Photo: Shireen Abu Akleh remembered at protest against CANSEC, June 1, 2022. 

On May 11, Reuters reported: “A year after Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot while covering an Israeli army raid [in the West Bank city of Jenin], family and friends say her killers are yet to be held responsible.”

That article adds: “Witnesses have said there were no Palestinian fighters firing in the area where Abu Akleh was standing, and her family and Palestinian officials believe Israeli forces killed her deliberately.”

Photo: Shireen Abu Akleh.

Earlier this month, CNN reported that Israel Defense Forces Rear Admiral Hagari has now apologized for the death of Abu Akleh, but the article then further notes “Military Advocate General’s Office [has stated] that it did not intend to pursue criminal charges or prosecutions of any of the soldiers involved.”

Photo: Shireen killed by the IDF on May 11, 2022. Photo by AFP.

Video: The Al Jazeera newsroom in Ramallah reacts to the murder of Shireen.

The United Nations says Abu Akleh was one of 191 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in 2022.

At the time of her death, the UN noted: “Since the beginning of the year, OHCHR [the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] said that it had verified that Israeli Security Forces had killed 58 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 13 children.”

And the Committee to Protect Journalists says: “Since 2001, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]. The vast majority — 18 — were Palestinian; two were European foreign correspondents; there were no Israelis. No one has ever been charged or held accountable for these deaths.”

Reporting an even higher number of fatalities, The Guardian has further noted: “According to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, 30 journalists have been killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Israeli fire since 2000 but no indictments against soldiers have ever been filed.”

Further reading: How Canada Helped Israel Whitewash Its Killing Of A Palestinian Journalist (Alex Cosh, The Maple, May 11, 2023).

Elbit implicated in the murder of Shireen

Visualizing Palestine has tweeted: “Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered with a 5.56mm bullet. Elbit Systems subsidiary IMI Systems is the main supplier of bullets to the Israeli military…” Electronic Intifada has also posted: “Israeli Military Industries (IMI) … is believed to have manufactured the 5.56mm bullet that took the life of Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh.”

And France 24 has reported: “The official Palestinian investigation … found that Abu Akleh was killed with a 5.56 millimetre armour-piercing round fired from a Ruger Mini-14 rifle”, while The Independent has further noted: “Al Jazeera … said the bullet was a 5.56mm round shot by an M4 rifle often used by Israeli armed forces. The bullet was ‘designed and manufactured’ in the United States, Al Jazeera reported.”

Elbit Systems of America is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas; has facilities in San Antonio, Texas, Merrimack, New Hampshire, Talladega, Alabama, Roanoke, Virginia, Boca Raton, Florida and De Leon Springs, Florida; and earlier this month opened its newest plant in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Protest CANSEC, May 31

The “CANSEC is Global” promotional video features a representative from Thales Canada say: “I noticed an Israeli delegation on the booth earlier.”

Among the exhibitors at CANSEC this year will be Israel (booth M7), Elbit Systems Ltd. (booth 1421) and Thales Canada Inc. (booth 1701).

At a protest in April 2016, Inminds chair Abbas Ali said: “Thales UK has a billion pound contract with Israel’s largest arms company Elbit Systems to develop a fleet of drones for the UK military based on Elbit’s Hermes 450 killer drone which Human Rights Watch has documented as being used by Israel to deliberately target Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

Thales weapon sales have also been implicated in human rights violations in West Papua, Myanmar and Yemen.

For information on the popular mobilization being planned against militarism, the relationship between arms sales and human rights violations, the manufacturing of wars to sell weapons, and more, please click here.

Photo: Soldiers at the presidential palace in Quito, Ecuador following President Lasso’s dissolution of the Legislature. AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa.

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported: “The president of Ecuador dismissed the legislature [on May 17]… Armed soldiers surrounded the National Assembly in the capital after the move by President Guillermo Lasso, who had been locked in a showdown with legislators who wanted to impeach him.”

General Nelson Proaño, the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, says that if violence erupts the armed forces and police “will act firmly.”

The New York Times adds: “Some human rights activists said they worry that Mr. Lasso’s power to govern by decree could open the door for serious rights violations, like using terrorism laws to target Indigenous organizations and other groups that might oppose him.”

Lawyer Lina María Espinosa says: “The executive branch governing by decree could continue to exacerbate and favor the interests of the banks, the oil mining companies and certain privileged sectors, to the detriment of the rights of the majorities.”

And Amazon Watch notes: “Shortly after the announcement, military and police publicly expressed their support for Lasso and surrounded the congress building. Communities in the Amazon reported an increase in military presence around oil wells.”

Lasso can now rule by decree for up to six months.

Ongoing concerns about human rights violations

In its report on the situation last year, Amnesty International noted: “Ecuadorian organizations reported that the response of the authorities to protests by Indigenous peoples over socio-environmental issues that began in June 2022 resulted in a wide range of human rights violations. These included arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force, criminalization and attacks on journalists and human rights defenders.”

Amnesty International adds: “On 14 June 2022, security forces arrested Leonidas Iza, President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), in Cotopaxi province. …On 21 June, security forces repressing a demonstration in Puyo, the capital of Pastaza province, fired a tear gas grenade directly and at close range at B.G., a Kichwa Indigenous man. He later died of his injuries.”

Their report also noted: “In June, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern at the use of violence against children by security forces during protests. It criticized the authorization to use potentially lethal ammunition, such as pellets, in addition to the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of tear gas.”

And earlier this year, Amnesty International further reported that President Lasso had put forward a reform that “would endorse the permanent use of the Armed Forces in public security tasks in the country.” Amnesty expressed their “concern about the draft reform, which in its view contravenes Ecuador’s international human rights obligations.”

Protest CANSEC, May 31

Despite this, a “CANSEC is Global” promotional video for CANSEC 2023 highlights twice the presence of Ecuadorean officials at CANSEC.

“CANSEC is Global” promotional video. “We’ve had the Ecuadorean minister on our booth.”

For information on the popular mobilization being planned against militarism, the relationship between arms sales and human rights violations, the manufacturing of wars to sell weapons, and more, please click here.

Photo: The Philippines delegation at CANSEC, 2017.

In December 2016, Reuters reported: “Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened corrupt government officials with the prospect of being thrown out of a helicopter mid-air, warning he has done it himself before and would do it again.”

Despite this admission, a Canadian government agency invited the Philippine government to the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa.

On June 1, 2017, the Philippine Embassy in Canada posted on Facebook: “Defense Assistant Secretary for Plans and Programs Teodoro Cirilo Torralba III leads the Philippine delegation attending CANSEC… The Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Canadian government corporation, invited and hosted the Philippine Delegation.”

The following year, the National Post reported: “The Ottawa-based CCC, which helps Canadian exporters get contracts with foreign governments, came under fire in February 2018 after the media learned the corporation had brokered a $234-million deal to sell 16 Bell 412 helicopters to the military of the Philippines.”

Notably it added: “The Crown corporation that helped broker the controversial sales of Canadian military equipment … to the ‘Madman of the Philippines’ gets a cut of the proceeds, prompting critics to warn it has little incentive to scale back its involvement in lucrative arms deals despite a government order to do so.”

Alex Neve, then the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, commented: “’When the Canadian Commercial Corporation is involved in arms deals there often seems to be a lack of rigour when it comes to human rights concerns.”

The sale of the helicopters was approved by then-Canadian Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, who is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at CANSEC this year.

By February 2018, the Philippines had cancelled the purchase.

While the Canadian government had said the helicopters would have been used for disaster relief and humanitarian aid, the National Post reported: “The Philippine government never hid its intention to use the Canadian-built helicopters in military operations, even going as far as displaying the first batch of those choppers armed with machine guns during an official ceremony in 2015 attended by Canada’s ambassador.”

Photo: Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder and Philippines defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin were present at Villamor Air Base in Pasay, south of Manila, in August 2015 for the final delivery of eight Bell 412EP helicopters to the Philippine military.

Philippines Major General Restituto Padilla further confirmed: “The helicopters will be used for the military’s internal security operations.” And Duterte also commented the helicopters would likely be used against “the rebels and terrorists”.

Despite this controversy, by May 2018, Bell was back in discussions with the Philippines as a potential client for the same helicopters.

Lockheed Martin sells to the Philippines

CANSEC sponsor Lockheed Martin has also recently sold helicopters and fighter jets to the Philippines.

In 2021, Lockheed sold $2.43 billion of F-16s to the Philippines, despite congressional opposition related to widespread human rights violations carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

And in February 2022, Lockheed Martin also announced: “PZL Mielec, a Lockheed Martin company has signed a contract award with the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) to manufacture 32 additional S-70i Black Hawk utility helicopters for the Philippine Air Force.”

There continues to be a Bell helicopter connection too.

Earlier this year, it was reported the Philippines could receive Fuji-Bell UH-1J Huey military helicopters and Mitsubishi Type 74 main battle tanks from Japan as part of a security cooperation grant.

Protest CANSEC, May 31

For information on the popular mobilization being planned against militarism, the relationship between arms sales and human rights violations, the manufacturing of wars to sell weapons, and more, please click here.

Photo: General Dynamics-Bombardier aircraft.

General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada and Bombardier will be holding a media conference on Wednesday May 31 at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa.

They are bidding on the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft Project that is expected to cost Canada more than $5 billion.

The other major bidder is Boeing.

In December 2022, the Ottawa Citizen reported: “Boeing announced [in June that] it had teamed with Canadian firms such as CAE, GE Aviation Canada, IMP Aerospace & Defence, KF Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace Canada, and Raytheon Canada for any future bid on the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft project.”

“Anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare”

National Defence has explained that the objective of the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft is “to equip the Canadian Armed Forces with a long-range, long-endurance, multi-mission capability, optimized in Command, Control, Communications and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) to replace the [Lockheed Martin] CP140.”

Bombardier and General Dynamics are trying to sell a modified version of the Global 6500 aircraft, while Boeing is promoting its P-8A Poseidon.

The Globe and Mail has also reported: “An image rendering of the proposed plane released by [General Dynamics and Bombardier] shows torpedoes and missiles fitted under the plane’s wings. Such weapons would be supplied by the Canadian government.”

As for the Boeing aircraft, Skies Magazine notes: “The P-8 can carry torpedoes, missiles, bombs, depth charges, mines, and sonobuoys in the weapons bay. As well, it can fire the AGM-65 Maverick land attack missile, AIM-9 Sidewinder, and AIM-120 AMRAAM from underwing hardpoints.”

It may be that Boeing has the upper hand.

In March of this year, Public Services and Procurement Canada reportedly stated: “The government has determined that the P-8A Poseidon is the only currently available aircraft that meets all of the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft operational requirements, namely anti-submarine warfare and C4ISR [Command, Control, Communications and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance].”

Boeing, General Dynamics and Bombardier will all be the CANSEC arms show at the EY Centre in Ottawa this coming May 31-June 1.

The decision on the new aircraft is expected to be made in 2027-28.

$100 billion for new submarines too?

Along with anti-submarine warfare aircraft, new submarines could be on the horizon too.

The CBC now reports: “Several weeks ago, the Ottawa Citizen reported on an internal Canadian navy proposal which suggested up to 12 submarines would be needed to meet Canada’s defence needs in the coming decades — six boats on each coast. Industry sources told the newspaper that such a plan would cost roughly $60 billion.”

The Ottawa Citizen article adds: “That price tag could climb to $100 billion as military equipment procurement programs are rarely on budget.”

Stop CANSEC, May 31

For information on the popular mobilization being planned against militarism, the relationship between arms sales and human rights violations, the manufacturing of wars to sell weapons, and more, please click here.

“We spend billions on weapons research and millions training our young people at military academies. Why not invest in peace studies and peace actions? We need training centers, public campaigns, and educational materials. We need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict. We need to work concretely to realize peace and nonviolence in our time.” – Petra Kelly, Nonviolent Social Defense

Duheme and Mendicino arrive at the RCMP 150 celebration in Ottawa, May 23, 2023.

On Thursday May 25 at 1:45 pm, federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino will speak at the Change of Command ceremony for incoming Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme at the Charles-Michel-de-Salaberry Armoury, a National Defence installation in Gatineau, Quebec.

Earlier this week, on the 150^th anniversary of the RCMP, Mendicino stated: ”In marking this anniversary, the RCMP is reflecting on its past with humility, recognizing that in 150 years there are a lot of accomplishments to be proud of, while also acknowledging that the RCMP has played a role in some of Canada’s most difficult and dark moments.”

Almost word for word, Duheme says in his statement about the 150^th anniversary: “In marking this anniversary, we must acknowledge that the RCMP has played a role in some of Canada’s most difficult and dark moments.”

Even with the repetition, neither Mendicino or Duheme specify “Canada’s most difficult and dark moments” (or acknowledge that those “moments” were longer than moments and that they were most difficult for Indigenous peoples, not Canada per se).

Taking action by abolishing the C-IRG

Mendicino also says: “The RCMP is actively engaging in the continuous process of reconciliation, and working to strengthen trust and relationships with Indigenous communities across Canada by listening and taking meaningful action.”

That “meaningful action” could include, as a first step, the dismantling of the controversial Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).

As Toronto Metropolitan University associate professor Shiri Pasternak recently wrote in the National Observer: “The Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) has targeted the peaceful occupations of the Unist’ot’en and Gidimt’en clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Gitskan solidarity blockades in New Hazelton, Secwépemc land defenders against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, conservationists at Argenta and Johnsons Landing Face, and anti-logging activists at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island.”

Pasternak adds: “The United Nations has issued three rebukes against the governments of Canada and B.C., alleging the police ‘have escalated their use of force, surveillance, and criminalization of land defenders to intimidate, remove and forcibly evict Secwépemc and Wet’suwet’en Nations from their traditional lands.’ As well, a scathing report was released by the Special UN Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples on the use of police forces in Wet’suwet’en territory.”

On March 9 of this year, the Ottawa-based Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) announced (in response to nearly 500 formal complaints against the C-IRG) that it would be conducting a systemic investigation of the C-IRG in part to “examine whether relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and training [are] consistent with applicable jurisprudence/case law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

The Abolish C-IRG coalition has stated: “We demand that deployment of C-IRG in BC be immediately suspended pending full and fair resolution (review, determination and remediation) of each and all of the hundreds of complaints to CRCC alleging C-IRG use of force to unlawfully arrest, detain and assault people. These people were exercising protected rights to protest non-consensual corporate extraction and pipeline construction activities on the basis that these corporate activities cause irremediable damage to Indigenous, environmental, and community rights. The extent of the human rights abuses and violations of Indigenous inherent rights committed by the C-IRG has not yet fully come to light, therefore any investigation must look thoroughly at the C-IRG’s actions beyond known complaints.”

For more about the C-IRG, please see the Abolish C-IRG website and the RCMP Heritage Site. Through Leadnow, more than 5,000 people have called on Minister Mendicino to end C-IRG violence against land defenders.

CADSI video for CANSEC 2023.

In September 2022, Amnesty International posted: “Members of the Mexican military have committed frequent crimes under international law and serious human rights violations with impunity. From 2014 to date, the CNDH [National Human Rights Commission] has received at least 6,661 complaints of human rights violations committed by SEDENA [Ministry of Defence], SEMAR (the Ministry of the Navy) and the National Guard.”

And just two months ago, The Guardian reported: “Lawmakers in Mexico this week will launch a federal commission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the country’s military, including the use of powerful spyware technology.”

It then notes: “The commission, made up of lawmakers from both Mexico’s upper and lower houses of congress, will request a report from the army in the wake of recent media reports alleging that it used Israeli software known as Pegasus to hack the phone of a prominent human rights activist [Raymundo Ramos and several journalists regarding allegations of extrajudicial killings by the army].”

The article adds: “Mexico’s military has a long history of spying on activists and journalists, including in 2017 when the army was accused of using Pegasus to hack the phones of lawyers investigating the disappearance of 43 students in 2014.”

It is also believed that at least 109 Mexican human rights defenders and 25 journalists were infected by the Pegasus malware, including Yesica Sánchez Maya of Consorcio Oaxaca, Abel Barrera of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre, and the Comité Cerezo.

Ayotzinapa 43

In February 2019, Deutsche Welle reported: “On September 26, 2014, 43 male students studying at the Ayotzinapa Rural Teacher’s College were kidnapped and disappeared. …German and Mexican researchers have concluded that at least some of the students were probably killed by Heckler & Koch guns that had been exported to Mexico… Heckler & Koch was fined some €3.7 million ($4.2 million) for illegally exporting arms to the Mexican state of Guerrero, where they are thought to have been used in the murder of the students.”

NPR has reported that the Heckler & Koch guns were sold to Mexico between 2006 and 2009. Heckler & Koch was at CANSEC in 2008.

Just six weeks ago, The Washington Post also reported: “While the military is not directly accused in the disappearances, the international experts [appointed by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission] have concluded the army had real-time intelligence about the attack but did nothing to stop it.”

Just months before the killings, in May 2014, the Mexican military was present at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa.

Sexual violence 

The Amnesty International Surviving Death report (2016) also documented that “the Mexican police and armed forces routinely torture and ill-treat women, and that sexual violence is routine during arrest and interrogation.”

Stop CANSEC, May 31

PBI-Canada will be present at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa this coming Wednesday May 31 at 7 am to help amplify concerns about arms sales and human rights violations. For more on this upcoming mobilization, please see this World Beyond War webpage.

Additional reading:

CANSEC promotes participation of Peruvian military despite Amnesty International report about lethal state repression (May 23, 2023)

Did a Canadian company manufacture the armoured vehicle used by Mexican police to repress a student protest? (February 4, 2023)

Still from CADSI video promoting CANSEC 2023.

One of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) ads on YouTube promoting the upcoming CANSEC arms show in Ottawa includes an image of the Peruvian military at a past CANSEC.

CANSEC will take place this year on May 31 and June 1 at the EY Centre in Ottawa.

In February 2023, Amnesty International reported: “Since the beginning of the massive protests in different areas of the country in December 2022, the Army and National Police of Peru (PNP) have unlawfully fired lethal weapons and used other less lethal weapons indiscriminately against the population, especially against Indigenous people and campesinos (rural farmworkers) during the repression of protests, constituting widespread attacks.”

It adds: “During the investigation in Ayacucho, Andahuaylas, Chincheros and Lima between 29 January and 11 February, Amnesty International received information regarding 46 cases of possible human rights violations and documented 12 cases of deaths from the use of firearms.”

Among their recommendations, Amnesty notes: “State authorities must end the use of lethal force to disperse protests and avoid using less lethal weapons like pellets.”

To read more, see Peru: Lethal state repression is yet another example of contempt for the Indigenous and campesino population (February 16, 2023).

Peru at CANSEC

While the image in the video is undated, Infodensa.com has previously reported on the Peruvian Navy at CANSEC.

Their report notes: “The Embassy of Canada in Peru has sent invitations to the Peruvian Navy (MGP) for officers of the institution to attend the Cansec 2018 defence fair and the technical visits that will be carried out as a preamble.”

The Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), the Ottawa-based federal government agency that promotes exports, has also posted: “At CANSEC 2014, CCC led eight foreign delegations visiting from Argentina, Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Kuwait, Mexico, Peru, and Saudi Arabia.”

CADSI has also highlighted that in 2014 there were: “17: International official delegations in attendance (Argentina; Bahrain; Chile; Denmark; Equatorial Guinea; Israel; Italy; Kuwait; Mexico; New Zealand; Oman; Peru; United States; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom), 13 Embassies with a total of 30 nations.”

CANSEC now notes “50+ international delegations” will be present this year, but does not make public the list of participating countries.

Shut Down CANSEC, May 31

PBI-Canada will be present at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa this coming Wednesday May 31 to help amplify concerns about arms sales and human rights violations.

For more on the upcoming mobilization against CANSEC on May 31, please see this World Beyond War webpage.

Michael Toledano tweet and photo: “At the site where a Wet’suwet’en cabin was burnt to the ground & 15 people were arrested, Coastal GasLink is preparing to drill beneath the Wedzin Kwa river. This would not be possible without the RCMP’s C-IRG unit, who cleared the way with snipers, carbines, dogs, & chainsaws.” (June 20, 2022)

On May 18, 2023, Coastal GasLink posted this Update on its website: “The micro-tunneling phase of the Morice River crossing has been safely completed and we are well past the river. Due to subsurface conditions, we are reducing the length of the micro-tunnel by 28 metres and beginning the construction of the exit point. This will involve clearing and excavation work in the coming days. This summer, pipe will be pulled through the concrete tunnel and connected with the rest of the project route on both sides of the Morice River.”

Drilling began in September 2022

The drilling under Wedzin Kwa began in September 2022.

On September 24, 2022, Gidimt’en Checkpoint tweeted: “Uphold your responsibility to stop the destruction of the last pristine water ways on earth. This is not over. You can hear her crying.” In this video with that tweet, you can hear the sound of the Coastal GasLink drill beginning to bore under the Wedzin Kwa river.

On October 19, 2022, Wet’suwet’en water protector Sleydo’ highlighted: “[The drilling at the site of our sacred headwaters] is happening now. The salmon are spawning in the river and you can actually hear the drilling happening from kilometres away. You can feel it in the ground, in the earth, from kilometres away. The salmon are spawning and you can feel the vibration of the drilling happening.”

On November 4, 2022, Wet’suwe’ten Hereditary Chief Na’Moks was threatened with arrest by CGL security, supported by RCMP C-IRG Staff Sergeant Jason Charney, when he attempted to exercise his territorial right to observe the drill pad site at Wedzin Kwa.

CGL had said the tunnelling time could take up to three months. It’s unclear why the work took nine months.

Lubricant spill while tunnelling

On April 13, 2023, CBC reported: “The B.C. Energy Regulator (BCER) is investigating after Coastal GasLink (CGL) reported two spills of clay lubricant while it was tunnelling under the Morice River to build a natural gas pipeline through northern British Columbia.”

The drill lubricant is bentonite clay.

The article adds: “Bentonite clay is fine particulate slurry used to install pipeline in the tunnelling process being used at the Morice River crossing. Turbidity — high levels of sediment suspended in water — can be deadly to fish and their eggs and destructive of habitat.”

In this brief statement, CGL provided few details on the spills and downplayed the impact: “One of the two clay deposits was identified in a small tributary on the west side of the Morice River. With winter conditions still present, there is little water flow in the tributary. The other deposit was located on land and has been isolated.”

CGL lacks the consent of the Wet’suwet’en

This work is being done without the consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, the governance body for these territories.

It is enabled by multiple raids and ongoing harassment by the RCMP community-industry response group (C-IRG) that resulted in the arrest of land defenders and journalists.

YintahAccess.com has noted: “In three large-scale police actions in January 2019, February 2020, and November 2021, a total of 74 people have been arrested and detained, including legal observers and members of the media.”

More than a dozen land defenders arrested by the RCMP on Wet’suwet’en territory in November 2021 are facing criminal contempt charges.

On January 13, 2023, APTN reported: “According to Sledyo’, five land defenders took a plea agreement last year. In 2023, thirteen Wet’suwe’ten and supporters are facing contempt charges for violating [a December 2019 court] injunction [that protects Coastal GasLink access to the Morice Forest Service Road].”

And the pipe being pulled under Wedzin Kwa is being done despite letters from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which has called on Canada to stop construction on the pipeline and seek the consent of the Wet’suwet’en peoples.

Their third letter – dated April 29, 2022 – called on Canada to provide a response to several concerns by July 15, 2022, including measures to: “Prevent and duly investigate the allegations of surveillance measures, practices of arbitrary detention, instances of excessive use of force against protesters, in particular those belonging to the Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en peoples, by the RCMP, CIRG, and private security firms.”

British Columbia budgets $36 million for more C-IRG actions

In March of this year, MLA Adam Olsen questioned the provincial Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth about a $36 million allocation to the RCMP C-IRG.

Farnworth replied: “What I want to tell him is that $36 million is over three years. It is based on an average that we have spent in this province over the last number of years in terms of dealing with the enforcement of court ordered injunctions.”

Farnworth added: “We put in place an average of what has been spent over the last number of years, and that is a three-year sum that the member is talking about. It works out to about — I think last year, it was around $11 million.”

We continue to follow this situation with concern.

Photo: A security check-point at Mile Marker 27, near Houston, B.C., on Jan. 8, 2019. Photo by Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail. This helicopter appears similar in appearance to a Eurocopter EC-120 Colibri.

The RCMP community-industry response group (C-IRG) has used helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and drones to surveil and arrest Indigenous land defenders.

As of February 2023, the RCMP have 35 aircraft, 9 helicopters and 26 fixed-wing aircraft. The helicopters were bought from Aerospatiale, Airbus and Eurocopter, while the fixed-wing aircraft were bought from Cessna, de Havilland, Pilatus and Quest.

De Havilland and Airbus (a merger of Aerospatiale and Eurocopter) are among the companies that will be at the CANSEC arms show this coming May 31-June 1.

The RCMP has also flown a FLIR SkyRanger R60 unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) over Wet’suwet’en territory just prior to its February 2020 raid.

Teledyne FLIR will also be at CANSEC this year.

2019 raid

The Guardian has reported: “Documents show that ahead of the [January 7, 2019] raid, the RCMP deployed an array of surveillance, including heavily armed police patrols, a jet boat, helicopter, drone technology, heat-sensing cameras and close monitoring of key land defenders’ movements and social media postings.”

It adds: “Since the January raid, … drones and helicopters often circle overhead.”

Photo: “A 2019 file photo of an RCMP helicopter taking off near Wet’suwet’en.” Photo by the Canadian Press.

2020 raid

In January 2020, Vice reported: “Less than a week after the RCMP flatly denied spying on Wet’suwet’en First Nation sites with drones and flyovers, the police force now admits it’s deploying ‘air assets’ to monitor Indigenous land defenders who are blocking a pipeline near Smithers, B.C.”

The article adds: “[RCMP Corporal Madonna] Saunderson confirmed that an RCMP aircraft ‘did conduct patrol over the area’ on January 20, ‘as part of our commitment to monitor the situation.’ The admission came one day after a photo of what appeared to be an RCMP plane above a Wet’suwet’en camp made the rounds on social media.”

Social media post by photo-journalist Michael Toledano. This aircraft appears in similar in design to the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft used by the RCMP.

Tweet by Toledano. This appears to be an RCMP Air Services Eurocopter/Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter.

And in June 2020, Global News reported: “An RCMP helicopter collided with a drone during the Wet’suwet’en protests in northern B.C. …Global News has learned the incident took place Feb. 6 at 2 p.m., while RCMP were conducting patrols near Houston, B.C. during the protests against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.”

That Global News article further notes: “Feb. 6 was the first day of arrests during the pipeline protests and six people were arrested that day. That same day RCMP also changed the access control checkpoint to a full exclusion zone… In total, 22 people in total were arrested between Feb. 6 and 10.”

Global News has also reported: “The aircraft collided with a FLIR SkyRanger R60 unmanned aerial vehicle during a low-level flight, according to a report from the Transportation Safety Board. …Asked about how the collision occurred, given that both aircraft were piloted by RCMP personnel, the force only said it had taken ‘immediate steps to prevent a similar incident happening again.’”

Photo: “This is a SkyRanger R60 drone that is used by the RCMP. This photo was taken in the same area on Feb. 8, 2020.” Photo by Clayton Little / Global News

2022 surveillance and harassment

Tweet: Gidimt’en Checkpoint tweet.

C-IRG helicopters at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) blockades

In May 2021, Narcity reported: “The RCMP confirmed to Narcity that four people were arrested on May 26 with the help of helicopters after staging tree sit-ins to stop old-growth logging in the forest, which sits on the unceded territories of the Pacheedaht and Ditidaht First Nations on Vancouver Island.”

On May 27, 2021, photographer Mike Graeme also posted on Instagram: “Helicopters were heard overhead all day today, as RCMP resorted to removing tree-sitters by air.”

Photo by Mike Graeme. This appears to be an Airbus H145 helicopter.

Photo: The H145 is equipped to deploy the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team.

Vertical has reported: “The machine’s two Safran Helicopter Engines Arriel 2E turbines are equipped with full-authority digital engine control (FADEC), which integrates with the H145’s state-of-the-art Helionix avionics suite.”

The link between the Airbus H145 and Safran Arriel engines is also made on this Safran website.

Abolish C-IRG coalition

The Abolish C-IRG coalition is calling for the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) to be immediately disbanded. This unit, formed in 2017, is used to repress Indigenous land defence struggles on unceded territories in the province of British Columbia.

Photo: The RCMP C-IRG raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, January 2019.

This past March, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission began a “systemic investigation” of the C-IRG. This investigation will include “whether relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and training … are consistent with applicable jurisprudence/case law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Photo: Abolish C-IRG.

Shut Down CANSEC, May 31

PBI-Canada will be present at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa this coming Wednesday May 31 to help amplify concerns that the companies present at it help equip the C-IRG repression of land defenders.

Colt Canada, the Kitchener, Ontario-based company that sells C8 carbine rifles to the RCMP, will be an exhibitor at CANSEC this year. TheGunBlog.ca has also reported: “RCMP bought $7.9 million of munitions and ammunition, almost all of which was supplied by the Canadian subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp. of the U.S.”

Colt Canada and General Dynamics will also be exhibitors at CANSEC this year.

Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham: “Get that gun off me! Get your gun off me! Lower your gun!” Video still from Yintah Film.

For more on the upcoming mobilization against CANSEC on May 31, please see this World Beyond War webpage.