Latest news with #Wet'suwet'en
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Canada's hidden history of oppression and justice
As Canada prepares to mark the 191st anniversary of slavery's abolition this August, new research and ongoing land disputes highlight how historical injustices continue to shape the nation's social and political landscape. #Operation Sindoor India-Pakistan Clash Live Updates| Missiles, shelling, and attacks — here's all that's happening Pakistani Air Force jet shot down in Pathankot by Indian Air Defence: Sources India on high alert: What's shut, who's on leave, and state-wise emergency measures Canada's slavery legacy comes into sharper focus Recent excavations in Quebec City have uncovered artifacts linked to enslaved households, coinciding with the release of digitized slave registry records by Library and Archives Canada. These findings confirm: 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Nhà giá rẻ gần bạn – Danh sách đề xuất phù hợp dành riêng cho bạn Bất động sản | Quảng cáo tìm kiếm Tìm hiểu thêm Undo Over 4,200 documented cases of enslaved individuals in New France and British North America Live Events Slave auctions conducted in Montreal until 1797 Continued indentured servitude of Black Canadians post-1834 'These records prove slavery was integral to Canada's early economy,' says Dr. Natasha Henry, president of the Canadian Slavery Institute. The federal government has pledged $2.3 million to expand the Africville Museum in Halifax, where archaeological work continues at the demolished community site. Indigenous land rights at crossroads 2025 has seen heightened tensions over resource projects: Coastal GasLink Pipeline Wet'suwet'en land defenders continue court battles despite BC Supreme Court injunctions New RCMP enforcement actions reported last month Ring of Fire Mining Project Ontario Superior Court recently upheld First Nations' right to veto development Federal impact assessment ongoing Clean Water Crisis 27 long-term drinking water advisories remain on reserves $4.9 billion allocated in Budget 2025 for infrastructure Policy developments Key 2025 milestones include: Implementation of UNDRIP Action Plan Phase 2 Launch of Black Canadians Justice Fund ($860 million over 4 years) Senate debates on Bill S-255 (Slavery History Education Act) 'Reconciliation requires confronting hard truths,' notes Justice Minister Arif Virani. 'Our 2025 initiatives aim to address both historical and contemporary inequities.'
CBC
15-03-2025
- CBC
Advocates, family of man killed by RCMP launch 'people's tribunal' to probe police
Social Sharing Laura Holland's voice shook with emotion as she talked about her smart and affectionate son, saying she is "tired of waiting" for justice for him. Jared Lowndes, or Jay as his family called him, was shot twice in the back by police as he sat in his vehicle at a Tim Hortons drive-thru in Campbell River, B.C., in July 2021. Holland said at a news conference on Friday that her family was torn apart following her son's death at age 38, and she has been doing everything she can to seek justice for him and other Indigenous people who have been killed by police in the province. "The only spark of life that we have is that our loved ones are pushing us because if we don't speak out … they will keep killing us," she said. Holland joined with legal advocates and other groups on Friday to announce a "people's tribunal" to investigate crimes committed by police against racialized communities. "Systemic racism fuels an epidemic of police violence" against these communities, said a news release from the groups, which includes the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, Pivot Legal Society, Care not Cops and Justice for Jared. WATCH | Laura Holland says justice system protects police over Indigenous people: Mother of Wet'suwet'en man killed by RCMP vows to continue fighting 11 months ago Duration 4:04 Laura Holland, the mother of Jared Lowndes, says the Canadian justice system continues to protect police officers who wrongfully kill Indigenous people. Her son, a member of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, was shot dead by police in Campbell River, B.C., in 2021, and the Crown announced Tuesday that no charges have been approved against the 3 officers involved in the fatal shooting. The B.C. Prosecution Service last year declined to lay charges against the three officers involved in the shooting. The service said Lowndes, from the Wet'suwet'en Nation in northern B.C., had reversed his vehicle into a police vehicle, tried to bear spray officers and had stabbed a police dog to death. The B.C. RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the "people's tribunal." Holland said her son was reading Schindler's List by the time he was 12, that he always did his best to take care of people, hugged everyone he knew and helped his elders. "It just seems impossible, and the only way for our family and (other) families to have any justice, to find any semblance of justice, is to have a people's tribunal." Holland said the tribunal will offer a chance for members and families who lost their loved ones due to police violence to talk about racism and other unlawful practices within Canada's police forces. The tribunal will gather and share information about crimes by police, the groups said. Tracking of police-involved deaths in Canada shows Black people died at six times the rate of their white counterparts, while Indigenous people die at eight times the rate of those who are white, according to the advocates. The tribunal's first event will be held Saturday in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside before travelling across B.C. Families to 'take back narrative' Latoya Farrell, policy staff counsel with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said Indigenous communities have been over-policed and under-protected, and the forum could shine a light on systemic failures of law enforcement and the legal system. "We've seen time and time again that the narrative in the public is often detrimental to the credibility of both the community and the person who was killed," she said. "We see that the state and police control that narrative in a way to denigrate from a person's characteristic in order to justify why they deserve to be killed." She said having the tribunal will allow families to "take back that narrative," to tell their side of the story and to "rectify the harm" that the authority has done to their loved ones, not just in killing them but harming their memory and legacy. Holland said now is also a "critical time" for members of the Indigenous community to rally together given there has been so much news lately, with politicians denying remains found at former residential school sites and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's leaked memo that suggested relocating Indigenous people from the Downtown Eastside. Meenakshi Mannoe, representing the advocacy group Defund 604, said the tribunal could help provide oversight of police. "It's a community-based forum that's going to uplift the voices of directly impacted family members, rather than investing power in colonial tools of government and lawyers and academics. It's putting that power back into the hands of community," said Mannoe.
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.
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.
