Court Support for Elders Targetted by TransMountain

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/328091098574064/

Aug 10 at 10 AM – Aug 14 at 4 PM

BC Supreme Court - 800 Smithe Street

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Join us at 10 am on Monday, August 10, for a trial that could take several days. The court room will be announced on the morning of Monday, August 10. We do not know the size of the court room yet, and physical distancing measures will be in effect. Please wear your mask if you come.

On December 31, 2019, the Crown notified lawyers representing Indigenous elders Jim Leyden and Stacy Gallagher that their clients were being charged with contempt for alleged breaches of the injunction in November and December 2019. Jim and Stacy were previously convicted of criminal contempt for conducting prayers and ceremony in 2018, and they are currently awaiting sentencing in September.

This new application to charge Jim and Stacy with criminal contempt filed by Crown Counsel Monte Ruttan significantly departs from prior cases in a couple of important ways. First, it appears the RCMP failed to adhere to Section 12 of the Injunction which lays out a "five step process" for arresting "any persons who breach the Order." Second, neither defendant was arrested at the time the Crown alleges the breach took place. Both defendants found out about the charges only after the Crown made contact with their lawyers.

It's likely that the Crown is working in tandem with the RCMP and Trans Mountain (TMX) to:

(1) target Jim and Stacy and others who continue to monitor TMX activity and who are seen as a threat to the pipeline expansion project, and
(2) set a new precedent that allows the Crown to charge people after the fact without requiring the RCMP to adhere to the "five step process"

For these reasons and more, we must expose these intimidation tactics and systemic attempts to silence principled land defenders. When corporations and governments gang up against people of the land, the injustice of this #ColonialRuleofLaw must be called out.

We gratefully acknowledge that these proceedings take place on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh, where everyone who lives on these lands has a responsibility to become better relatives with the first peoples of this land and to take care of the lands and waters that give us all life.