#ecoactivists — Public Fediverse posts

Trial of #LandDefenders Fighting the #CoastalGasLink #Pipeline is Put on Hold as Canadian #Police Come Under Scrutiny for Excessive Force

The defense for three activists from #FirstNations argues abuse of process by security forces around the pipeline construction site, as the U.N. and Amnesty International allege excessive force, surveillance and #criminalization of land defenders.

By Keerti Gopal
January 24, 2024

"The trial of three Indigenous land defenders arrested at a pipeline construction site on #unceded #Wetsuweten First Nation land was adjourned until spring on Friday, as the court looks into potential abuses by Canadian police.

"In the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Smithers, B.C., the trial is the latest development in the nearly 12-year fight against the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in the Canadian province.

"Land defenders #Sleydo’ #MollyWickham, #ShayLynnSampson and #CoreyJocko were found guilty of criminal contempt earlier this month, with Justice Michael Tanmen ruling that they broke a court injunction forbidding them from blocking access to construction for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

"But immediately following the verdict, Tanmen began a week-long hearing to listen to the three individuals’ abuse of process applications, which allege that their Charter rights were violated during their arrests and detentions. During the hearing, the defense argued to stay the charges based on these applications, citing excessive force, aggressive behavior, offensive language and mocking by police.

"In Canada, the abuse of process doctrine allows courts to stay, or postpone, a proceeding on the grounds that some element of the process was unfair, and might undermine the legal system. In this case, the abuse of process application focused on treatment during and after arrests.

"The trial began on Jan. 8 and consisted mainly of witness testimony and evidence gathered in November 2021, during one of four major police raids at the pipeline between 2019 and 2023. The evidence included videos from social media and other videos taken by officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s national police service.

"The videos, and testimony from witnesses, including #RCMP officers, detailed the police using dogs and firearms and wielding chainsaws to cut down the doors of a cabin where Sleydo’ and Sampson were arrested. Jocko was arrested in another small structure close by.

"The activists allege police used excessive force to break down the doors and used offensive language, showing videos in which officers described arrestees as 'orcs' and 'ogres.' The abuse of process hearing will likely restart in June.

"Chief Na’Moks, a Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief and prominent advocate against the pipeline, said that the trial may serve as a template for future legal battles across Canada, where several other pipeline projects are underway.

"'This is going to affect everything else that happens, not only in #BritishColumbia but in #Canada,' Chief Na’Moks said last week. “This is the template that they want to use...and the harassment and constant abuse of #HumanRights has to stop.”

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012024/first-nations-activists-fighting-coastal-gaslink-pipeline/

#ACAB #HumanRightsViolations #IndigenousActivism #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders
#UncededLand #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent
#WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists

#Wetsuweten Law Cannot ‘Coexist’ with BC Court Order, Judge Determines
Chief Dsta’hyl has been found guilty of criminal contempt.

by Amanda Follett Hosgood, #TheTyee

21 Feb 2024

"Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders have opposed #pipeline construction through their traditional territory since before the #CoastalGasLink pipeline project was first proposed. In December 2018, the B.C. Supreme Court issued an interim injunction to the company, which prohibited anyone from blocking pipeline access roads or work sites. A year later, on Dec. 31, 2019, the court granted a permanent injunction for the duration of the project.

[...]

"Last month, Tammen determined there was sufficient evidence to convict three #Indigenous #LandDefenders — Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko. They were arrested the day after Dennis and later charged with criminal #contempt. Hearings have begun into an application by the defence to stay the charges based on police conduct during the arrests.

"#ChiefDstahyl’s arrest took place in October 2021, after a series of interactions with Coastal GasLink workers and security contractors on the Shea Forest Service Road on Likhts’amisyu Clan territory.

"During those interactions, Dsta’hyl and others blocked access to a work camp and 'seized and rendered inoperable' multiple pieces of machinery belonging to Coastal GasLink contractors by cutting electrical wires and removing batteries, according to evidence presented during the trial.

"When Dsta’hyl was arrested, he had four batteries from heavy machinery in the back of his pickup truck, the judge said.

"'There is little dispute concerning the basic facts,' Tammen said, noting that video evidence documenting the incidents was presented during the trial.

"'Chief Dsta’hyl, acting as an enforcement officer for the Likhts’amisyu Clan, participated in the decommissioning of a piece of heavy equipment owned by a CGL subcontractor on Oct. 17, 2021. That action consisted of removing the battery from the equipment, an excavator, thus rendering it inoperable.'

"Witnesses for the defence included other #Likhtsamisyu Chiefs, who described the Wet’suwet’en traditional clan system and its role in governing the traditional territory. Among the Chiefs’ duties is preservation and protection of the traditional territory, or #yintah, Tammen said.

"Tammen also summarized the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass, something described in detail by defence witnesses, saying permission is required to access territory belonging to a house group 'beyond just passing through it.'

[...]

"Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment. Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. on March 6."

https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/02/21/Wetsuweten-Law-Cannot-Coexist-BC-Court-Order/

#SLAPPs #IndigenousActivism #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders #LandBack #2023PublicOrderAct #DirectAction #ACAB #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch

Protecting #Activists from #AbusiveLitigation

#SLAPPs in the #GlobalSouth and How to Respond

PUBLISHED: JULY 2020

"In #Thailand, an agricultural company files more than a dozen suits against at least 20 #defendants, targeting #workers, #journalists, and #activists who had spoken out against alleged #LaborAbuses at the company’s chicken farm. In #India, an association of #pesticide manufacturers brings a civil defamation suit against #journalists that had reported on the harmful #health and #environmental effects of pesticide use. In the #Philippines, a #mining company files suit against 85 defendants who had conducted a #PeacefulProtest near the company’s mining site, after the company’s own security forces used #lethal violence against the #protesters. In #SouthAfrica, an #Australian mining company files suit against environmental activists who had criticized a company mine during a lecture at a local university.

What do these suits have in common? They are all “#SLAPPs,” or “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”: suits filed not to secure relief, but to use the risks and costs of litigation to defuse criticism and opposition and discourage the exercise of fundamental freedoms. SLAPPs have long been prevalent in the #Globa North, but SLAPPs are also being used in the Global South to silence activism.

"In Protecting Activists from Abusive Litigation: SLAPPs in the Global South and How to Respond, ICNL presents the first cross-regional survey of SLAPPs in the Global South, along with the first rigorous comparative analysis of anti-SLAPP policy responses undertaken in the Global North and the Global South. Our survey shows that SLAPPs pose a serious threat to the exercise of fundamental freedoms in the Global South, particularly for activists, civil society organizations, journalists, and community members who dare to criticize powerful entities.

"Our survey, which is far from comprehensive, has identified 82 reported SLAPPs filed in Thailand, India, the Philippines, and South Africa – the most fertile fields for Southern SLAPPs – as well as #Indonesia, #Malaysia, #Armenia, #SierraLeone, and #Honduras. Key features of SLAPPs in our sample include:

- Half of the cases in our sample (41 cases) involved criminal proceedings.
- The most frequent SLAPP targets in our sample were activists and civil society organizations (CSOs) (38 cases, or 46%); journalists and publishers (17 cases, or 21%); and leaders and members of local communities (15 cases, or 18%).
- Nearly all of the cases in our sample – 75 cases, or 91% – were brought by private companies or company officials, with 34 of these cases (41%) brought by mining companies and 28 cases (34%) brought by companies associated with agricultural operations.

"Where the cause of action or charge was reported, the suit was based at least in part on a defamation charge, either civil or criminal, in 66 of 75 cases (88%).

"Of the 33 suits in our sample brought as civil actions, claims in 17 cases (52%) exceeded 1 million USD, with the average claim exceeding 10 million USD."

Full article:

https://www.icnl.org/post/report/slapps-in-the-global-south-report

#HumanRights #Whistleblowing #DigitalFreeSpeech #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch #BigOilAndGas

We need volunteer watch people for shifts at tree protection new resistance camp in Wsanec territory. Please contact via DM & I'll send contact info over.

#Saanich #Wsanec #VolunteersNeeded #forestdefenders #SaveOldGrowth #protectOldGrowth #watchStation #ResistanceCamp #CallOut #environmentalists #EcoActivists