The abuse of process application brought by a Wet’suwet’en leader and members of a blockade who were found guilty of criminal contempt of court for stopping work on the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline was back in court on Tuesday.
The application began in January for 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, 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 of the B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers is hearing the continuation of the abuse of process application alleging that RCMP used excessive force while making the arrests and that the group was treated unfairly while in custody.
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 asks the judge to stay the criminal contempt of court charges or to reduce their sentences based on the accused’s treatment by police.
Sleydo’ took the stand Tuesday and was questioned by defence lawyer Frances Mahon.
Disturbing radio transmissions
Video footage played in court showed Sleydo’ and other members listening to radio transmissions the evening of Nov. 18, 2021, the day before she was arrested, of audio that was reminiscent of a horror movie.
The audio was a disturbing transmission where what sounded like children sang the nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosie, along with other disturbing noises, including a voice saying, “I know where you are. I’m coming to get you.”
No one knows who transmitted the audio, but Sleydo’ testified that the radio channel it was transmitted on would have had to have been in close proximity to her, with knowledge of the channel the blockade members were communicating on.
At the time, many blockade participants had just been arrested by the RCMP. An exclusion zone had been set up in the area, which only allowed access to the RCMP and Coastal GasLink members.
In the video, Sleydo’ can be heard saying, “Bring it on motherf–kers.” She said her response was anger because many people she loved had been arrested in what she described as a large-scale militarized enforcement, and she felt the transmission was targeted at her and creeped her out.
WATCH | Police move in on protesters:
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.
A history of violence
Sleydo’ spoke about the symbolism of the red dress— representing missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2-spirit people that was hung up at coyote camp and the significance of the red hand print over Sleydo’ and Sampson’s mouth when they were arrested.
Sleydo’ also spoke about a history of violence toward Wet’suwet’en women from residential schools, missionaries and people who have gone missing along the Highway of Tears.
She said she has experienced “extreme violence” as an Indigenous woman and that Indigenous women’s bodies are often seen as disposable, and so is the land, and in her belief, the two things can’t be separated.
Sleydo’ testified about how important the area where construction was taking place is to her clan and the Wet’suwet’en people for harvesting, fishing, and cultural practices and covers the locations of traditional village sites that have been used by the Wet’suwet’en for thousands of years.
She said the headwaters — known today as the Morice River— are sacred to her clan, which it has a duty to protect, that the salmon in the river are integral to the Wet’suwet’en way of life and the community relies on the health of the fish to pass on traditions to future generations.
Benefit agreements signed
Sleydo’ also spoke about the importance of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary governance and her clan’s objection to the construction of the CGL pipeline.
The company signed benefit agreements with 20 elected band councils along the project’s route in 2018, but several Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders refused to allow the pipeline to cross their territory.
Sleydo’ said the clan system of government has authority over Wet’suwet’en land and that permission from the band councils alone are not sufficient for the company to build in Wet’suwet’en territory.
She said in December 2018 her clan held a feast along with other Wet’suwet’en clans where they agreed they would occupy the area known as Gidimet’en Checkpoint to stop the construction of the pipeline.
Sleydo’ said because of her role as wing chief (hereditary clan chief), she took on the responsibility of the public spokesperson for the Gidimet’en Checkpoint, which put her in a position to be individually targeted as a blockade leader.
She said that her role as a spokesperson is not about her personal beliefs but about upholding her responsibilities to the yintah (territory) and future generations, and she was not making decisions alone.
The abuse of process application is scheduled to be heard over seven days until Sept. 11.