Canada: All Charges Dropped Against Amber Bracken, CFWIJ Welcomes The Decision
Location: Canada, Ottawa
Date: January 3, 2022
On December 24 2021, Coastal GasLink pipeline, owned by TC Energy, decided to discontinue the lawsuit they had filed against journalists Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano. The two had earlier been detained for three days and three nights under charges of civil contempt while they were covering the protest demonstrations and the subsequent police brutality at the Wet’suwet’en territory in northwest B.C. on November 19 last year.
Amber Bracken’s arrest attracted international attention and raised questions regarding the state of press freedom in the country as well as the exploitation of indigenous lands to serve corporate interests. A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ordered the release of photojournalist Amber Bracken and documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano on November 22, 2021. However, the discontinuation of the lawsuit means that the two are also now relieved of their terms of release, which included a court appearance next month.
Amber was on assignment when this news came to light. Speaking to a Canadian publication she said, “I should never have been arrested or charged, let alone detained, in the first place… I can’t get those days of my life and work back. Nothing in these proceedings provides any feedback to RCMP for their gross interference with journalists, so what’s stopping police from just doing it again?”
Amber is right. At the center of the conflict is a multi-billion dollar natural gas project — touted as the largest private sector investment in Canadian history — and an assertion by Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs that no pipelines can be built through their traditional territory without their consent. The project is still ongoing and the CFWIJ is extremely concerned at the manner in which the RCMP proceeded against the journalists on the ground.
The RCMP has a history of using brutal force in an effort to silence journalists, as CFWIJ has repeatedly reported. Their display of institutional violations, police brutality and bullying tactics is a threat to peace of the region as well as to Canada’s democratic principles at large.
Speaking to CFWIJ, Amber said, "I can say I’m relieved that sense prevailed and I’m unburdened by those legal obligations. But this development does nothing to remedy the harm that was done to my ability to report or to prevent police from using the same exact tactic again. Canada speaks in high terms about a free press until journalism becomes inconvenient for corporations and governments—it’s time we all demand better."
Thus, while the Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the development, we are also cognizant of the fact that this is a systemic issue, rooted in misplaced priorities. The Canadian government needs to take a look at its current policy in the Wet'suwet'en region which in its silence appears to support police violence and corporate interests over environmental sustainability, the rights of the indigenous peoples and press freedoms. This is a worrying sign for Canadian democracy and vulnerable groups in the country.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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