Latest news with #Tammen
Vancouver Sun
6 days ago
- Health
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. federal inmate's proposed class-action over COVID lockdowns certified by judge
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed against the federal government for confining prison inmates in their cells for 20 hours a day during the COVID-19 pandemic has been certified by a B.C. Supreme Court judge. Representative plaintiff Dean Christopher Roberts alleges medical isolation in the country's prisons beginning in March 2020 meant a large number of prisoners were subjected to 'inhumane rights restrictions,' a form of lockdown that amounted to solitary confinement, according to the judgment. The prisoners were 'confined to their cells for up to 22 hours a day and denied any meaningful human interaction for an extended period of time,' wrote Justice Michael Tammen. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The lawsuit would include anyone imprisoned in a Correctional Services of Canada prison during a declared COVID-19 outbreak at the institution after March 11, 2020, it said. To be eligible, they will have had to have been confined to their cells for 20 or more hours a day and deprived of the opportunity to interact with others for less than two hours a day for 15 or more consecutive days, it said. The lawsuit alleges negligence and breaches of Charter-protected rights guaranteed by sections 7 and 12 of the Charter, which protect life, liberty and security of person, and ban cruel and unusual punishment. Other court decisions have recognized solitary confinement causes harm, that administrative segregation is a form of solitary confinement, that solitary confinement is the practice of confining an prisoner in a cell for 22 hours a day and failing to provide daily meaningful contact with other people, the judge said, citing the plaintiffs' arguments. The plaintiff cited a number of cases from Ontario and B.C. in 2020 and 2021 that relied on similar allegations of negligence and Charter breaches. The federal attorney general opposed certification, arguing administrative segregation for medical reasons is 'something entirely different' from solitary confinement, because it's 'both medically necessary and informed by medical advice,' according to Tammen's decision. Administrative segregation allows prisons to isolate an prisoner to ensure the safety of staff, visitors and inmates and to maintain security of the prisons and it is not a punishment or sanction, according to the Correctional Service website. It also said the proposed lawsuit is overly broad and lacks clarity, and Roberts is not a suitable representative plaintiff. But Tammen ruled the lawsuit could proceed. He said the federal government raised several points that could cause the lawsuit to fail at trial, including its argument that medical isolation is different from other forms of separate confinement. He said a trial judge may decide the prisons' response to the 'unprecedented and unexpected' pandemic and the type of isolation it implemented was medically necessary, and the lawsuit would fail. But he said that has to be decided at trial, 'not at this preliminary stage.' At the beginning of the COVID outbreak, Roberts was imprisoned at the Mission Institution, a medium-security prison. From April 2 to 7, 2020, the prison was in a lockdown and inmates were confined to cells around the clock. When Roberts returned from Mission hospital on April 11, 2020, where he was treated for five days for COVID, he said inmates were only let out of their cells for 20 minutes a day to shower, to use the phone and to have their cells cleaned, according to the decision. And even though Mission prison was declared COVID free by mid-May 2020, significant restrictions with limited time allowed out of cells continued until mid-July 2020, it said. Tammen said there is a 'considerable body of evidence about periods of medical isolation for non-symptomatic inmates at various institutions' over three years, with many saying they were confined to their cell for up to 23 hours a day with no meaningful social interaction and limited time for showering or phone calls. The federal government does not dispute this but said the prolonged periods of isolation were medically mandated. It said punitive damages aren't warranted but the judge said the notice of claim includes details that could support punitive damages because courts have condemned the practice of subjecting inmates to prolonged periods of separate confinement. None of the allegations have been proven in court. The inmates' first lawsuit was filed in 2020 and was amended several times until it was moved to the certification phase in October 2024. Roberts was sentenced to a life imprisonment after being convicted by a jury in 1995 for the 1994 strangling of his wife and one twin 14-month-old son, the smothering of the other twin, and for attempting to kill his adopted three-year-old, who was left asleep in the burning house before being rescued and surviving. He always maintained his innocence, claiming he was the victim of the then-new controversial RCMP investigative undercover sting technique called Mr. Big. In 2021, he was granted the right to ask for ministerial review of his case to seek updated DNA testing he said was needed to prove his innocence.
CBC
21-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Wet'suwet'en leader wants accountability from RCMP after judge finds Charter rights breached
A Wet'suwet'en leader who will have her sentence reduced after a judge found RCMP breached her Charter rights during her arrest at a pipeline blockade says it doesn't feel like justice was served. "I never believed that the colonial court system could provide justice for us," said Sleydo' (Molly Wickham), a wing chief of the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. Sleydo' said Justice Michael Tammen's decision to find there was an abuse of process during police raids was a step in the right direction. Tammen found Sleydo', Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet'suwet'en family ties and Corey Jocko, who is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, guilty of criminal contempt of court last year for breaking an injunction against blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline in November 2021. The three brought forward an abuse of process application alleging RCMP used excessive force during their arrests and that the group was treated unfairly while in custody. It asked the judge to stay the criminal contempt of court charges or to reduce their sentences based on their treatment by police. On Tuesday, Tammen decided some of the accused's Section 7 rights— life, liberty, and security of person — were breached during the police raid. As a result, he will reduce their sentences, when sentencing takes place in the coming months. "Nobody even really knows the extent of the harassment, violence and intimidation that we have experienced, and this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we have talked about in court," said Sleydo'. Sleydo said bringing forward the abuse of process application was important to try and bring accountability for the actions taken by the RCMP's Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), which led the enforcement of the injunction. The RCMP said in a statement to CBC Indigenous that it acknowledges and respects the court's findings and is in the process of reviewing the decision. Federal Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said his office respects the outcome of the court's decision and will be looking at Tammen's decision in terms of the best way to proceed, to take any corrective measures internally. The B.C. Prosecution Service said it accepts the decision of the court and does not intend to file an appeal on the ruling. Defence lawyer Frances Mahon said Tammen's decision that there had been an abuse of process was "a pretty rare finding to get from a court." Tammen condemned comments made by several police officers on two different audio recordings comparing Sleydo' and Sampson to orcs for wearing red hand prints painted over their mouths — a symbol that represents missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. "My hope is that those RCMP officers will be ashamed of themselves and that there's going to be more education and discipline within the RCMP itself to ensure that this type of disrespect doesn't happen again, and particularly when people are in their custody after being arrested," said Mahon. Amnesty International statement Jocko said he doesn't feel like they have won or lost with sentencing still ahead. "We don't know what's going to happen yet, so super mixed emotions right now for me, personally," said Jocko. Amnesty International has announced that if the three are sentenced to jail or house arrest it will designate them as prisoners of conscience. The court had to put people in an overflow courtroom because there wasn't enough space for everyone who came to hear Tammen's decision being read Tuesday. "I feel like that is what the victory is to me, is the amount of community support that we have," said Sampson. Sampson said the court proceedings felt like an "important fight to have" even though she said she never felt like the court system would bring them a just outcome.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge rules RCMP remarks racist, but B.C. pipeline protesters' convictions will stand
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has found members of the RCMP made "grossly offensive, racist and dehumanizing" remarks about Indigenous women who were arrested in 2021 during a blockade of Coastal GasLink pipeline construction. Justice Michael Tammen said in a ruling delivered in Smithers, B.C., on Tuesday that his findings of state misconduct don't warrant a stay of proceedings against the women, but they and another protester will get a reduction in their sentences for criminal contempt as an "appropriate" remedy. Tammen said audio recordings captured police laughing and comparing the women protesters to "orcs" from The Lord of the Rings. He said the racist comments breached the Charter rights of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chief Sleydo' Molly Wickham and Shaylynn Sampson who were arrested by the RCMP on Wet'suwet'en territory near Houston, B.C. Coastal Gas Link got an injunction to continue its pipeline construction, and police moved in on blockaders in November 2021, making numerous arrests. Wickham, Sampson and a man who also participated in the blockade, Corey Jocko, were convicted of criminal contempt for breaking the injunction in January 2024, but they applied to have the case stayed alleging "systemic misconduct by the police during the injunction enforcement." They claimed the misconduct was an abuse of process, and wanted the charges tossed over alleged breaches of their Charter rights due to racist comments by police, excessive force and warrantless entry of two structures used by protesters during the blockade. Tammen said Slaydo and journalist Amber Bracken had recording devices on them that were seized by police during their arrests, but the devices kept recording after being placed in police vehicles. The devices captured conversations between police officers that referred to Slaydo and Sampson "in highly offensive and clearly racist terms," Tammen said. The judge said both women had red hand prints painted on their faces, "a symbol of respect and solidarity" with missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. He said officers were recorded comparing the women to "orcs," and laughing about the comparisons. The judge agreed with the defence that the police officers' "comments were grossly offensive, racist and dehumanizing," and amounted to a breach of their Charter rights. "Those comments undermine the integrity of the judicial process," Tammen said. The judge found that there was no evidence that racist attitudes were "encouraged or condoned" by police leadership, two of whom were "genuinely shocked and disgusted by the comments made by their fellow officers." Tammen also rejected claims that police used excessive force or employed "unnecessary resources" to dismantle the blockade because they didn't know exactly what they were up against. "The police were unaware of the number of protesters they might encounter," Tammen said. "They were not engaged in a simple peaceful demonstration akin to a sit-in, but rather wanton destruction of property, including vehicles and infrastructure. Police did not know if the protesters were armed nor if they were violent." Tammen said that criminal contempt carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but those convicted typically receive short sentences. "The offending conduct here was serious. It involved the calculated, prolonged and well organized attack on a court order," he said. "The actions of the accused were a clear attack on the rule of law." "Criminal contempt by its very nature poses a threat to the rule of law, without which there would be anarchy." The case will be back in court on April 3 to fix a date for sentencing. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2025. Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
CBC
18-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Judge finds RCMP breached charter rights during arrests at Wet'suwet'en pipeline blockade
A B.C. judge says police breached the charter rights of three people arrested for blocking work on the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline, and they will receive a reduction in their sentences because of that. The abuse of process application was brought by Sleydo' (Molly Wickham), a wing chief 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. Justice Michael Tammen found the three guilty last year of criminal contempt of court for breaking an injunction against blocking work on the pipeline back in November 2021. Tammen read his decision in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers Tuesday after more than a year of court proceedings. The abuse of process application alleged RCMP used excessive force while arresting the accused in November 2021, and that the group was treated unfairly while in custody. It asked the judge to stay the criminal contempt of court charges or to reduce their sentences based on their treatment by police. Tammen said it would be inappropriate to stay court proceedings, but found that some of the accused's Section 7 rights— life, liberty, and security of person — were breached during the police raid. Tammen said these rights were breached when several police officers on two different audio recordings were captured comparing Sleydo' and Sampson to orcs and ogres for wearing red hand prints painted over their mouths — a symbol that represents missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. "I view the conduct as extremely serious involving racism directed towards Indigenous women, that is a group that has been systemically disadvantaged through all sectors of the criminal justice system for generations," said Tammen. Senior RCMP officers who gave evidence in the proceedings apologized for the behaviour of the officers, but Tammen said in his decision that he did not feel like these apologies were sufficient remedies for the prejudice and harm the comments caused. He said he would consider a reduction in sentence as a capable remedy for this. "The comments about the red face paint were not made by a single officer and were not a one-off occurrence," said Tammen. He said there were multiple offensive and discriminatory comments made by multiple officers on Nov. 18, 2021 and Nov. 19, 2021. RCMP's Community-Industry Response Group led the enforcement. "That is potentially a sign of systemic attitudinal issue within the C-IRG," he said, but Tammen said there was no evidence that this offensive behaviour was encouraged or condoned more broadly within the RCMP. Police needed warrants: judge During the accused's arrest on Nov. 19, Sleydo' and Sampson were located in a small structure, referred to as the tiny house. When police knocked on the door of the tiny house, Sleydo' said police needed a warrant to enter, but the RCMP breached the structure using a chainsaw, saying they could enter under the authority of the injunction. Police also breached a separate structure where Jocko was arrested, referred to as the cabin. During these arrests, the people inside this structure also said that police needed a warrant to enter. Tammen agreed in his decision that police did need a warrant to enter the structures. "The breaches that flowed from that failure [to obtain a warrant] were about as minor as could ever occur with warrantless arrests in a dwelling house," said Tammen. He said there was no doubt that the occupants of the structure would be arrested and the structures removed, even if the RCMP did obtain a warrant. Tammen said a stay in proceedings can only be granted in the clearest of cases, which he said this case is not. Tammen said the maximum sentence for criminal contempt is no more than five years imprisonment. The court will schedule sentencing at a later date.
