A civil claim has been filed by members of the Gidimt’en Clan, alleging harassment on their territory relating to the Coastal GasLink Pipeline project.
One of the five Clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, the Gidimt’en have long supported their Hereditary Chiefs’ denouncement of the project.
Now, they have filed a claim against the RCMP, Attorney General David Eby, CGL and Forsythe Security, CGL’s private contractor.
In the claim, they assert that they have been the victims of months of targeted harassment and intimidation along the pipeline route.
Their suit centres around two sites along the Morice Forest Service Road: the Gidimt’en Checkpoint, and the Tsel Kiy Kwa, or Lamprey Creek Village.
In the suit, they allege over 700 visits to the site by RCMP over the past few months, in which they say officers attempted to coerce them into leaving their unceded territory.
They also claim police have issued threats, made unlawful arrests, assaulted visitors, stole property, and more during that time.
RCMP say their presence on the territory is to enforce an injunction order protecting access to the road for pipeline workers, but the order does not allow them to prevent people from living on or practicing their culture on their land.
To date, CGL has signed agreements with 20 elected band councils along the 670 km pipeline route.
But the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have asserted from the beginning that jurisdiction over non-reserve lands lies with Hereditary leadership, and not elected councils.
Neither CGL, nor RCMP have officially responded to the claim as of yet.
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