Judge rules RCMP remarks racist, but B.C. pipeline protesters' convictions will stand

RCMP remarks ruled racist

Photo: The Canadian Press

A notice to clear the road from RCMP sits in a tree fell across the roadblock access to Gidimt'en checkpoint near Houston B.C., on Wednesday Jan. 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

A B.C. Supreme Court judge says members of the RCMP made "grossly offensive, racist and dehumanizing" remarks about Indigenous women who were arrested in 2021 during a blockade of Coastal GasLink pipeline construction.

Justice Michael Tammen says the state misconduct findings don't warrant a stay of proceedings against the women, but they and another protester will get a reduction in their sentences for criminal contempt as an "appropriate" remedy.

Tammen says the audio recordings captured police laughing and comparing the women protesters to "orcs" from The Lord of the Rings.

He says the racist comments breached the Charter rights of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Sleydo’ Molly Wickham and Shaylynn Sampson, who were arrested with Corey Jocko, at the site on Wet’suwet’en territory near Houston, B.C.

They were convicted in January of criminal contempt for breaching an injunction against the blockade, but tried to have the charges stayed, alleging police misconduct was an abuse of process.

Tammen says in a ruling delivered in Smithers, B.C., on Tuesday that criminal contempt carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but those convicted typically receive short sentences.

The case will be back in court on April 3 to fix a date for sentencing.