"Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders have opposed #pipeline construction through their traditional territory since before the #CoastalGasLink pipeline project was first proposed. In December 2018, the B.C. Supreme Court issued an interim injunction to the company, which prohibited anyone from blocking pipeline access roads or work sites. A year later, on Dec. 31, 2019, the court granted a permanent injunction for the duration of the project.
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"Last month, Tammen determined there was sufficient evidence to convict three #Indigenous#LandDefenders — Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko. They were arrested the day after Dennis and later charged with criminal #contempt. Hearings have begun into an application by the defence to stay the charges based on police conduct during the arrests.
"#ChiefDstahyl’s arrest took place in October 2021, after a series of interactions with Coastal GasLink workers and security contractors on the Shea Forest Service Road on Likhts’amisyu Clan territory.
"During those interactions, Dsta’hyl and others blocked access to a work camp and 'seized and rendered inoperable' multiple pieces of machinery belonging to Coastal GasLink contractors by cutting electrical wires and removing batteries, according to evidence presented during the trial.
"When Dsta’hyl was arrested, he had four batteries from heavy machinery in the back of his pickup truck, the judge said.
"'There is little dispute concerning the basic facts,' Tammen said, noting that video evidence documenting the incidents was presented during the trial.
"'Chief Dsta’hyl, acting as an enforcement officer for the Likhts’amisyu Clan, participated in the decommissioning of a piece of heavy equipment owned by a CGL subcontractor on Oct. 17, 2021. That action consisted of removing the battery from the equipment, an excavator, thus rendering it inoperable.'
"Witnesses for the defence included other #Likhtsamisyu Chiefs, who described the Wet’suwet’en traditional clan system and its role in governing the traditional territory. Among the Chiefs’ duties is preservation and protection of the traditional territory, or #yintah, Tammen said.
"Tammen also summarized the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass, something described in detail by defence witnesses, saying permission is required to access territory belonging to a house group 'beyond just passing through it.'
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"Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment. Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. on March 6."