Justice Marguerite Church of the Supreme Court of B.C., in Prince George, said she would release Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano from custody after they agreed to comply with the terms of an injunction intended to keep protesters away from the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Both journalists were detained by RCMP last Friday — arrests that sparked an angry response from advocates of press freedom across North America.
Both are required to return to court Feb. 14, 2022.
A lawyer for Coastal GasLink lawyer said that unlike the other 27 people who were arrested at the resistance camp, Bracken and Toledano would be allowed to return to the area because they have a “justified reason to go back.”
‘Labelled as press’
Bracken is an Alberta-based photojournalist who has won awards for her work covering the Wet’suwet’en conflict; Toledano is an independent filmmaker who has been working on a documentary on the conflict and resistance to Coastal GasLink since 2019.
Bracken’s lawyer, David Sutherland, took issue with the company lawyer’s contention that neither of the journalists had identified themselves as media immediately and were “crossing the line between being media and being protesters.”
Sutherland said Bracken was well-known as a member of the media to both Coastal GasLink and the police.
“She was labelled on her body as press,” said Sutherland, who said Bracken had pinned to her body a copy of an assignment letter from The Narwhal, the publication that hired her to cover the situation.
“Amber Bracken told me she was labelled as press and identified herself as press … so there’s no breach of the injunction at all.”
The Coastal GasLink pipeline, if completed, will span 670 kilometres across northern B.C., transporting natural gas from near Dawson Creek in the east to Kitimat on the Pacific Ocean.
The company has signed benefit agreements with 20 band councils along the route of the project. But Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership says band councils do not have authority over land beyond reserve boundaries.
The latest flashpoint in the conflict occurred at a resistance camp, known as Coyote Camp, that had halted Coastal GasLink’s plans to drill a tunnel under the Wedzin Kwa river.
- Wet’suwet’en camp leader, journalists arrested as RCMP enforce pipeline injunction in northern B.C.
- Demonstrators paint message of solidarity with Wet’suwet’en chiefs during Hamilton protest
The blockades stranded about 500 Coastal GasLink employees, causing water rations and fears over food shortages, after the company declined to comply with an eviction notice issued by the Gidimt’en Checkpoint, which controls access to part of the Wet’suwet’en territory.
Last week, police dismantled blockades along the Morice River Forest Service Road that lead to two work camps by enforcing the terms of an injunction Church issued in December 2019.