Corporate lawyers, backed by American billionaires, are trying to jail Indigenous people in Northern B.C. for peacefully standing on their own land.

Crown prosecutors argued there was no public interest in pursuing criminal contempt charges against Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and family members who allegedly blocked CN Rail traffic in the town of New Hazelton two years ago.

But a judge has ruled the trial will go ahead anyway, with CN’s lawyers serving as the prosecutors.[1] CN Rail is a private multinational that ships oil and other raw resources all over the continent. Its biggest shareholder is Bill Gates, the fourth-richest person in the world.

Why did Gitxsan chiefs step onto train tracks on their territory in February 2020? Because their Wet’suwet’en neighbours had just been invaded by militarized RCMP forces trying to push through the Coastal GasLink pipeline. They demanded the police leave Wet’suwet’en territory. Instead, CN Rail had them arrested.

The Gitxsan never consented to the expropriation of their land for what was then the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, more than 100 years ago. Under Gitxsan law it’s CN Rail that’s trespassing, not the other way around.

After the most recent police raid on Wet’suwet’en land defenders in November, Gitxsan people again halted train traffic. RCMP tactical squads swooped into New Hazelton to dismantle the blockade – riding in Coastal GasLink shuttle buses. Now, private security guards for CN Rail and Coastal GasLink have teamed up with police to watch the tracks 24/7.

It’s part of a trend toward private policing, and prosecution, in conflicts over oil and gas expansion across B.C. and North America. Companies are using sweeping, multi-year injunctions to block off hundreds of square kilometres of unceded Indigenous land, then jailing people who disobey.

In Burnaby, Indigenous elders Stacy Gallager and Jim Leyden were sentenced to prison on criminal contempt charges, based on surveillance by Trans Mountain’s private security force. They were filmed conducting ceremonies near the gates of the tank farm.[2]

In Vancouver, six people who participated in another Wet’suwet’en solidarity blockade pleaded guilty to criminal contempt after a private prosecution by lawyers for the port authority.

The most high-profile example is that of attorney Steven Donziger, who is serving a sentence in New York for criminal contempt. Donziger helped win a historic settlement on behalf of Indigenous people in Ecuador whose land was polluted by Chevron. He was prosecuted by Chevron lawyers and convicted by a judge who served on the board of a right-wing campaign group funded by Chevron.[3]

These private prosecutions are clearly part of a strategy by companies that want to crush opposition to oil and gas expansion. They use public institutions like police and prosecutors when it suits them. But increasingly they are taking matters into their own hands.

The good news is the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en are not easily intimidated. One Gitxsan chief arrested on his own land has raised more than $77,000 so far to cover legal defence costs for 13 people criminalized alongside him. They must not be left to fight this alone. ​

B.C. adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in law in 2019. British Columbians need to put some serious questions to our lawmakers.

• Why are corporations being allowed to apply for injunctions on land that belongs to Indigenous nations?
• Why does the B.C. government keep authorizing militarized raids, instead of negotiating with Indigenous title holders?
• Why are private security guards and private prosecutions being used to put Indigenous people in jail?

Judges say if they don’t punish people for defying their orders, the reputation of the courts will suffer. But serving as the jailers for Big Oil billionaires hardly inspires confidence in the administration of justice, either.

The Gitxsan land defenders are due back in court next month. I’ll keep you posted.

Kai