DoomsdaysCW<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Wetsuweten" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Wetsuweten</span></a> Law Cannot ‘Coexist’ with BC Court Order, Judge Determines<br>Chief Dsta’hyl has been found guilty of criminal contempt.</p><p>by Amanda Follett Hosgood, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TheTyee" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TheTyee</span></a></p><p>21 Feb 2024</p><p>"Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders have opposed <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pipeline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pipeline</span></a> construction through their traditional territory since before the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CoastalGasLink" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CoastalGasLink</span></a> 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.</p><p>[...]</p><p>"Last month, Tammen determined there was sufficient evidence to convict three <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Indigenous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Indigenous</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LandDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LandDefenders</span></a> — Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko. They were arrested the day after Dennis and later charged with criminal <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/contempt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>contempt</span></a>. Hearings have begun into an application by the defence to stay the charges based on police conduct during the arrests.</p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChiefDstahyl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChiefDstahyl</span></a>’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.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"When Dsta’hyl was arrested, he had four batteries from heavy machinery in the back of his pickup truck, the judge said.</p><p>"'There is little dispute concerning the basic facts,' Tammen said, noting that video evidence documenting the incidents was presented during the trial.</p><p>"'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.'</p><p>"Witnesses for the defence included other <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Likhtsamisyu" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Likhtsamisyu</span></a> 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 <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/yintah" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>yintah</span></a>, Tammen said.</p><p>"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.'</p><p>[...]</p><p>"Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment. Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. on March 6."</p><p><a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/02/21/Wetsuweten-Law-Cannot-Coexist-BC-Court-Order/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thetyee.ca/News/2024/02/21/Wet</span><span class="invisible">suweten-Law-Cannot-Coexist-BC-Court-Order/</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SLAPPs</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousActivism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousActivism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilAndGas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BigOilAndGas</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousLandDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousLandDefenders</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LandBack" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LandBack</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/2023PublicOrderAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>2023PublicOrderAct</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DirectAction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DirectAction</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ACAB" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ACAB</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CriminalizingDissent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CriminalizingDissent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterProtectors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterProtectors</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ForestDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ForestDefenders</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateActivists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateJustice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateJustice</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EcoActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EcoActivists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HumanRightsViolations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HumanRightsViolations</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Article20" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Article20</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RightToProtest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RightToProtest</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SlowMarch" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SlowMarch</span></a></p>