Statement on the Arrest of Documentary Filmmaker Melissa Cox
- Yint'ah Film -
RCMP move in and arrest Gitxsan people blocking CN tracks near
New
Hazelton in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders, February 24,
2020.
We are outraged by the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police (RCMP)
decision to arrest our long-time colleague, journalist and
filmmaker Melissa Cox, on the evening of February 24, 2020, at
New Hazelton on unceded Gitxsan territory.
Ms. Cox has been documenting Wet'suwet'en land
defenders'
efforts to resist Coastal GasLink's pipeline project for nearly
two months, filming for a documentary by the working title YINT'AH of which we
are the producers, and filing video reports
with other media outlets.
On February 24, she was filming as Gitxsan
hereditary chiefs
and supporters blocked the tracks at New Hazelton in solidarity
with the Wet'suwet'en and the Mohawks of Tyendinaga. She was
wearing a press credential from the National Press Photographers
Association.
Ms. Cox had just filmed as the RCMP arrested
Gitxsan
hereditary Chief Spookw. In spite of the fact that she was
clearly marked press, RCMP officers chose to arrest her, thus
making it impossible for her to carry out her work documenting
and bearing witness to the events underway.
Moreover, RCMP used an undue amount of force,
twisting Ms.
Cox's left arm in a painful manner as multiple officers pried her
camera out of her other hand, which ripped her headphones off.
They tossed her camera on the ground, and later appeared to be
manipulating the camera and pressing various buttons. A legal
observer asked repeatedly if she could pick up the camera to
protect it, requests ignored by the RCMP.
RCMP cuffed Ms. Cox with her hands behind her back
which
aggravated a pre-existing injury in her left shoulder. She
repeatedly stated that her injury was being aggravated and
requested that they change the position of the cuffs, which they
refused to do as they read her rights and searched her. By this
point, she was in tears from the pain.
Having been arrested herself, Ms. Cox was unable
to document
the arrest of 71-year-old Head House Chief and Matriarch
Gwininitxw (Yvonne Lattie), and other arrests made subsequently
by the RCMP.
Ms. Cox was held by the RCMP approximately seven
hours
and
released on restrictive conditions including that she "keep 10
meters off any CN property or work-site." Abiding by that
condition would restrict her ability to cover further rail
blockades. Moreover, she is required to appear in court on April
24, 2020 to face further prosecution.
We are deeply disturbed by the RCMP's arrest of
Ms. Cox, which
is part of a pattern of detentions, arrests and efforts to limit
the access and mobility of journalists that we have witnessed
across the country over the past month. Freedom of the press and
other media of communication is a fundamental freedom protected
by Canada's Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. In March 2019, a
landmark decision by a Newfoundland and Labrador court known as
the Justin Brake case reaffirmed that even when an injunction
order has been issued, special considerations apply to
journalists working in good faith and reporting on matters in the
public interest. The decision states that: "To achieve the goal
of reconciliation, better understanding of aboriginal peoples and
aboriginal issues is needed. This places a heightened importance
on ensuring that independently-reported information about
aboriginal issues, including aboriginal protests, is available to
the extent possible."
Security forces arresting journalists and
filmmakers causes a
chilling effect on freedom of speech and interferes with the
public's right to be informed, which are cornerstones of
democracy. Transparency and communication in a fair, accurate,
nuanced and honest way is also the only basis on which right
relations between people and between nations can ever be
achieved. This has been Ms. Cox's stance as a documentary
filmmaker, and we wholeheartedly stand with her. We expect that
no charges will be laid, and that as matters of public interest
related to policing of Indigenous communities continue to unfold
throughout Canada, journalists and filmmakers will be able to
report and film unimpeded.
Franklin
López
Michael Toledano
Sam Vinal
Andréa
Schmidt
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 6 - February 29, 2020
Article Link:
Statement on the Arrest of Documentary Filmmaker Melissa Cox - Yint'ah Film
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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