Amnesty International reports 'ongoing violations' of human rights on Wet'suwet'en territory

Amnesty International is calling for an immediate halt to construction and use of the Coastal GasLink pipelineand the withdrawal of police and private security forces from Wet'suwet'enterritory in northern B.C., citing what it considers ongoinghuman rights violations against activists resisting construction.

In a report released Monday, the global human rights group describes"the years-long campaign of violence, harassment, discrimination, and dispossession" Wet'suwet'en members and their allies faced while fighting theproject.

"What we learned and uncovered is really, really concerning," said Melak Mengistab Gebresilassie, Amnesty's corporate accountability and climate justice campaigner in Canada.

The 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline will transportnatural gas from the area of Dawson Creek, B.C.,to a coastal liquefaction terminal in Kitimat, to be shipped overseas.

Although the company signed benefit agreements with 20 elected band councils along the project's route in 2018, including five ofsix elected Wet'suwet'en band councils, several Wet'suwet'en hereditary leaders say band councils do not have authority over traditional territories beyond reserve boundaries and the company does not have consent to cross their territory, about 780 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

Delays and cost overruns have beset theproject, with the initial $6.6-billion price tag spiking to $14.5 billion. In October, the company saidmechanical completion of the pipeline, which involves final documentation, engineering analysis and testing, will be done before the end of the year. A statement from the company said mechanical construction work was completed last month.

After a spring 2023 research mission, Amnesty is expressing concern about reports of heavy-handed police raids, aggressive and intrusive surveillance tactics, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and detention, racial discrimination, and criminalization of pipeline opponents.

The conduct amounts to "a concerted effort by the state to remove Wet'suwet'en land defenders from their ancestral territory to allow pipeline construction to proceed," thenon-governmental organization says in its report.

"These actions have also resulted, and continue to result, in ongoing violations of the human rights of Wet'suwet'en land defenders and their supporters."

The advocacy organizationrecommends the project halt until the Crown adequately discharges its duty to consult Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and secures their free, prior and informed consent.

Amnesty, said to have 10 million members across 170 countries, is also urging the RCMP's Community-Industry Response Group and Coastal GasLink's Forsythe Security to withdraw and for the dropping of all outstanding criminal charges.

'A shocking experience,' says researcher

Wet'suwet'en hereditary Chief Na'Moks(John Ridsdale) guided the researchers during their visit,so they could experience what he does, which he described as "psychological warfare" and heavy securityin the forested,normally remote area.

"To get that kind of support means everything," he said.

"We really hope that it does let the world know that the freedoms we are supposed to have are not there."

Ethiopian-born Gebresilassie,who first came to Canada in 2017, considering the country a bastion of human rights and civil liberties, said the trip was eyeopening.

The report says significant police and private security presence has imposed heavy surveillance and control, where Wet'suwet'enare regularly followed, filmed and photographed.

RCMP raidsenforcinga court-ordered injunction against blockades and activist campsweredisproportionate, deploying semi-automatic weapons, helicopters and dogs against unarmed activists, the report says.

"I expect this kind of violence and negligence and complete disregard for human rights from governments with a tendency of authoritarianism and little space for civil society," Gebresilassie said.

"But this is where it gets [to be] really a shocking experience, when you see this same thing is happening in Canada. That's really sad."

Mounties defend operations

The RCMP group in charge of policing the areais under systemic investigation by the force's external review agency, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commisison. The probe is ongoing but facingreports of significant delays.

The RCMP declined an interview request for this story, instead providing CBC Indigenous a copy of the response given to Amnesty International.

"To be clear, these protests have been neither peaceful, as evidenced by videos that can be seen here, nor lawful," says the emailed response from Cpl. Madonna Saunderson, a spokeperson for B.C. RCMP, referencing theFebruary 2022 attack by masked assailants on a Coastal GasLink site.

"The rights of everyone involved, whether arrested or not, have been fully respected throughout these events and it continues to be our duty to ensure they're afforded their rights."

The RCMP denied engaging in an intimidation, surveillance and harassment campaign to dispossess Wet'suwet'en of their land, saying the force conducts regular roving patrols in the injunction area and online searches through open-source information.

The injunctions prohibiting interference with construction "are not optional invitations or suggestions for the parties and the police," the statement says.

Amnesty met with officials from Coastal GasLinkand the company said it followed all procedures in line with international human rights standards and domestic consultation and permitting processes, Gebresilassie said.

In a statement, parent companyTC Energy cited Coastal GasLink'sagreements with 20 First Nations along the pipeline route and equity option agreements with 17 of them as evidence of its respect for Indigenous rights.It said it hastaken "extraordinary measures" to consult with all Indigenous groups, including the hereditary chiefs.

Security measures were necessary given "significant acts of violence," the company said.

"Coastal GasLink has not been provided the research that Amnesty is relying upon or been provided the chance to review the evidence behind Amnesty International's initial claims," the statement said.

"We have so far encountered selective biases in the way they have handled information shared as well as in their decision to exclude important voices."

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