A Wet’suwet’en leader testified in court Wednesday about the treatment she allegedly received while in RCMP custody after being arrested during two days of raids by police enforcing an injunction against a blockade of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in November 2021.
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, was questioned for a second day by defence lawyer Frances Mahon.
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.
Sleydo’ testified on Wednesday that after she and others were arrested on Nov.19 at a location referred to as the tiny house, they had to spend what “felt like hours” sitting in a police van with the heat blasting before being moved to the Houston, B.C., RCMP detachment.
She said she was wearing multiple layers, including long underwear, wool socks, and snow pants, at the time, and they weren’t offered water or use of a washroom, and she felt like she was going to pass out from the heat.
Sleydo’ said a wireless microphone known as a Lavalier mic she wore when she was arrested was removed and placed in the police vehicle carrying her.
The mic belonged to a journalist who was also arrested, and it was recording while she was in the car.
Court heard audio of an RCMP officer telling Sleydo’ and others in the van, “Last time you’ll see that camp,” while passing the Gidimet’en Checkpoint.
Sleydo’ said she wasn’t sure whether the officer was referring to the camp being destroyed or whether something would happen to them.
Sacred items forcibly removed: Sleydo’
Those arrested were taken to the Houston RCMP detachment before being moved to the Smithers detachment, where they spent the night.
The next morning, Sleydo’ said she was told she was being moved to Prince George and refused to leave because she didn’t want to be taken out of her territory but was forced to go.
She described the trip to Prince George feeling like a “high-speed chase” with a heavy police presence around the vehicle.
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 video and an audio recording were played in court of Sleydo’s medicine bag being forcibly removed after she arrived in Prince George.
CBC did not view the video evidence because the court only provides phone access when not attending in person.
But Sleydo’ described the video during the hearing, and court heard the accompanying audio of three officers physically restraining her while one cut the medicine bag from her neck after she refused to hand it over.
“You are violating my rights as an Indigenous person,” Sleydo’ can be heard telling the officers in the audio recording. Sleydo’ can be heard repeatedly telling the officer that it is a cultural item and she has a right to have it.
Sleydo’ was arrested with three cultural items: a medicine bag worn around her neck, a cedar bracelet and earrings that represent her clan — items she was allowed to keep while in custody the day before in Houston and Smithers.
“This is my medicine pouch, and it stays on,” said Sleydo’. “I’m telling you these are my sacred items, and you are not removing them from my body.”
Officers repeatedly asked Sleydo’ to hand over the medicine pouch and warned they would forcibly remove it. On the audio recording, officers call Sleydo’ by her English name, Molly, though she tells them several times her name is Sleydo’.
Sleydo’ agrees to hand over her earrings but refuses to hand over the medicine bag, which was eventually taken from her.
“This, to me, felt like this was the last bit of my dignity as a Wet’suwet’en woman, as an Indigenous person that I had with me as a physical representation of that,” Sleydo’ told the court.
The medicine bag was later returned. Court heard Sleydo’ had to be moved into a cell by herself in order to keep it.
Sleydo’ also testified that after the incident, while being led down a hallway, three more officers restrained her and forcibly removed the cedar bracelet she was wearing, ripping it.
Mahon said there is evidence of this interaction, but it was not shown in court on Wednesday.
Lasting anxiety and PTSD
Sleydo’ told the court that the entire incident has had lasting repercussions on her health and life.
Her bail conditions restricted access to her traditional territory, allowing her to be in the area for cultural activities only and not within 75 metres of the pipeline and work sites.
Sleydo’ 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.
She said she has felt harassed and intimidated by RCMP officers questioning her activities while on her territory and living in fear that they would arrest her again and she would lose her children.
“I don’t feel safe, and I have not felt safe anymore on my own territory and in my own home,” she told the court.
Crown lawyer Kathryn Costain is set to begin her cross-examination of Sleydo’s testimony.