BC Court: Racist RCMP violated rights of Indigenous Land Defenders

On February 18th, BC Justice Michael Tammen ruled that the RCMP's Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) breached the charter rights of three Indigenous Land Defenders.

 

Militarized police were sent in to enforce a BC court injunction in November, 2021- granted to Coastal Gaslink (CGL) - to building a fracked gas pipeline over Wet'suwet'en territory in so-called British Columbia. 

 

The Yintah (Wet’suwet’en land) is 22,000 square kilometres of unceded land. The Supreme Court of Canada recognized the sovereignty of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs over the Yintah in 1997 in the Delgamuukw decision.

 

But the BC court ignored this when they granted an injunction to CGL at the end of 2019. The Wet’suwet’en evicted CGL under their own law in early January, 2020. In early February, 2020, an army of RCMP officers invaded the Yintah, arresting and detaining Land Defenders.

 

The Shut Down Canada movement erupted in response and solidarity, with thousands blocking rails, roads and ports across the country. After 3 weeks, $425 million a day of goods were stalled each day through blockades. The crisis forced the Liberal government to send representatives to the negotiation table.

 

The pandemic disrupted the mobilizations, but in late 2021, CGL construction resumed and approached the Widzen Kwa river. Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders were joined by an official delegation of Haudenosaunee supporters and others standing up to protect their water.

 

Sleydo' (Molly Wickham), who is Wet'suwet'en of the Gidimt'en Clan, Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet'suwet'en family ties and Corey Jocko, who is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne filed the charter challenge for abuse of process more than a year ago after being convicted for criminal contempt.

 

Their lawyer Frances Mahon argued that the C-IRG officers arbitrarily detained them, discriminated against them, failed to follow due process and used excessive force during the arrests. She also argued that the court imposed unreasonable bail restrictions afterwards.

 

In a press conference after the decision, Mahon said that while “not a complete victory, it is still a victory”. The charter challenge had sought a stay of proceedings, but the ruling will result in a reduction in their sentences, which will be announced on April 3rd.

 

 

Multiple RCMP officers repeatedly called the defendants "orcs" and "ogres" in apparent reference to the red hand print that Sleydo' and Shaylynn Sampson had painted over their mouths - a symbol for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited People. 

 

In his ruling, Tammen said "I view the conduct as extremely serious involving racism directed towards Indigenous women, that is a group that has been systemically disadvantaged through all sectors of the criminal justice system for generations. I do not agree with the crown that apologies from two senior officers even with my judicial rebuke is a remedy that adequately expresses judicial condemnation."

 

Mahon called this “an extraordinarily rare finding, and it demonstrates how serious the police officers conduct was”.

 

Tammen ruled that “the comments about the red face paint” were “potentially a sign of systemic attitudinal issues within the C-IRG". However, he denied that this behaviour was condoned or encouraged more broadly within the RCMP, despite the well-documented and widespread anti-Indigenous racism in police forces across Canada.

 

Mahon also commented that even though Tammen downplayed the lack of warrants as “minor” that his decision upheld the need for warrants even when people are occupying land “illegally under colonial law”.

 

At the press conference, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks commented that he wondered whether the RCMP apologies were real or just that they were “sorry they got caught”.

 

He argued that something stronger was needed "mandating that all people are human, all people have rights and that all people should be treated equally regardless of whether they support an industry.”

 

He went on to say that the Wet’suwet’en struggles against the CGL pipeline were not only for them: “We only want to protect the environment, we only want to protect the human race and we have to do that together.”

 

Sleydo’ thanked the legal team, fellow land defenders and those who have stood in support. She said that the ordeal of the past 6 years of violations were “just the tip of the iceberg of what Indigenous people have been experiencing and what we have experienced at the hands of the RCMP.”

 

She called out the double standard that “C-IRG members on the ground will not be sentenced for breaking their own laws, much like when they murder our Indigenous men and women in their custody.”

 

Her affirmation of her own humanity in the face of the treatment from the police is worth quoting at length:

 

“I refuse to allow the colonial courts to dehumanize and criminalize me. I belong to my land, my ancestors and my people; I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a good friend and a leader. I am a singer, a hunter, a teacher and a revolutionary. I am following in the footsteps of my ancestors and carry their teachings with me in everything that I do.“

 

Corey Jocko spoke of the connections that have been made between Haudenosaunee and Wet’suwet’en nations: “We’ve been fighting for the land and the water and our ancestral beliefs since the beginning.” He added that “the biggest momentum that allows us to keep going is everybody out there in the world as well.”

 

Shaylynn Simpson added “This fight isn't over, there's more work to be done. The only battle lost is the battle not fought.”

 

This ruling is a public reprimand to the RCMP and their controversial C-IRG unit. After the charter challenge was filed, the unit’s name was changed to the Critical Response Unit (CRU). Despite this, they still “act openly as unaccountable mercenaries for private industry”, in the words of Sleydo’.

 

While this ruling is a partial victory, it isn’t real justice. For Sleydo’, justice would be “RCMP off the Yintah, CGL off the Yintah."