THE VALIDITY OF PROTESTING

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The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the freedom of peaceful assembly. Throughout our history, protests have been a key way for people to express dissatisfaction or support for important decisions taken by government or other powerful bodies.

Protesting in Canada is legal, as long as you don’t break any laws while you’re at it. Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees your right to protest. In some cities and towns you are required to have a permit to protest.

Protesting can be risky. Police can use tear-gas, rubber bullets or water cannons to disperse aggressive protesters, and even peaceful protesters could be arrested if they break a law. By becoming familiar with Canadian laws around protest, you can reduce risk and use your right to protest effectively and safely.

The Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, the Chinese capital of China was where student-led demonstrations calling for democracy, free speech and a free press in China and was halted by the Chinese government on June 4^th  and 5^th, 1989 in a bloody crackdown that was known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Chinese troops stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds and killing hundreds of pro-democracy protesters. Tanks ran over wounded students laying in the ground This act of government brutality brought world-wide shame to China.    

This kind of shameful conduct by the government of China wouldn’t occur in a democratic nation. Obviously China isn’t a democratic nation.

In Canada, the planned Coastal GasLink pipeline runs through traditional Wet’suwet’en territory, but while the nation’s elected band councils have approved it, hereditary chiefs of the five Wet’suwet’en clans have not. Here’s a primer on how the First Nation’s governance works, and the legal questions surrounding arrests that were made to enforce a December 14^th 2019 injunction ordering the checkpoints, which are backed by the hereditary chiefs, to allow access for the pipe line.

On a forestry road south of Houston, B.C., members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation are running checkpoints to oppose the pipeline being built on their traditional territory. The Wet’suwet’en’s elected band councils has approved of the pipeline, but the checkpoints are backed by the hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en’s five clans. The hereditary chiefs and their supporters are opposed to the pipeline, saying it could damage the watershed and wildlife if there was a leak in the pipe.

On January. 7^th, the RCMP ( the Federal and the Provincial police force for British Columbia)  set  up a roadblock near the Gidimt’en checkpoint, turning away media and members of the public before arresting 14 natives. Demonstrators at Unist’ot’en went on alert, but after talks with the RCMP on January 9^th, they agreed to comply with the court injunction by the following afternoon. In exchange, they demanded the RCMP leave Unist’ot’en’s healing lodge alone and allow the Wet’suwet’en access to the backcountry for trapping.

After more talks, the Tsayu clan’s hereditary chief, Na’moks (also known as John Ridsdale), announced on January 10^th  that vehicles blocking the bridge would be removed, the court injunction would be respected and that Unist’ot’en would grant “soft access” to Coastal GasLink workers, regulated by a metal gate. He also said the chiefs were still “adamantly opposed” to Coastal GasLink’s project by saying,  “That will never change.”

The $6.2-billion pipeline being built by CoastalGasLink (a subsidiary of TransCanada Corp., which was recently renamed TC Energy), would ship natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a coastal terminal in Kitimat. It is part of a $40-billion LNG project announced by the B.C. and federal governments last fall. Its route goes about a kilometre south of the Unist’ot’en camp.

Coastal GasLink got its environmental certification for the pipeline in 2014, and TransCanada has signed project agreements with 20 First Nations groups along the route. But in order to do pre-construction work, TransCanada says its only access route is the bridge over the Morice River, which is the area where Unist’ot’en lies.

Coastal GasLink’s president, Rick Gateman, were upbeat about the compromise reached with Unist’ot’en on January. 10^th . “As a result of these discussions, we have worked out many of the details that are required for us to have free access across the bridge and beyond,” Mr. Gateman said.

Disagreement over the pipeline hinges on a key Supreme Court of Canada ruling from 1997, the Delgamuukw decision, which involved land claims by hereditary chiefs from the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan nations. While the case upheld Indigenous peoples' claims to lands that were never ceded by treaty – a category that includes most land in B.C., which has only a handful of treaties – it didn’t resolve the specific question of title for the Gitxsan or Wet’suwet’en, neither of which launched new legal action after the expensive court cases of the 1990s. So the question of who has title to the land where the checkpoints lie is still open.

The RCMP issued a statement ahead of the January. 7^th  arrests arguing that “aboriginal title to this land and which Indigenous nation holds it, has not been determined,” and a trial is needed to settle the question. They later distanced themselves from that, saying it was “inappropriate” for a police force to weigh in on a legal matter between First Nations and Canadian governments.

The dispute has resurfaced old and complicated questions about who has authority within First Nations: Hereditary rulers, elected councils authorized by Canadian federal legislation, or a combination of both. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to those questions: Of the 203 First Nations in B.C., some are ruled primarily by hereditary chiefs who have authority over traditional territory, while in others, elected leaders are the main decision makers on reserve and play a major role in resource agreements.

 With an election coming up in October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is under renewed scrutiny over its Indigenous policy and promises of reconciliation, including its commitment to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in legislation (UNDRIP) that states that “full, prior and informed consent” is needed from Indigenous people for resource development, but Ottawa has not been able to define what that looks like in law. At the same time, Mr. Trudeau has been a big supporter of the $40-billion LNG Canada project, which he co-announced in October, and which he says will be a major economic windfall for B.C. That attracted some raucous criticism at a Kamloops town hall he attended on January. 9^th, days after the arrests, where Indigenous people yelled at him and one called him a “liar and a weak leader.

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BC. Premier John Horgan, whose NDP minority government is supported by the Greens party also faces a political test over his energy policy. The NDP has also agreed to implement UNDRIP, but faces the same challenges as Ottawa in defining consent.

Indigenous elected chiefs who consented to the pipeline told The Globe and Mail that the energy project is still a source of friction in the community. Chief Ray Morris of the Nee Tahi Buhn Band said elected and hereditary chiefs have been in negotiations over gas pipelines for decades. “Unlike other First Nations, such as Haisla, we haven’t come to an agreement over the Coastal GasLink pipeline," he said. "Why this hasn’t happened in Wet’suwet’en is unknown.”

Canadian police have made a series of arrests in northern British Columbia as they enforced a court injunction to remove activists who have been blocking the construction of a controversial natural gas pipeline on Indigenous territory.

Before dawn on February 6^th , the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers backed by tactical teams and dogs arrested at least six people at a roadblock erected by the Wet’suwet’en people to stop construction of the C$6bn (US$4.5bn) Coastal GasLink pipeline (CGL).

Those detained are supporters of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who have vigorously opposed the 670km (416 mile) pipeline through their territory.

“It’s a whole damn army up there,” Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Woos told CBC News as word of the arrests spread. “They’ve got guns on, they’ve got tactical gear on. They look like they’re ready for war.”

The raid reflects a breakdown in talks between the provincial government and hereditary chiefs, who hoped to reach a peaceful solution to the impasse. Activists now fear further clashes with police as the RCMP travels up the forest service road towards the next camp.

Officers arrested anyone who refused to leave the Gitimd’en checkpoint, and said access to the area would remain closed off until the order injunction is fully enforced. (An exception would be made for hereditary chiefs and elected council members, according to the RCMP.

Journalists at the camp were also threatened with arrest and removed from the site. During the raid, police attempted to prevent the  journalists photographing tactical officers, The reporters were left at a car-park 39km away from the camp.

“This is not the outcome we wanted. We have made exceptional efforts to resolve this blockade through engagement and dialogue,” Coastal GasLink’s president, David Pfeiffer, wrote in a letter posted to the company’s website.

Police previously raided the Gitimd’en checkpoint in January 2019, arresting 14 activists.

Documents from that raid uncovered by the Guardian suggested that officers were prepared to use lethal force against activists, prompting fierce debate over police tactics. The RCMP have denied they were prepared to shoot protesters. To shoot protesters would be a crime.  Wet’suwet’en chiefs have pledged to only use peaceful protest as their way of opposing the pipeline.

This issue is much worse than what was happening in British Columbia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will not interfere with police operations related to ongoing protests, but Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says it's time for the government to direct the RCMP to end the blockades.

Protests that have shut down most of Canada's rail system have opened a debate about the intersection of politics and policing — with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisting government must remain hands-off and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer insisting it's time for the PM to direct the RCMP to end the blockades.

Scheer held a news conference in Ottawa and called on Trudeau to direct the national police force to enforce the law and end the illegal tactics. He also said, "Democracy and the rule of law are fundamental pillars of our country, and it's time they are enforced.

If they are not, the Trudeau Liberal government will set a dangerous precedent that a small few can have a devastating impact on countless Canadians." Unquote.

A statement from the office of Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who oversees the RCMP, said "police independence is crucial to public trust in our institutions."

"The minister of public safety does not direct police operations. The minister may not attempt to influence in any way an investigation, or direct the conduct of specific police operations," says the statement provided to CBC News.

However,  some policing experts say an elected government does have the authority to direct police to act in the public interest. Rick Parent is a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University who spent nearly 30 years as a municipal police officer. He said there's a difference between interfering in a criminal investigation and responding to a politically-motivated demonstration. Governments represent the public but sometimes try to "pass the buck" to police in controversial situations like this.” Unquote

Parent said."I think it's an easy way out to say that the police are independent. I think those are like weasel words in the sense that we're trying to pass the buck on to the police and hold them accountable for this, when in fact  it is a political thing," Unquote

The federal government does have options, contrary to what it is claiming, But it has chosen not to exercise those, likely for political reasons. Because this is, of course, the government that has staked much of its political fate on reconciliation.

In my opinion, the government should order the RCMP to remove the protestors that are forcing the trains in Canada to cease running. It is costing millions of dollars to the Canadian economy and a twrrible inconvenience to everyone in Canada.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the protestors blocked the main highways in Canada. 

For example, native protesters east of Toronto are forcing trains to not move eastward or westward. Thousands of passengers along with freight trains are not reaching their destinations. This is also all happening  over all Canada. 

If protestors in a town in Canada blocked the only road in or out of a town, would the city  council with their fingers up their bums do nothing to remove the protestors so that cars and trucks can get into the town and exit  the town? Not likely.

Perishable  food is in freight railway cars that aren’t moving, railway employees are  laid off temporarily.  Millions of dollars are lost because shipments to other countries is halted because of the blockage.

Protestors have the right to protest but they don’t have the right to damage the economy our nation and cause an enormous inconvenience to the millions of our nation’s inhabitants.

As far as I am concerned, the RCMPa should give the protestors a ten minute warning to move away from the railway tracks and blockages on highways or be arrested and placed in confinement for thirty days.