Activists guilty of violating a court injunction against blockading the Coastal GasLink pipeline project face penalties ranging from 25 hours community service to 30 days in jail under a series of sentencing positions set out by Crown prosecution.
In an initial position on sentencing filed July 6 at the Prince George courthouse, Crown sets out six categories of sentences it will seek, depending on the degree of resistance a defendant has put up at the time of arrest and whether they plead guilty and how quickly
Defendants who offered no resistance and plead guilty by no later than October 5 will be subject to the $500 fine or 25 hours of community service if they are unable to pay, the least onerous of the penalties.
Those who have not been notified by September 7 will have a further four weeks to decide whether to plead guilty.
At the other end, for defendants who used "complex devices or techniques to impede their arrest or removal" and are found guilty after a trial, Crown will consider a "general sentencing submission" of 30 days in jail, subject to individual circumstances.
The positions are for those who were arrested by no later than Nov. 29, 2021.
In all, RCMP arrested 27 people over six days between Sept. 27 and Nov. 29, 2021 at blockades along the Morice Forest Service Road south of Houston.
During a hearing on Thursday, Crown prosecution confirmed that it will not be pursuing convictions for eight of those arrested due to concerns the injunction was not properly communicated to them.
The count includes two who were arrested on Nov. 29, 2021 after they ignited a large bonfire on the road and for which Crown decided in June not to pursue convictions.
During the hearing Thursday, Coastal GasLink lawyer Frank O'Callaghan said the company will not be pursuing civil or criminal action against the two, saying the company concurs with the Crown's assessment regarding their knowledge of the injunction.
O'Callaghan asked for and was granted three weeks to consider whether the remaining six will get the same treatment.
The court-ordered injunction those arrested allegedly violated was issued on Dec. 31, 2019.
Coastal GasLink pipeline is to stretch 670 kilometres from gas fields near Dawson Creek to a massive processing and export facility currently under construction in Kitimat.
Coastal GasLink has signed project agreements with 20 First Nations along the pipeline’s right-of-way but has run into a standoff in Wet’suwet’en territory south of Houston.
Where elected Wet’suwet’en chiefs have been in support of the pipeline, hereditary chiefs have not and claim the authority of the elected chiefs and councils along the pipeline route is limited to reserves created under the Indian Act. Traditional lands on unceded territory, they say, remains under their authority.
According to an update provided Tuesday, the project is 65 per cent complete. The section south of Houston is the only one of the eight making up the project where no pipe has been installed, although 96.6 per cent of the route has been cleared and 11.2 per cent has been graded and no pipeline has been installed, the company says.
On Feb. 17, 2022, a Coastal GasLink work site was the target of an attack by an estimated 20 masked people wearing camouflage that left millions of dollars in damage. No arrests have been made in connection with that incident.
- with files from Arthur Williams, The Canadian Press
