Defence questions reliability of RCMP officer's report on Wet'suwet'en Coastal GasLink blockade

A lawyer representing three people arrested for blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline questioned whether an RCMP officer's report on an encounter with blockade members was reliable, on Monday in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers.

Justice Michael Tammen is hearing an abuse of process application brought by Sleydo' (Molly Wickham), a wing chief of Cas Yikh, a house group 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, which straddles the Quebec, Ontario and New York state borders. 

Tammen found the three guilty in January of criminal contempt of court for breaking an injunction against blocking work on the pipeline.

The abuse of process application alleges RCMP used excessive force while arresting the accused in November 2021 and the group was treated unfairly while in custody. It asks the judge to stay the criminal contempt of court charges or to reduce their sentences based on their treatment by police.

Amnesty International has added the three to its "Write For Rights" campaign, in which members of the public can sign an online petition to "demand that the Canadian authorities stop criminalizing" Wet'suwet'en and their blockade supporters, according to a news release from the organization Monday. 

On Monday, Crown lawyer Kathryn Costain called RCMP Sgt. Dennis Reddy as a witness to testify about the perceived threat when he and about five other officers encountered blockade members along the Marten forest service road Oct. 11, 2021. 

"I did not expect that and my risk assessment went through the roof," Reddy told the court, about the interaction. 

At the time, Reddy was working for the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), now called the Critical Response Unit (CRU-BC).

Reddy was deployed in October 2021 to help with the clearing of blockades along the Martin and Morice forest service roads so Coastal GasLink could resume work on the pipeline. 

Reddy and five other officers went to inspect the area to get ready for the road to be cleared the next day. Video of an encounter between officers and blockade members was shown in court. 

"Personally, I was scared and nervous. I didn't know what was going to happen," said Reddy. 

The video shows a group of people yelling, saying, "You are on the land of Chief Woos," and, "You come as invaders," and telling the officers to leave. 

Reddy said he worried about the officers' safety and instructed them to go back to vehicles about a kilometre away.

The video shows the officers walking away as the blockade members walk toward them.

Reddy said after the interaction he reported to Supt. Ken Floyd the RCMP were not ready to deal with the number of people at the blockades, describing the group as highly organized and "ready for war." 

Reddy said the officers encountered between 40 and 50 people at a blockade along the road. 

Report inaccurate, says defence

During cross examination, defence lawyer Quinn Candler referred to a report Reddy made about the interaction as unreliable. 

Candler pointed out that photos in the report show about 15 blockade members walking toward officers.

Candler said that there was no way Reddy could see 50 people from his vantage point near the second blockade on the road. 

Reddy said it felt like 50 people, and that is how it looked at the time, and he believes more than 15 people were present. 

The report said the photo was a partial photo of the blockade members, suggesting that more people were there than could be seen in the picture. 

The report also said officers heard blockade members yelling, "The Mohawk are here, we will not be pushed around our lands, we are ready for war," as they approached.

Candler said Reddy got that part of the report wrong, along with the number of people. Those words were not heard in the video of the interaction played in court. 

"That's what we heard, and that's what we put in the report, and I'm going to stick by that part," said Reddy. 

Reddy said he did make some errors on the number of people present in the report, which would be used to inform the risk assessment by other RCMP officers, but said he does believe it was reliable. 

Reddy said even if it was less than 50 people, it would not change his risk assessment.