A BC judge says that the Police breached the rights of the self -employed of three people arrested for blocking work in the Gaslink coast pipeline (CGL), and will receive a reduction in their sentences because of that.
The abuse of the application of the process was brought by Sleydo ‘(Molly Wickham), a head of the Nation of Gidimt’en of the wet nation, Shaylynn Sampson, a gitxsan woman with the ties of the Wet’suwet’en family and Corey Jocko, which is Kanien’kehá: ka (Mohawk) of Akwesasne.
Judge Michael Tammen found the three culprits last year of criminal contempt of the Court for breaking a court order against the blockade of work in the pipe in November 2021.
Tammen read his decision in the Supreme Court of BC in Smithers on Tuesday after more than a year of judicial procedures.
The process abuse application claimed that RCMP used excessive force while arrested the accused in November 2021, and that the group was unjustly treated while in custody. He asked the judge to remain in the charges of criminal contempt of the Court or to reduce his sentences based on his treatment by the Police.
Tammen said it would be inappropriate to maintain the judicial procedures, but discovered that some of the rights of section 7 of the accused (the life, freedom and security of the person) were violated during the police raid.
Tammen said that these rights were violated when several police officers were captured in two different audio recordings compared to Sleydo and Sampson with orcs and ogres to use red -handed red fingerprints on their mouths, a symbol that represents indigenous women and girls missing and killed.
“I see that behavior is extremely serious that implies racism aimed at indigenous women, which is a group that has been systematically disadvantaged through all sectors of the criminal justice system for generations,” Tammen said.
The senior officers of the RCMP who gave evidence in the process apologized for the behavior of the officers, but Tammen said in his decision that he did not feel that these apologies were enough remedies for the prejudice and damage the comments caused.
He said he would consider a reduction in prayer as a remedy capable for this.
“The comments on the paint of the red face were not made by a single officer and were not a unique fact,” Tammen said.
He said there were multiple offensive and discriminatory comments made by multiple officers on November 18, 2021 and November 19, 2021. The RCMP community industry response group directed the application.
“That is potentially a sign of systemic attitude problem within the C-RIRG,” he said, but Tammen said there was no evidence that this offensive behavior was encouraged or deepened in a broader way within the RCMP.
Police needed orders: Judge
During the defendant’s arrest on November 19, Sleydo and Sampson were located in a small structure, known as the small house. When the police knocked on the door of the small house, Sleydo said the police needed an order to enter, but the RCMP violated the structure using a chainsaw, saying that they could enter under the authority of the court order.
The police also violated a separate structure where Jocko was arrested, called the cabin. During these arrests, people within this structure also said that the police needed a court order to enter.
Tammen agreed in his decision that the police needed an order to enter the structures.
“The violations that flowed from that fault [to obtain a warrant] They were almost as lower as it could happen with arrests without a court order in a home, “Tammen said.
He said there was no doubt that the occupants of the structure would be arrested and the eliminated structures, even if the RCMP obtained a court order.
Tammen said that a suspension in the procedures can only be granted in clearer cases, which said that this case is not. Tammen said that the maximum sentence for criminal contempt is not more than five years in prison.
The court will schedule the sentence at a later date.
