Criminal contempt charges could be on the way for 27 individuals arrested while opposing the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.
CGL lawyer Kevin O’Callaghan has asked the Supreme Court to invite the Prosecution Service to press charges.
In response, Justice Marguerite Church agreed to issue the invitation, saying protest actions against the project have escalated in recent years.
Justice Church previously issued an injunction covering the work site in 2019, and has invited the Prosecution Service to press charges twice since.
In each of those two previous invitations, one from 2019 and one from 2020, the Service declined to pursue criminal charges.
Last year, the Service again refused to press criminal charges after nearly 30 land defenders were arrested on the pipeline route near Houston.
However, they did leave the door open for CGL to pursue civil charges, but O’Callaghan says the incidents more fit the definition of criminal contempt.
He says the difference between civil and criminal contempt cases is the act of public defiance, which he argues the incidents show.
As of yet, the Prosecution Service has not responded to the invitation, nor given a timetable on when they will.
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