risk he faced and of being a beneficiary of the National Protection System, the measures adopted by the State of Honduras were insufficient to protect the life of defender Juan López.”

Opposition to megaproject

The Spanish news agency EFE adds: “López was opposed to a mining project known as Guapinol, in the department of Colón, in the Honduran Caribbean, which allegedly originates from the illegality of the mining concession.”

Proceso Digital further notes: “The environmental defender of Guapinol, leader of the Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) and councilor of the municipality of Tocoa, Colón, Juan López was murdered this Saturday.”

El Salto also explains:

“He defended his land from the Facussé family’s mining project in Guapinol, in the north of the country. He did so through two paths: first, and always, from the popular struggle of the Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods, then he added the institutional struggle, joining the Libre Party and obtaining a councillorship in the last elections.

He was fighting the Seven-Headed Monster. This is what they call this seven-legged megaproject in Tocoa: two iron oxide mines built in a supposedly protected area (the Montaña Botaderos National Park), the thermoelectric plant already built and that if turned on will steal the water that the municipalities need to live from the Guapinol River and its tributaries, a pelletizing plant that will work with the energy of the thermoelectric plant – based on the polluting petroleum coke – and three wells of water that would dry up the earth.

This megaproject arose with former president and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, skipping Honduras’ ban on mining projects and granting construction permits to Ana Facussé and Lenir Pérez, the large Honduran landowners living in the United States.”

Reaction on social media

On social media, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has posted: “Juan was murdered for his work defending the Guapinol River against Lenir Pérez’s Minera Los Pinares Ecotek [mining-thermoelectric plant megaproject] and its local mafias. Juan was murdered days after calling for the resignation of the mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez, for his links to drug trafficking.”

COPINH general coordinator Bertha Zuniga Caceres adds: “It is with great pain that I receive the horrible news of the murder of my comrade Juan López. How many memories come to my mind of the struggles we have endured. I have fought for justice for my mother [Berta Caceres] because I wanted this not to happen again, but that dream is becoming more and more distant. Honduras Hurts!”

The Honduran Center for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC) has also posted: “We strongly condemn the murder of environmental leader, defender of our common home and our comrade in arms, Juan López. We demand an immediate investigation to find the perpetrators of this crime. We demand justice!”

And Edy Tabora, director of the law firm Justice for the Peoples, has posted: “Another great comrade and social activist was murdered. He was fighting for life and against extractivism. He died as a criminal, without the threats he constantly received being investigated. He died without the State complying with the precautionary measure of the IACHR [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] that ordered his life to be protected.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.

Image from PBI-Switzerland.

The struggle to defend the Guapinol River has claimed the lives of too many environmental defenders including Levin Alexander Bonilla (October 27, 2018), Roberto Antonio Argueta Tejada and José Mario Rivera (August 28, 2019), Arnold Joaquín Morazán Erazo (October 13, 2020), Aly Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla (January 7, 2023), Óscar Oquelí Domínguez Ramos (June 15, 2023) and now Juan López.

PBI-Canada extends its condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Juan López and we remain attentive to this situation.

Further reading: The struggle of the Guapinol River defenders against the Los Pinares megaproject continues in Honduras (PBI-Canada, September 3, 2024).

Documentary about Indigenous land defenders resisting Canadian pipeline to be shown in the US and UK

By
Brent Patterson
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Still from documentary: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) on Wet’suwet’en territory, November 2021.

Variety reports: “Netflix has acquired feature documentary Yintah for U.S., U.K. and Canadian distribution. Yintah will open in select theaters in the U.S. and U.K. and will stream on Netflix starting Oct. 18.”

The film was co-directed by Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano and Jennifer Wickham.

They say: “Mirroring the scope and ambition of the Wet’suwet’en fight to protect unsurrendered lands from theft, Yintah offers the definitive account of a historic wave of Indigenous resistance to Canadian colonialism. Drawing from more than a decade of verité footage, the film shadows two Wet’suwet’en leaders (Freda Huson and Molly Wickham) as they reoccupy and protect their homelands in the face of state violence.”

Michell notes: “The world needs to know the truth of what took place on Wet’suwet’en territory – how a determined community stood at gunpoint to protect Wet’suwet’en lands from theft.”

And Toledano adds: “As filmmakers, we found that Canada protects its image through force. Throughout the years our camera operators were held at gunpoint, repeatedly arrested and detained, subject to illegal police exclusion zones, surveillance, harassment, and even incarceration. Despite this repression, Yintah is a film where every consequential moment was captured, providing a remarkably cohesive account of a story that police worked hard to suppress.”

The trailer for the film can be seen here.

Global Witness “Missing Voices” report identifies mining as the biggest industry driver of defenders killed in 2023

By
Brent Patterson
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Video: Laura Furones: “The question around who is responsible really is one of the key questions.”

The Global Witness report — Missing Voices: The violent erasure of land and environment defenders – released this week says: “Establishing a direct relationship between the murder of a defender and specific corporate interests remains difficult. However, we were able to identify mining as the biggest industry driver by far, with 25 defenders killed after opposing mining operations in 2023. We were able to connect over 40% of killings in Mexico in 2023 to defenders opposing mining operations.”

On Democracy Now! today, Laura Furones, the lead author of the Global Witness report, further commented: “It’s very difficult to establish direct links between the murder of a defender and a specific corporate sector. However, what we have been able to identify for 2023 is that mining came up as the largest corporate sector linked to defenders. And this is also true for our historical data. Mining sector is number one over the last 12 years.”

Are there other findings, specifically in relation to Canadian mining companies, that we can correlate with the Global Witness report?

1- The Government of Canada has documented in its Canadian Mining Assets chart that there were 132 companies operating in Mexico in 2021. The Canadian Mining Journal estimates higher, reporting “there are currently over 205 companies with Canadian capital established in Mexico.” That same article says that “almost 70% of foreign mining companies operating in the country have Canadian interests.” This preponderance does not implicate any specific Canadian mining companies, but it should set a context of concern.

2- In 2016-17, the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project found in its report The Canada Brand: Violence and Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America that over the period 2000-15 there were incidents involving 28 Canadian companies, 30 deaths they classify as “targeted”, 363 injuries during protests and confrontations, and 709 cases of “criminalization”, including legal complaints, arrests, detentions and charges.

3- In March 2021, Guadalupe Fuentes López reported in Sinembargo.mx: “Mexico tops the list of countries with the highest number of mining conflicts in Latin America, with a total of 58 cases, of which 29 belong to Canadian mining projects, according to the Observatory of Mining Conflicts of Latin America.”

4- A preliminary review in July 2024 by PBI-Canada of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRCC) database found that 21 Canadian companies are implicated in 88 attacks against human rights defenders over the last nine years. Most of them are mining companies. The BHRRC defines an attack as including surveillance, arbitrary detention, intimidation and threats, beatings and violence, and killings.

5- This summer, Tavia Grant reported in The Globe and Mail: “[The office of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders] has registered 15 cases, between June, 2019, and March, 2022, of retaliation against human-rights advocates that [Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor] alleges can be linked to the activities of Canadian mining abroad. She singled out Canadian embassies, saying many have failed to respond adequately to those who raise serious concerns about the impacts of mining and oil activities abroad. Canada introduced ‘Voices at Risk’ guidelines in 2019, aimed at supporting human-rights defenders and giving advice to Canadian diplomats working overseas, but she says it hasn’t been properly implemented.”

The Global Witness Missing Voices report stresses the need to “Systematically identify, document, and analyse attacks against land and environmental defenders.” This presumably includes a greater emphasis and putting more resources toward identifying the perpetrators of violence and holding them accountable.

At this point, Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders appears to insufficiently reflect the context of serious concern and mildly notes missions (embassies, consulates) should “consider links” and “the identification of Canadian entity involvement in alleged or apparent human rights violations or abuses.” Voices at Risk also notes somewhat passively: “the mission should refer to Canada’s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy if it becomes involved in the case of a land rights and environmental HRD who speaks out against a Canadian-based company.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Mexico accompanied Peoples’ Front endorses Continental Meeting to build resistance to gas pipelines, October 10-12

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanied the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects, January 2022.

As noted in this statement signed by multiple organizations, the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-PMT) has endorsed the call for a Continental Meeting building an alliance against gas pipelines and other megaprojects in defence of the territories of Indigenous peoples.

The statement highlights: “Since 2001 we have maintained an intense mobilization to contain the impacts of the construction and modernization works of thermoelectric plants, wind farms, gas pipelines, high-voltage power lines, highways, landfills, railways and industrial parks. Large American, Canadian, Italian, Danish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese and Taiwanese corporations are directly involved in these projects.”

The objectives of the Continental Meeting include to “create meeting spaces between organizations from Mexico, Canada, and the United States, which allow us to exchange information about our struggles and share experiences on the defense of our territories” and to “strengthen the resistance of the peoples of North America, South America and Mesoamerica to the projects of death.”

It is likely that the pipelines being constructed by Canadian transnational corporations will be discussed. The statement notes: “From Tuxpan, Transcanadian Corporation is currently building the Puerta al Sureste gas pipeline, which seeks to transport gas to the ports of Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos.”

The TC Energy Southeast Gateway (aka Puerta al Sureste) pipeline has been controversial. In February 2023, La Jornada Veracruz reported that campesina, Indigenous peoples and environmental groups protested in Sierra de Santa Marta against this pipeline “to demand an end to the criminalization and persecution of their leaders. …The activists [also expressed concern that] a great campaign has been deployed to militarize the towns that are within the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT).”

The Continental Meeting will take place Thursday October 10 to Saturday October 12 on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.

For more on this, please see CONVOCATORIA AL ENCUENTRO CONTINENTAL CONSTRUYENDO UNA ALIANZA CONTRA GASODUCTOS Y OTROS MEGAPROYECTOS EN DEFENSA DE LOS TERRITORIOS DE PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS (El Congreso Nacional Indígena, July 26, 2024).

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Poqomam sit-in experiencing threats as they defend the Las Vacas River

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted: “Today, #PBI accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomam People in their sit-in. We were informed about the threats and verbal aggression that members of the resistance frequently suffer. While we were at the encampment, many trucks passed by, contributing to noise and air pollution. We observed how several trucks threw rubbish into the Las Vacas river, maintaining the high rate of water and environmental pollution in the territory.”

The situation in Chinautla

Prensa Comunitaria has reported: “The indigenous authorities of the Poqomam people of the municipality of Chinautla began on Monday, June 27 [in 2022], a resistance sit-in for the illegal operation of the company called Piedrinera ‘San Luis’, which is dedicated to extracting sand in that place.”

That article also notes: “According to the Peace Brigades International, PBI, several sand companies operating in the territory, including the Arenera ‘La Primavera’, Arenera ‘El Pino’, Piedrinera ‘San Luis’ and Arenera ‘San Fernando’ pollute the Las Vacas River, which passes through Chinautla.”

Another article in Prensa Comunitaria further explains: “The La Primavera and Piedrinera San Luis sand mines, which have been operating illegally with expired licenses since 2022, and have not obtained an extension to operate.”

The PBI-Guatemala Project has been accompanying the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform since December 2018.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Justice and Peace Commission at ZRCPA meeting for campesina women

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia has posted: “We accompanied @Justiciaypazcol [Justice and Peace Commission] in the PERLA AMAZÓNICA Peasant Reserve Zone [ZRCPA] on the occasion of an ADISPA [the Association for the Integral Sustainable Development of the Perla Amazónica] women’s meeting. They identified the differential risks in financial matters that peasant women suffer and the challenges that this implies.”

The ZRCPA is located near Puerto Asis in the department of Putumayo, which is situated in south-west Colombia near the border with Ecuador.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Justice and Peace Commission that in turn accompanies Jani Silva, the president of ADISPA.

Amnesty International has highlighted: “Jani Silva has dedicated her life to protecting the Amazon and the life that exists in it from efforts by armed groups and multinational companies to take control of her territory.”

The Guardian has also reported: “Silva says she has seen firsthand the effects of big business in Putumayo, where, she believes, oil companies ‘exploit irresponsibly’ and contaminate the environment.”

And PBI-Colombia has noted: “Over the years, one of the great challenges they have faced has been the arrival and expansion of oil companies.”

In December 2023, Tavia Grant at The Globe and Mail reported: “As Canada vies for a seat on the United Nations human rights council [in 2027], Indigenous leaders and environmental advocates have launched a coordinated campaign drawing attention to Canadian companies operating in the Amazon region and raising questions about their environmental and human rights track record.”

A joint submission to the United Nations from 33 non-governmental organizations, including Amazon Watch, says Canada’s failure to take adequate measures to regulate the conduct of Canadian companies abroad “has contributed to the systematic violation of human and environmental rights in the Amazon.”

The twelve recommendations listed in the report (on pages 12-13) include a call on the Canadian state to “adopt policies to eliminate and prevent the criminalization of defenders and protests, considering that Canadian extractive companies operating in the Amazon have encouraged this treatment.”

The two projects in Colombia noted in the report are the Vancouver-based Libero Copper & Gold Corp. Mocoa copper and molybdenum mine (that is “in the exploration phase”) and the Calgary-based Gran Tierra APE-La Cabaña oil exploration project (now closed but leaving behind severe environmental impacts).

We continue to follow the situation for the ZRCPA, the department of Putumayo and the Amazon region.

PBI-Honduras accompanies workshop on a gender policy in the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC)

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Honduras has posted: “We applaud @CntcTegucigalpa’s commitment to promoting agrarian reform with a gender focus. From PBI we accompanied a workshop for the construction of a gender policy in CNTC La Paz, together with Trocaire [the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland].”

The National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC), created in 1985, is a small-scale farming and trade union organization that fights for the distribution of land.

In Honduras fewer than 5% of landowners control 60% of the fertile terrain.

PBI-Honduras has also previously highlighted: “Despite their fundamental role in food production, 90% of rural women do not have land.”

PBI-Honduras has also noted:

“Agrarian laws initially designed to benefit the peasantry (passed in 1962 and 1975) had legally defined land ownership as eligible only to “men over 16 years of age”, effectively invisibilizing rural women.

It was only in 1992, with the Law for the Modernization and Development of the Agricultural Sector, that the legislation even contemplated the registration of property titles for spouses or common-law partners, opening new spaces for women.

Despite these legal advances, there continues to exist serious inequity in terms of access to land. In the last decade, Honduras’ National Agrarian Institute (INA) granted almost 79,000 land titles nationwide, of which only 37% correspond to women, and currently only 14% of all rural women have a land title.”

The CNTC is affiliated with the Unified Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH) which in turn is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), along with 150+ labour organizations including the Canadian Labour Congress.

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying the CNTC since May 2018.

Former RCMP C-IRG Bronze Commander Ken Floyd testifies at hearing on abuse of process application

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: RCMP Superintendent Ken Floyd.

The second hearing of the abuse of process application at B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers, British Columbia brought forward by Indigenous land defenders Sleydo’ Molly Wickham (Wet’suwet’en Cas Yikh house), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan), and Corey Jocko (Kanien’kehá:ka Mohawk) concluded today.

The application alleges excessive force and mistreatment by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) and asks Justice Michael Tammen to stay or reduce their sentences after being found guilty of contempt of court related to an injunction prohibiting interference with the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory.

CBC reports: “On Wednesday [September 11], defence lawyer Frances Mahon asked RCMP Supt. Ken Floyd about a PowerPoint given before the enforcement operation on how police should conduct the raids. Floyd was the bronze police of jurisdiction commander, and was present at the arrest of Sleydo’ and Sampson.”

The article then notes: “Mahon played an audio recording from microphones belonging to a journalist that were left on during the arrests in which police officers can be heard referring to blockade members with face paint on as ‘orcs’.”

It then explains: “Sleydo’ and Sampson both were wearing red dresses and had red handprints painted over their mouths when they were arrested. Red dresses and handprints are both symbols for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Mahon said this was an example of a clear violation of the accused rights being breached during arrest.”

Video still of Sleydo’ being arrested by the C-IRG.

Then the article adds: “Floyd said that though he was ashamed by the comments made by the officers and believes they are wrong, because the comments were not said to the accused, it did not interfere with their rights and how they were subsequently treated in custody.”

The abuse of process proceeding began on January 12-19 of this year.

During that first hearing in January, C-IRG Silver Commander Superintendent James Elliott testified that officers would have had special training on Indigenous cultural sensitivity, but as noted in that hearing and again in court this week, an officer could be heard saying: “They all had the fuckin’ paint like, are you an orc?”

The January hearing included testimony about the RCMP having “lethal-force overwatch” in place in November 2021, but no negotiator, their perception that Mohawk patches heightened their risk assessment of the situation, that Corporal Sebastien Pilote sought permission to fire his weapon to disable a security camera, that the same officer pointed a 40mm projectile launcher at the land defenders, and more.

The September hearing included testimony about disturbing radio transmissions (that involved the nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosie and a voice saying “I know where you are. I’m coming to get you”), arrested land defenders being kept for what “felt like hours” in a police van with the heat blasting, two of the defenders hearing an officer say: “Last time you’ll see that camp” (raising the concern that something was going to happen to them), the forcible removal of a medicine bag and cedar bracelet, and more.

Now that this September 3-11 hearing has concluded, the next court dates are expected to be November 4-8 and December 9-13.

We will continue to follow these proceedings.

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

Complaints Commission finds RCMP C-IRG exclusion zones and checkpoints at Fairy Creek were unreasonable

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo from EJ Atlas by Mike Graeme www.mikegraeme.ca.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) has issued a statement today that highlights it has “published a summary of its final report on the RCMP’s handling of a public complaint regarding enforcement of a civil injunction covering the Fairy Creek area in British Columbia.”

Notably, “the CRCC found that the broad exclusion zones and checkpoints used by members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) were unreasonable. The review determined that the RCMP’s demand to search the complainant [who is not named in the report] at a checkpoint on a public road was unfounded, and his arrest, after refusing to agree to the search, was groundless.”

The 16-page summary of the report released today can be read here.

The summary report notes that while RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme (who has held this role since May 2023) agreed with some of the CRCC’s findings, he “did not fully support the Commission’s recommendation about developing national policy about the enforcement of civil injunctions that is consistent with the prevailing jurisprudence. The RCMP Commissioner stated that he supported developing a policy along these lines, but he objected to the Commission’s statement that the policy should reflect the courts’ cautions about police claiming invasive ancillary police powers that are preventative in nature and not exercised in responding to or investigating a past and ongoing crime.”

Photo: RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme.

The protests against Teal-Jones logging of old-growth forest at Fairy Creek led to about 1,100 arrests and 464 charges laid by the RCMP over the months of May to August 2021. The B.C. Prosecution Service approved 464 charges, mostly for contempt of court (relating to the injunction noted above), against 413 people.

Systemic investigation

The statement also notes: “The CRCC is also completing a separate systemic investigation of the activities and operations of the C-IRG in British Columbia.”

That investigation was launched after the CRCC had received nearly 500 formal complaints about the RCMP C-IRG. As CBC has reported: “More than 100 grievances accepted for investigation contain allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and charter violations by the force’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).”

The investigation was launched 18 months ago and at this point the CRCC “cannot speculate on when it will conclude.”

We continue to follow that process.

Further reading: RCMP enforcement of Fairy Creek logging protesters ‘unreasonable,’ says federal complaints agency (The Province, September 11, 2024)

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