Ahead of trials for opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline arrested for alleged criminal contempt of a court injunction allowing the company access to worksites near Houston, Amnesty International is calling on the province to drop all charges.
“Indigenous peoples who have engaged in peaceful actions to defend the land should not be criminalized solely for exercising their rights,” said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International in a press release last week.
“We call on the Attorney General of British Columbia to immediately drop the criminal contempt charges against Wet’suwet’en [sic] land defenders and their supporters.”
The global human rights organization says allowing the pipeline to go through Witsuwit’en territory without the Nation’s “free, prior and informed consent” runs contrary to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and B.C.’s own legislation based on that document.
On Oct. 30, Coastal GasLink announced it had completed 100 per cent of pipe installation on the 670-kilometre pipeline and are working toward “mechanical completion” which will allow them to start transporting natural gas.