Indigenous Land Defender Named Amnesty's First 'Prisoner of Conscience' in Canada

Amnesty International on Wednesday made what it called the "unprecedented decision" to designate as Canada's first-ever "prisoner of conscience" an Indigenous leader convicted for actions taken while defending his people's land against a fracked gas pipeline.

Likhts'amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta'hyl of the Wet'suwet'en Nation was arrested in 2021 for violating a court order to not obstruct the construction of TC Energy's Coastal GasLink liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline. The hereditary chief is currently under house arrest for contempt of court.

"The Canadian state has unjustly criminalized and confined Chief Dsta'hyl for defending the land and rights of the Wet'suwet'en people," Amnesty International Americas director Ana Piquer said in a statement Wednesday. "As a result, Canada joins the shameful list of countries where prisoners of conscience remain under house arrest or behind bars."

"With the utmost respect for Chief Dsta'hyl's critical work to protect Wet'suwet'en land, rights, and the environment we all depend on, Amnesty International demands his immediate and unconditional release and urges Canada to stop the criminalization of Wet'suwet'en and other Indigenous defenders during a global climate emergency," she continued.

"Indigenous peoples are on the frontlines of climate change and will face disproportionate harms if humanity fails to move on from burning fossil fuels," Piquer added. "States must hold up, not lock up, Indigenous land defenders like Chief Dsta'hyl and follow their lead towards a healthier, more sustainable future for all."

According to Amnesty:

Based in part on witness testimony of four large-scale Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raids on Wet'suwet'en territory marked by the unlawful use of force... Wet'suwet'en land defenders and their supporters were arbitrarily detained for peacefully defending their land against the construction of the pipeline and exercising their Indigenous rights and their right of peaceful assembly. The rationale for the land defenders' detentions was violating the injunction order (an order which Amnesty International has determined is not in conformity with international law and standards) which makes their detentions arbitrary.

In June and July 2022, the [British Columbia] Prosecution Service decided to charge 20 land defenders with criminal contempt for allegedly disobeying the injunction order to stay away from pipeline construction sites. Seven of the 20 land defenders pleaded guilty because of restrictive bail conditions, as well as the familial, psychological, and financial impacts that the criminal trial process was having on them. Five others had the charges against them dropped.

Canadian authorities, including the RCMP, have answered nonviolent Wet'suwet'en land defense with armed officers including snipers who employed heavy-handed removal tactics. Scores of Wet'suwet'en land defenders, including four hereditary chiefs, have been arrested and charged, as have journalists and legal observers. In December 2021, Coastal GasLink dropped charges against two journalists who were arrested while covering a previous militarized police raid.

In 2022, the Gidimt'en—one of the five clans of the Wet'suwet'en Nation—filed a submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council detailing how their territory and human rights are being violated by Canadian and British Columbian authorities in service of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The 416-mile conduit carries fracked gas from Michif Piiyii (Metis) territory in northeastern British Columbia to an export terminal in coastal Kitimat, on the land of the xa'isla wawis (Haisla) people.

The Gidimt'en filing noted that "ongoing human rights violations, militarization of Wet'suwet'en lands, forcible removal and criminalization of peaceful land defenders, and irreparable harm due to industrial destruction of Wet'suwet'en lands and cultural sites are occurring despite declarations by federal and provincial governments for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples."

The heavy-handed persecution of the Wet'suwet'en sparked solidarity protests throughout Canada and beyond that focused on the pipeline's impact on First Nations tribes, the environment and climate, and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Likhts'amisyu Clan members—whose presence in what is today northern British Columbia long predates the existence of Canada—claim they have not been consulted on the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which traverses land that does not belong to the Canadian government.

Dsta'hyl and other Wet'suwet'en leaders argued that they were enforcing ancient tribal trespassing laws. Ironically, they ended up charged with trespassing. During their trial last year, Dsta'hyl and other Likhts'amisyu chiefs asserted that they were fulfilling their duty to protect Wet'suwet'en land—or yintah—by enforcing their traditional trespass law.

In finding Dsta'hyl guilty of contempt of court this February, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen declared there was no way of "harmonizing colonial law and Indigenous law," which he said "cannot comfortably coexist in the circumstances."

Dsta'hyl said Wednesday: "I've been convicted for protecting our own land while Wet'suwet'en laws have been sidelined. The end goal for us in this struggle is the recognition of Wet'suwet'en law in Canada, and it's unfortunate that the Crown is digging in their heels instead."

"This fight has been going on for 240 years," he added. "We have been incarcerated on the reserves where they have turned us into 'Status Indians.' Now, we are all 'prisoners of conscience' because of what the colonizers have done to us."