Amnesty International declares Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief ‘prisoner of conscience,’ calls for release | CBC News

Amnesty International is calling on the B.C. government to release Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl from his 60-day sentence of house arrest.

At a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday the human rights organization said Dsta’hyl, also known as Adam Gagnon, is a “prisoner of conscience,” a designation it gives to people detained solely for political, religious beliefs or identity. 

In early July, a B.C. Supreme Court justice found Dsta’hyl, who is from the Likhts’amisyu Clan, guilty of breaching a court injunction to stay away from Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline construction.

Melak Mengistab Gebresilassie, an Amnesty International campaigner, told reporters the announcement will make Canadian governments reconsider using injunctions to block protests. 

“[Injunctions] restrict exercise of individual rights and [the Wet’suwet’en people’s] right to exercise their cultural rights on their territory. That includes self-government and the protection of their land from any kind of industrial encroachment,” the said. 

Amnesty reserves the title of “prisoner of conscience” for people involved in non-violent activities and demands their immediate release. 

“We’re looking for international awareness of all the different dastardly tactics that the federal government and the province has used to keep the Wet’suwet’en off of our land,” Dsta’hyl said in an interview with CBC News on Tuesday. “It’s about time the world becomes aware.”

CBC News contacted several provincial and federal government departments for comment.

The federal Department of Justice deferred to the federal Public Safety Ministry, which in turn deferred comment to the federal prosecution service. The federal prosecution service deferred to the B.C. Prosecution Service, which has yet to respond.

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for TC Energy, the company that owns Coastal GasLink, said it understands an appeal had been filed and the company would not comment while the matter is before the court.

Coastal GasLink pipeline

The 670-kilometre CGL pipeline, completed late last year, was built to transport natural gas from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, B.C. 

The company signed benefit agreements with 20 band councils along the pipeline’s route. But Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership disputed band council’s jurisdiction over land outside reservation boundaries. 

In 2019, CGL obtained a court injunction that would make obstruction of pipeline construction illegal. 

According to court documents, on Oct. 17, 2021, Dsta’hyl and several supporters took a battery out of an excavator owned by a CGL subcontractor. 

One week later, he and other supporters blocked off a forest service road, then a roadway into a CGL work camp. 

“I was well within my rights and I was not doing anything unjust,” Dsta’hyl told reporters on Wednesday. “We were seizing equipment that was destroying our lands.”

On Oct. 27, 2021, he was arrested on charges of mischief and theft. 

In July, a Supreme Court Justice sentenced Dsta’hyl to house arrest at his home in Witset, a Wet’suwet’en community about 700 kilometres north of Vancouver. 

As of Wednesday, he has 34 days left in his sentence.

Prisoners of conscience

Dsta’hyl is Amnesty International’s first-ever prisoner of conscience in Canada.

“Today, Canada joins the shameful list of countries where prisoners of conscience remain under house arrest or behind bars,” Ana Piquer, Amnesty International Americas director, told reporters Wednesday. “States must hold up, not lock up, Indigenous land defenders.”

According to the organization, the designation is often used for people imprisoned without trial, or who face inhumane conditions or torture. 

Previous prisoners of conscience include Jamal Saeed, a now Kingston, Ont., based writer who was detained for political writings in his native Syria; and Ahdaf Soueif, who was arrested in Egypt after protesting prisoner conditions. 

Piquer said she hopes the designation helps bring justice for other Wet’suwet’en land defenders.

Three others have been found guilty of criminal contempt for breaching the court injunction. Their trial is scheduled to continue in September.

According to Amnesty International, five more Wet’suwet’en land defenders were detained in March 2023, and charged with contempt for allegedly violating the terms of the injunction. 

At the time of publication, they do not yet have trial dates.