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For Your Information Letter to Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMPRe: Policy Complaint and Public Interest Investigation Concerning RCMP Exclusion Zone and RCMP Operations on Morice West Forest Service Road
[We are] writing to you today on behalf of the BCCLA and UBCIC regarding the ongoing improper and increasingly unlawful actions of the RCMP on Morice West FSR in Wet'suwet'en territory. We ask the Commission to treat this letter as an urgent update to our previous complaint and request to initiate a policy complaint and public interest investigation in the matter. The policing of Indigenous land defenders in Wet'suwet'en territories is a matter of significant public interest. On February 6, 2020, the RCMP formalized an exclusion zone at the 27-kilometre mark on the Morice West FSR. On February 7, 2020 the exclusion zone was moved to the 4-kilometre on the Morice West FSR and severe access restrictions have been imposed, including a prohibition on access and mobility on the road impacting Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs, Wet'suwe'ten Nation members, invited guests, media outlets, and legal observers. We stress to the Commission that the overbroad and arbitrary exclusion zone lies outside the scope of the injunction order. We are highly alarmed at the expanding nature of the RCMP exclusion zone, granting the RCMP discretionary, unreasonable and unjustified powers to: 1. Unlawfully detain and arrest people who are inside the arbitrary and ill-defined exclusion zone but who are not actually in breach of the injunction.[1] 2. Prohibit access and impede the movement of Wet'suwet'en people, their invited guests, and the public on Morice FSR and in the exclusion zone.[2] 3. Seize personal property within the exclusion zone.[3] 4. Severely curtail the constitutionally-protected right to freedom of the press.[4] Sincerely, Harsha Walia,
Executive Director Grand Chief
Stewart Phillip, President NotesSince the RCMP arbitrarily moved the exclusion zone to the 4-km mark, the 27-km camp now falls within the arbitrary exclusion zone but is well outside the scope of the injunction itself. These arrests and contempt charges are therefore unlawful. 2 BC
RCMP press release, February 6, 2020. 3 RCMP towed vehicles located within the exclusion zone but outside the injunction area. 4 Statement by Canadian Association of Journalists: Ricochet journalist detained for eight hours while covering RCMP raid. (Photos: C. Hunt, K. Goldberg)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
On January 29,
2020, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, the
Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs wrote
to the Commission to initiate a policy complaint and public interest
investigation under the 
There is
absolutely no legal precedent nor established legal authority for such
an overbroad policing power associated with the enforcement of an
injunction. The implementation and enforcement of the RCMP
exclusion zone in Wet'suwet'en territory is unlawful. RCMP public
statements reference enforcement of the injunction order in order to
justify the exclusion zone; however, no such provisions are explicitly
made in the enforcement order issued on January 7, 2020. The RCMP are
wilfully reinterpreting the enforcement order in order to extend their
policing powers. Attempting to clear an undefined area bordering more
than 60 km of roadway of all people and inhabitants is an unreasonable
exercise of the discretion granted to police under the enforcement
order. The arbitrary RCMP exclusion zone and overbroad access
restrictions are completely unjustified and unlawful, and constitute a
serious violation of Indigenous rights and jurisdiction, severe
deprivation of individual liberty interests, and egregious impairment
of 