As we began the year 2025, we also end it by recalling our Wet’suwet’en partners and their allies. Four years after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) violently raided Gidimt’en Checkpoint and Coyote Camp, sites of resistance to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, legal proceedings against land defenders have finally concluded. Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, a Wet’suwet’en wing chief, Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan Nation), and Corey Jocko (Mohawk/Haudenosaunee) were convicted of criminal contempt of court for blocking pipeline construction in defiance of a court order. On October 17, they were given a suspended sentence by the Supreme Court of British Colombia. This means that they will only serve their sentences – 17, 9, and 12 days respectively – if they breach bail conditions in the next year. The judge also ordered them to complete 150 hours of community service.
Justice Michael Tammen’s decision recognized the injustices underlying the construction of the pipeline without the consent of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. Tammen stated he was “mindful of the fact that the dark shadow of the legacy of colonization looms large in the broader backdrop to this case. The territory on which these offenses occurred is part of the unceded Wet’suwet’en lands, or yintah, over which the Wet’suwet’en sought a declaration of aboriginal title in the case of Delgamuukw and Gisday’wa in British Columbia.”
The land defenders’ sentences were reduced in recognition of abuses of process by the RCMP, including its failure to obtain warrants to enter a tiny house and cabin, “grossly offensive, racist, and dehumanizing” comments by officers, and extraordinarily harsh conditions of confinement after their arrest.
Sleydo’ commented on the sentencing: “No matter what they said, no matter what they did, they couldn’t touch us because we’re standing on what our ancestors fought and died for.”
Sampson commented: “Since the beginning I feel like we’ve always known that justice wouldn’t flow from these halls. Justice comes from being on our land, and occupying our territory, and living and breathing life into our cultures.”
Jocko commented: “I did this for the Haudenosaunee ancestors, for all the ancestors throughout Turtle Island, that have fought and bled and died for us to be here. That’s why I’m here.”
We are grateful that the land defenders will not be going to jail, and grateful that their struggle has resulted in greater awareness and recognition of Indigenous rights and title. We lament that the pipeline has been built against the will of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, and that land defenders have endured years of criminalization for their attempts to defend Wet’suwet’en traditional law.
We also remember and mourn the passing of Lawrence Bazil. “Uncle Lawrence” to everyone at Gidimt’en Checkpoint, he and his wife Janet lived at the camp for extended periods and warmly welcomed dozens of volunteers, sharing their home, their meals and their knowledge. The camp itself testifies to his ingenuity and hard work, as he designed and built many of its structures. He will be dearly missed. We ask your prayers for “Aunty” Janet and their family in this time of loss.
Please pray for healing for the land defenders who have endured trauma, financial hardship and uncertainty in their struggle. Pray for many hearts to be opened and strengthened to demand Indigenous sovereignty and change systems that stand in its way. As a statement from the land defenders declares, “This decision was precedent setting … We know this system was not made for us. And yet this is one less fight our grandchildren will have to endure.”
