An Amnesty International report is taking the Mounties to task for what it is calling “unlawful, militarized” raids and human rights abuses on indigenous communities opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northeastern British Columbia.The report, released on Monday, accuses the RCMP of conducting arbitrary arrests, illegal surveillance and intimidation of members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and their supporters while “defending” their land from construction workers between 2019 and 2021.The group accuses the RCMP of using “disproportionate” tactics in response to a wave of vandalism and protests at work sites along the 670-km route to Kitimat. In fact, Amnesty said its own investigators were intimidated and harassed when it attempted its own investigation of the claims..Amnesty says it’s part of “centuries of Canadian government policies whose aim has been to remove indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands and assimilate them into settler society.”“These policies and practices include forced evictions, relocation and dispossession, residential schools, Indian registration rules, mass incarceration, forced sterilization, the Sixties Scoop, the child welfare system and Indian Act rules, among others,” it said.“Amnesty International considers that the consultation process regarding the CGL pipeline did not meet the criteria developed by international human rights law and standards, breaching the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s collective right to consultation in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent.”.“These policies and practices include forced evictions, relocation and dispossession, residential schools, Indian registration rules, mass incarceration, forced sterilization, the Sixties Scoop, the child welfare system and Indian Act rules, among others,”Amnesty International .In December 2019, the British Columbia Supreme Court granted TC Energy an interlocutory injunction preventing Wet’suwet’en residents and their supporters from blockading the Morice Forest Service Road in an attempt to stop the construction of the pipeline after serious incidents of vandalism and violence against workers. The injunction included enforcement provisions under which Wet’suwet’en 'land defenders' could be arrested for approaching pipeline construction sites and blockading the road, even though the sites are located on the group’s unceded territory.From January 2019 to March 2023, the RCMP undertook four large-scale police operations equipped with semi-automatic weapons, helicopters and dog units against Wet’suwet’en members as a way of enforcing the injunction. More than 75 people were arrested “solely for exercising their indigenous rights and their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Amnesty said. A total of 20 of those were prosecuted for criminal contempt of court, resulting in five guilty pleas and five dismissals. Three are awaiting trial in January 2024..In November, Sabina Dennis was acquitted by the BC Supreme Court following a raid to enforce the injunction in November of 2021 after being the first to go on trial.It comes after TC Energy also announced in November the pipeline is mechanically complete and awaiting first gas deliveries to the massive LNG Canada terminal in 2025.The project was originally expected to cost $6.2 billion but climbed to more than $14.5 billion partly as a result of extra costs from the protests and security. The pipeline sparked rail blockades across the country.
