Tag Archives: Michael Toledano

Justice

One-on-one with the leader of a special RCMP unit tasked with policing opposition to industrial projects in B.C.

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

“Beyond troubling” is how John Brewer, chief superintendent and gold commander of the RCMP’s controversial  Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), described the conduct of some  of his officers after reviewing audio recorded in the minutes following police arrests of land defenders and journalists in November. 

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Energy, Indigenous Nations, Justice

Letters reveal what energy companies told RCMP before Wet’suwet’en raid

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

In late April, RCMP officers walked into the Gidimt’en Camp near the confluence of Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek) and Wedzin Kwa (Morice River). Their visits on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in northwest B.C. had been a daily occurrence, with members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group showing up at all hours, including in the middle of the night according to locals.

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Communications, Indigenous Nations, Justice

Emails reveal how the RCMP changed its story about arresting journalists in Wet’suwet’en raid

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Updated May 9, 2022, at 11:10 a.m. PT: This article was updated to clarify that filmmaker Michael Toledano was restrained with handcuffs after being detained by RCMP on Nov. 19, 2021. He was not initially restrained with zip ties. But he told The Narwhal that police added zip ties to reinforce the restraints after a key broke off in the handcuffs.

As police helicopters moved into unceded Wet’suwet’en territory and dropped off armed tactical officers accompanied by police dogs on Nov. 19, 2021, photojournalist Amber Bracken was reporting live updates.

She was inside a tiny house occupied by Indigenous land defenders and their allies.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations, Justice

After arrests at Coastal GasLink blockade allegations of RCMP mistreatment grow

By John Woodside,  National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

More land defenders are alleging mistreatment while in RCMP custody after being arrested on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, as the police continue to enforce an injunction granted to Coastal GasLink.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations, Justice

‘We are not here to get killed’: Wet’suwet’en solidarity actions met with armed police response

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

From a bridge above train tracks in New Hazelton, B.C., supporters of the Gitxsan Nation watched on Nov. 18, as Gitxsan children and teens tossed marshmallows at a fleet of heavily-armed RCMP units descending upon the tiny town in the northwest part of the province.

“They had tactical units, sniper teams and riot suppression gear and we had children with marshmallows,” Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, a Gitxsan member of Wilp (house group) Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit, told The Narwhal in an interview. 

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