A Crown lawyer suggested the RCMP behaved reasonably in the circumstances as she cross-examined a Wet’suwet’en leader arrested for blockading the Coastal GasLink pipeline in 2021.
Crown lawyer Kathryn Costain is questioning Sleydo’, also known as Molly Wickham, a wing chief of Cas Yikh, a house group of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.
The proceedings are a continuation of an abuse of process application that started in January in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers.
Sleydo’ has brought the application along with Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet’suwet’en family ties and Corey Jocko, who is Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, which straddles the Quebec, Ontario and New York state borders.
Justice Michael Tammen found them guilty in January of criminal contempt of court for breaking a 2019 injunction that impeded anyone from blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
The abuse of process application alleges that RCMP used excessive force while arresting the accused and that the group was treated unfairly while in custody.
It asks the judge to stay the criminal contempt of court charges or to reduce their sentences based on their treatment by police.
Costain played several social media videos for the court in which Sleydo’ speaks about interactions between the RCMP, CGL and the blockade members, and asks people to come and support their cause.
CBC did not view the video evidence because the court only provides phone access when not attending in person.
One of the videos, dated Nov. 14, 2021, showed Sleydo’ issuing an eviction notice to CGL to leave Wet’suwet’en territory within eight hours. The video was made in the early morning when it was dark.
Costain asked Sleydo’ whether CGL workers might still be sleeping, and if it was reasonable to think the company could remove hundreds of people from the area in that time.
Sleydo replied that she would often see workers moving along the forest service road early in the morning and believed people would have heard the eviction notice and had sufficient time to leave.
When asked why that day was chosen to enforce the eviction, Sleydo’ said CGL had not respected the lack of consent from the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs to stop the project and wanted to stop CGL from drilling under the river.
Sleydo’ earlier testified that the river was of great cultural significance to her community.
Speaking to police enforcement of the injunction, Costain questioned whether Sleydo’ would have obeyed any police orders while at Coyote Camp — an area that contained blockade members.
Sleydo’ disagreed and said it would depend on the situation, but she did not leave the tiny house structure she occupied when police came to enforce the injunction on Nov. 19 because she said leaving the structure felt unsafe.
“I don’t believe that it’s the RCMP jurisdiction, I have always and still do maintain that this is a political issue that needs to be resolved between governments, that this is not an issue that force and violence should be used by the RCMP,” she said.
Sleydo’ testified about having cultural items forcibly removed from her after arriving at the Prince George RCMP detachment on Nov. 20 while she waited to be seen by a judge.
Costain showed video of an officer cutting the medicine bag off Sleydo’s neck when she refused to hand it over, pointing out that Sleydo’ was holding the medicine bag in her hands, making the string taut so police officers couldn’t remove it from her neck.
A female officer then cuts the strap of the medicine bag.
New video footage of Prince George RCMP detachment
Shortly after the interaction, Sleydo’ also spoke about how three officers restrained her and removed her cedar bracelet and damaged it as she was being led to a cell.
Costain showed video footage of what appeared to be the interaction in court, but Sleydo’ couldn’t confirm whether it was the incident in question.
WATCH | RCMP arrest blockade members:
CBC Indigenous has obtained new RCMP footage of 2021 arrests at Coyote Camp on Wet’suwet’en territory, a key location for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Sleydo’ said she was asked to remove all of her cultural items repeatedly by officers but refused because of her Indigenous right to have them with her.
Costain showed footage of Sleydo’ in the detachment after the medicine bag was returned to her under the condition that she be in a cell by herself.
Sleydo’ spoke about the hardship she has experienced since her arrest and how it has affected her life. She said her family lives a traditional lifestyle, and their home does not have running water or electricity, and she relies on the land to survive.
Sleydo’s ex-husband was also arrested on Nov. 19 and had bail conditions that restricted him from moving freely on the territory. She said this put great stress on her family. Sleydo’s bail conditions did not allow her to be within 75 metres of the pipeline and work sites and restricted access to her territory to cultural activities only.
Costain asked if they had ever applied for a variance in their bail conditions. Sleydo’ said they did apply for a variance on her ex-husband’s conditions, but his restrictions no longer applied before the variance could be dealt with.
Costain also asked Sleydo’ who had diagnosed her with PTSD, after Sleydo’ testified she suffered from the condition after the arrest.
Sleydo’ said she diagnosed herself and was familiar with the symptoms as a therapist after completing a course with the B.C. Justice Institute on Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma.