The ruling by Crown prosecutor Tyler Bauman at the B.C. Supreme Court on July 7 brought the total number of people facing criminal contempt charges for their role in blocking access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline to 19.
In total, 27 people were arrested over a period of six days between September 2021 and November 2021, two of whom the Crown decided not to charge due to evidentiary reasons.
The pipeline has the support of 20 elected First Nation governments along the route, including the elected governments of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and Haisla Nation. But it’s opposed by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and environmental activists, whose protests against the pipeline spread to other parts of the country in early 2020, in many cases with protesters setting up blockades on railroads.
Members of the Gidimt’en Clan have responded to the injunction by setting up an occupation 44 kilometres down the Morice Forest Service Road, which provides access to the pipeline.
“One of the individuals who identifies with the KM 44 Blockade, Molly Wickham, has made public statements indicating that their occupation of the land is for the purpose of preventing [Coastal GasLink] from completing the work necessary to obtain permits and authorizations and to ultimately prevent the Pipeline Project from being constructed,” she wrote in her ruling in January 2020.
During the court appearance on July 7, there were five other protesters who also learned they will not face criminal charges for their arrest on Nov. 19, 2021. Bauman said the decision not to press charges against them came down to how the RCMP read the injunction to them that day.
“The actions of the defendants did not involve blocking the roadway, even if they may otherwise have been in breach of the injunction.”
Bauman said while the five would not likely fall under criminal contempt charges, Coastal GasLink could consider bringing civil court cases against them.
The next court appearance is scheduled for July 28, at which Coastal GasLink can decide whether or not to pursue legal actions against them. As for the four who learned of their charges, the Crown will announce their sentencing then.