Dear friend,

The donations we received in 2022 helped us to:

* visit PBI accompanied defenders in Colombia who have seen their communities impacted by Canadian oil and gas corporations

* organize 6 webinars to amplify the voices of PBI accompanied defenders and connect them with audiences here; we had 800+ registrants for these webinars and the videos of those webinars have had 850+ views

* organize 2 online forums to help recruit PBI field volunteers; we had 100+ registrants for those webinars and the videos of them have had 175+ views

* share daily updates about PBI accompanied struggles on social media; this year we grew our Twitter audience to 8,490+ followers (up 1,500+ this year)

* raise $21,000 to send directly to PBI projects in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico to support the physical accompaniment of at-risk defenders

* produce 30+ e-newsletters and growing that audience to 1,100 readers per issue

* highlight through articles, social media and interventions (including at the United Nations) Indigenous land defence struggles in this country including the Wet’suwet’en, Secwepemc, Gitxsan, Mohawks, Algonquins and Innu.

Coming up in 2023!

We have a lot planned for this coming year, including organizing more webinars and field volunteer outreach forums, building awareness of PBI accompanied defenders through social media, raising the money crucial for physical accompaniment, and continuing to produce e-newsletters and highlight Indigenous land defence struggles in this country.

We are also planning to:

* bring PBI accompanied defenders from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico to Toronto in March when the PDAC mining convention takes place to build public awareness about how Canadian mining has impacted human rights and their communities

* bring PBI accompanied social leaders from Colombia to Toronto in May when the Frontera Energy shareholders meeting takes place so that these social leaders can talk about the criminalization they have experienced from the company

* help organize a land defender convergence in Victoria in August with PBI accompanied land defenders

* visit environmental defenders in Guatemala and help visibilize their struggle and amplify shared concerns about the sugar plantations that undermine their right to water given that Canada is one of the largest importers of sugar grown in Guatemala

* build our capacity to accompany Indigenous land defenders in this country by beginning a consultation process with them based on hearing their needs and reflecting on how our model works in Latin America.

All of this requires your support.

To support this work, you can:

Mail a cheque to: Peace Brigades International-Canada, 211 Bronson Avenue, #220, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6H5.

Make a one-time or monthly online donation here.

Thank you for your support!

Brent at PBI-Canada

Photo by The Narwhal.

CBC reports: “A B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced five protesters Monday [December 12] who pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of court for ignoring a court order forbidding them from blocking access to a controversial northern B.C. pipeline.”

“Amanda Wong, Joshua Goskey, Nina Sylvestor, Layla Staats and Skyler Williams were part of a larger group of protesters who blocked access to the camp where Coastal GasLink employees were building the 670-kilometre-long pipeline.”

“Justice Michael Tammen accepted a joint submission from the Crown and the lawyer for all five Coastal GasLink opponents, which resulted in a $500 fine for three of the accused and 25 hours of community service for two others.”

“Williams, Staats and Sylvestor all chose to pay the fine, while Goskey and Wong opted for service.”

The article further notes: “It was the first time anyone has been convicted of criminal contempt in relation to the protests.”

“Previous arrests have resulted in citations for civil contempt, but it wasn’t until last spring that the Crown decided to move ahead with criminal proceedings — which arises from public defiance of a court’s order.”

And it highlights: “Another 13 protesters are also facing criminal contempt proceedings in relation to the arrests. At previous hearings, [defence lawyer Frances] Mahon has indicated that they plan to contest the charges on grounds related to alleged breaches of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Injunctions vs Delgamuukw

The land defenders were sentenced for their contempt of an interlocutory (temporary) injunction granted by a B.C. Supreme Court judge in December 2019 that prohibits Wet’suwet’en land defenders from impeding Coastal GasLink workers.

Yellowhead Institute research director Shiri Pasternak has noted: “When the court refused to recognize Wet’suwet’en hereditary authority, [the land defenders] become de facto lawless and so are labelled and treated as criminals. So, a spectre of danger around these supposed criminals is created by the RCMP and other actors.”

Significantly, Pasternak asks: “But how can [a provincial court] injunction override [Delgamuukw] a Supreme Court [of Canada] decision [on December 11, 1997] that recognized hereditary leaders as the proper title and rights holders?”

Kate Gunn at First Peoples Law has also commented:

“The trends in injunctive relief run counter to established Canadian law. The Supreme Court has been clear that Indigenous peoples’ exclusive occupation of their ancestral lands is both part of the test for establishing Aboriginal title, and a right that flows from title. Rather than undermining the rule of law, Indigenous peoples’ efforts to prevent unwanted development on their lands should be viewed as an expression of Aboriginal title based on requirements articulated by the Supreme Court.”

United Nations

While the court focused on the injunction, we recall that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has repeatedly called on Canada to stop construction of the CGL pipeline and remove the RCMP from Wet’suwet’en territory.

The Committee oversees the compliance of States with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Canada is a signatory to that Convention.

PBI-Canada was present in Smithers, both at the courthouse and the RCMP detachment, on Friday November 19, 2021, as the defenders sentenced yesterday had their first court appearance and then were released after their arrests the previous day.

To date, there have been 90 arrests of 80 different people in relation to opposition to the construction of this pipeline.

Among the 13 people still facing charges is Wet’suwet’en land defender Sleydo’. We will be present in Montreal when she and other Wet’suwet’en land defenders are at the RBC Building at Place Ville Marie on Friday December 16.

Stand.earth has documented: “RBC is among top commercial banks providing the CGL project with working capital, including CAD $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.”

Video still: CityTV News

CBC reports: “People visiting the Brady Road landfill south of Winnipeg on Sunday [December 11] were turned away as protesters blocked access to the waste management facility to call on all levels of government to search for the remains of missing people.”

The article adds: “North of Winnipeg, a smaller demonstration took place at the Prairie Green landfill. Harrison Powder was part of a group who lit a sacred fire and laid tobacco down to honour the lives of Harris and Myran.”

The partial remains of Rebecca Contois, 24 years of age, were recovered from the Brady Road landfill in June. The remains of two women – Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, – are believed to be in the Prairie Green landfill. It’s not known where the remains of a fourth unidentified woman, now known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, are.

Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois

It is believed that these women were killed by the same man. He has expressed anti-Indigenous views online, as well as white supremacist and misogynistic views.

The article highlights: “[Morgan’s daughter] Cambria Harris, 21, is calling on all levels of government to search both the Brady Road landfill and Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of any missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people.”

Journalist Brandi Morin has challenged Winnipeg police who say it is not feasible to search the landfills for the bodies. Morin says: “Don’t say it isn’t feasible. Don’t say the feds don’t have resources. Cause they sure come up w the resources in a hurry when they send their armies of police in 2 sovereign Indigenous lands like the Wet’suwet’en to restrain them from protecting their territories from a pipeline.”

Member of Parliament Leah Gazan adds: “The loss of our four precious sisters is part of what the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and the Prime Minister himself, have characterized as an ongoing genocide.”

The National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls determined that “state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies” are in part responsible for the thousands of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in Canada that the report names as genocide.

Peace Brigades International-Canada supports the call for the resources to be provided for the remains of the women to be found.

PBI has accompanied the search for the remains of the murdered and missing. In Mexico, we accompany the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre as they search to locate remains in Ciudad Juárez. In Colombia, we accompany the Movement of Victims of State Crime and the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation who support a Comprehensive Bill on the Rights of Women Seekers of the Disappeared. And in Guatemala, we have accompanied the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala as they work to identify the remains of people who have been forcibly disappeared.

We recognize that these searches and recovery of remains of those disappeared and murdered are essential for truth, memory and non-repetition.

Video: Malaysian public interest lawyer Theiva Lingam tweeted this video of a silent protest inside COP15 “to remind everyone that there cannot be a Global Biodiversity Framework without rights for #environmentaldefenders.”

While there are many concerns that the 30×30 goal being negotiated at the United Nations COP15 summit in Montreal could lead to the displacement of Indigenous peoples and violence against Indigenous defenders, what does the proposed Global Biodiversity Framework text specifically have to say about environmental defenders?

As it turns out, not very much.

This draft text that emerged from the pre-negotiations that took place from December 3-5 notes (on page 16 under Target 21):

“Ensure the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation in decision-making, and access to justice and information related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities, respecting their cultures and their rights over lands, territories, resources, and traditional knowledge, as well as by women and girls, children and youth, and persons with disabilities and ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders.”

While slight, this is more than the text that emerged from the recent COP27 climate change conference that made no reference to environmental defenders.

Global Witness continues to highlight:

“Land and environmental defenders risk their lives to protect their rights to land and to a healthy environment. They are also our first line of defence against ecological collapse. 200 people were killed in 2021 for standing up for their rights to their land and a healthy environment. That’s the murder of a defender every three days on average.”

It adds that over the past ten years “a staggering 1,733 defenders have been killed, and the violence shows no sign of slowing down.”

Recommendations

In the lead up to COP27, EarthRights International, Global Witness, Natural Justice, Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (SPDA), CIVICUS, and the International Land Coalition released a set of recommendations for policymakers calling on them to take meaningful steps to protect those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

Silvana Baldovino of SPDA said: “A higher recognition and incorporation by UNFCCC and COP27 of the role of defenders in facing the climate crisis is crucial to move States towards stronger protection schemes.”

Amnesty International also called on all parties to: “Ensure the action plan recognizes the role of environmental human rights defenders in promoting effective and ambitious climate action and includes concrete measures to protect them in line with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.”

Indigenous land defenders

At the silent protest at COP15 (photo above), one of the participants is holding a photo of murdered Indigenous Lenca environmental defender Berta Caceres.

In a speech she gave in March 2016, less than a year before she was killed, Caceres stated: “Our Mother Earth – militarized, fenced-in, poisoned, a place where basic rights are systematically violated – demands that we take action. Let us build societies that are able to coexist in a dignified way, in a way that protects life.”

PBI-Canada will be present in Montreal on December 16 when Wet’suwet’en land defenders will be there to participate in COP15 events.

Wet’suwet’en land defender Sleydo’ will be in Montreal on December 16.

They will be there to call on the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to divest from the Coastal GasLink pipeline now being built on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia without free, prior and informed consent.

More on this action from Decolonial Solidarity here.

Further reading: The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) denounces 30×30 initiative as “fortress conservation” and Indigenous land defenders sing “Trudeau is a colonizer” as prime minister opens the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal.

Photo: Violet Coco

BBC News reports: “For 28 minutes in April, Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco blocked a single lane of rush hour traffic on the [five lane] Sydney Harbour Bridge [in Australia], calling for greater action on climate change.”

“Those 28 minutes would cost her a 15-month jail sentence.”

That article adds: “She is among the first to be sentenced under new state laws which introduced harsher penalties for protests on critical infrastructure – like roads, rail lines, tunnels and bridges. Earlier this year, Victoria and Tasmania also introduced laws increasing jail sentences and fines for some kinds of obstructive protests.”

The Guardian also reports on other activists facing jail time in Australia. It highlights: “In Victoria, forestry activists will soon face up to $21,000 in fines and 12 months in prison for protesting near logging areas. Laws passed in Queensland in 2018 mean even those found possessing devices used in disruptive protests face two years in jail.”

Deutsche Welle also notes concerns about a proposed law in the United Kingdom and activists in jail in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Italy.

It reports:

“This week two Just Stop Oil protesters were sentenced to 21 and 28 days in prison for trespassing at an oil depot in April. The organisation, which demands an immediate stop to all new oil and gas licences in the UK, says that 24 of its supporters are currently in prison.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to support the police and grant them new powers to crack down on climate protests. …The new Public Order Bill would punish the act of gluing oneself to objects or buildings, or blocking transport, by six months in prison.

In Bavaria, where laws allow for longer pre-trial detention than other states, at least two activists from the group called ‘Letzte Generation,’ or Last Generation, will spend Christmas behind bars, having been placed in custody since July, when they blocked a motorway in Munich.

A Dutch court handed down two two-month sentences to climate activists who daubed Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ with tomato soup in a museum in The Hague.

In Spain, two activists from Vegetable Future, a group that demands an end to government livestock subsidies, face up to three years in prison for sticking themselves to paintings of Francisco de Goya in Madrid’s Prado museum.”

Euractiv also recently reported: “Conservative opposition parties CDU and CSU tabled a motion in the German parliament titled ‘Harsher punishments for road blockers and museum rioters – protection people and cultural goods from radical protest’. But representatives of the three governing parties dismissed the opposition’s demands. There are already sufficient means to punish those ‘transcending the borders of peaceful protest,’ Bijan Djir-Sarai, the general secretary of the liberal FDP – worried about ‘the continuing radicalisation of the climate movement’ – told Tagesspiegel.”

In the United States, the Huffington Post reported in February 2021 on proposed “Harsh New Penalties For Protesting Fossil Fuels.” Their headline continues: “Industry-designed bills to silence climate protests are under consideration in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Montana. More are likely to come.”

At that time, it was reported the law in Minnesota could mean up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines for activists.

In September of this year, the Minnesota Reformer reported: “24 states have considered harsher penalties for pipeline protesters since DAPL [Dakota Access Pipeline] standoff.”

The #NoDAPL standoff began in April 2016  on the Sanding Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. It opposed the pipeline (partially owned by Calgary-based Enbridge and financed by Canadian banks Scotiabank, TD and RBC) threatening ancient burial grounds, cultural sites and the region’s water. The protest ended in February 2017 with a militarized intervention by the National Guard and police forces.

In Canada, The Narwhal reported in 2021: “Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party is proposing to amend Canada’s Criminal Code to stop protests that disrupt key infrastructure such as pipelines or railways — a federal election proposal that many say will unfairly target Indigenous land defenders.”

The Conservative Party platform says (on page 33): “Last year’s rail blockades [in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders] demonstrated the importance – and vulnerability – of the infrastructure that ties our country together. Canada’s Conservatives will amend s. 431.2 of the Criminal Code to create an offence of interference with an infrastructure facility or a public transportation system punishable by either summary conviction or indictment, depending upon the severity of the offence.”

We have also previously noted the Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act (which became law in April), the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (passed in Alberta in June 2020) and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure Act in Manitoba (shelved in September 2021).

CBC has explained that the legislation in Alberta “allows hefty penalties [up to a $10,000 fine and six months in jail] against any person or company found to have blocked, damaged or entered without reason any ‘essential infrastructure’. The list of possible sites is lengthy and includes pipelines, rail lines, highways, oil sites, telecommunications equipment, radio towers, electrical lines, dams, farms and more, on public or private land.”

The Conversation adds: “Those who violate the act can be arrested without a warrant, fined between $1,000 and $10,000 for a first offence and serve up to six months in jail. The fine would increase for second offences, amounting to $25,000.”

We continue to follow this troubling trend of harsher sentencing measures for environmental defenders as the climate crisis deepens.

Video: Indigenous land defenders unfurl banner as Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau opens the COP15 summit. It says: “Indigenous Genocide = Ecocide. To Save Biodiversity Stop Invading Our Lands. Colonialism Can’t Save You.”

The 30×30 initiative is now being discussed at the United Nations COP15 biodiversity summit in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal).

In short, the 30×30 goal, which is backed by Canada, calls on governments to designate 30% of Earth’s land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030.

There are deep concerns that this could result in the displacement of Indigenous populations from these protected areas. Critics have described it as militarized conservationism and fortress conservation.

The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) has denounced 30×30 because of their experiences in the Cayos Cochinos islands and the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge. You can read more about OFRANEH’s concerns here.

EU says mining and drilling should be allowed within protected areas

The Guardian reports: “The 30×30 initiative – to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030 – is backed by a coalition, led by the UK, France and Costa Rica, of more than 100 countries, but has received significant pushback from some Indigenous groups and human rights organisations, who say it raises the prospect of land grabs and further violence against communities scientifically shown to best protect nature.”

That article adds: “On the first day of formal negotiations, the idea of what constitutes a ‘protected area’ was facing significant scrutiny. The EU was accused of trying to water down the target by arguing that extractive industries such as mining and drilling should be allowed in protected areas, provided they did not negatively affect biodiversity.”

It further notes: “Within the 30×30 agreement, the EU wants 10% under strict protection, but within the remaining 20% it would allow extractive industries such as mining and drilling, provided this did not have a negative impact on biodiversity.”

Charlotte Dawe, conservation and policy campaigner for the Vancouver-based Wilderness Committee, has previously warned: “I have stood in freshly logged ‘protected areas’ supposedly made for the conservation of wildlife. If that’s what this government has in mind for meeting 30 by 30, it’s all smoke screen.”

Wet’suwet’en land defenders at COP15

Notably, the Decolonial Solidarity organizing team has announced that Gidimt’en water protector Sleydo’ and Wet’suwet’en land defenders will be in Montreal on December 16 “to participate in COP15 events”. They add: “There will be an action at the RBC building at Place Ville Marie on Dec. 16th (time to be announced!).”

Wet’suwet’en land defenders are resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on their territory in northern British Columbia.

Stand.earth has documented: “RBC is among top commercial banks providing the CGL project with working capital, including CAD $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.”

Canada, Indigenous rights and COP15

This media statement from the Prime Minister of Canada says: “At COP15, Canada’s pavilion will showcase Canadian action and leadership on biodiversity conservation, promote partnerships and ambitious action, and amplify the voices of Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth. An Indigenous village will showcase the vital role of Indigenous Peoples as stewards of the land and offer a gathering space for Indigenous participants at the conference.”

And yet Indigenous land defenders are challenging the Trudeau government’s record on Indigenous territories and rights impacted by extractivism.

Ta’Kaiya Blaney of the Tla’amin First Nation, one of the land defenders who disrupted Trudeau speech at COP15, says: “I’m not here to fight for recognition, I’m here to fight for sovereignty, and that is different. I’m not asking the United Nations or Canada to recognize our nation as, in all of our belonging and our rights, I’m asking them to stop invading us.”

Notably, the Trudeau government continues to provide public financing to fossil fuel companies through the Government of Canada-owned Export Development Canada (EDC).

Above Ground has highlighted: “EDC’s support for the sector averaged $13.6-billion a year between 2018 and 2020, making Canada the largest provider of public finance for fossil fuels in the G20. This was 22 times greater than EDC’s support for renewable energy.”

Notably, EDC has lent up to $500 million to build the Coastal GasLink pipeline after a “rigorous due diligence review.”

The actual amount of overall fossil fuel subsidies could be even higher than $13.6 billion a year. CBC has reported: “In Canada in 2020, estimates range from $4.5 billion (OECD) to $18 billion (Environmental Defence, including public financing to support pipelines) to $81 billion (IMF, including externalities), although most reports note that a lack of transparency makes complete and accurate calculations difficult.”

Subsidizing the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders

The Environmental Defence PAYING POLLUTERS report released in April 2021 also highlighted: “A particularly egregious form of fossil fuel subsidy are investments made into policing Indigenous land defenders opposing fossil fuel infrastructure.”

It adds: “For example, over $13 million was spent last year on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to ‘protect’ the Coastal GasLink pipeline – which took the form of harassing Wet’suwet’en Nation community members who oppose the pipeline.”

By October 2022 The Tyee reported: “An ongoing RCMP presence on the Morice Forest Service Road in northern B.C., where a gas pipeline is under construction through Wet’suwet’en territory, has cost Canada’s police force more than $25 million.”

To date, there have been 90 arrests of 80 different people in relation to opposition to the construction of this pipeline.

Twenty people, including Sleydo’, are currently facing charges.

Peace Brigades International-Canada will be present in Montreal when Wet’suwet’en land defenders are there on December 16.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has documented that the European banks financing the Coastal GasLink pipeline include: KfW IPEX-Bank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and CaixaBank (Spain).

“If you choose to invest your money in a project that is committing genocide on Indigenous people and lands, you will lose.” – Sleydo’