Charges no longer proceeding against journalists arrested at B.C. pipeline protest

Photo posted by Gidimt'en Checkpoint on Facebook on Nov. 14, 2021.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -

Charges are no longer being pursued against two journalists who were arrested last month while reporting on the RCMP's enforcement of an injunction at a pipeline construction site in northern British Columbia.

Documents filed with B.C. Supreme Court this week show the company building the Coastal GasLink pipeline filed notices to discontinue the proceedings against photojournalist Amber Bracken and documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano.

The pair had been charged with civil contempt of court and were conditionally released by a judge three days after they were arrested along with members of the Gidimt'en clan, who oppose the construction of the natural gas pipeline in Wet'suwet'en territory.

Bracken and Toledano are no longer required to appear in court in February or to comply with the terms of the injunction first granted in December 2019.

Opposition among Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to the 670-kilometre pipeline sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada last year, while the elected council of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and others nearby have agreed to the project.

The pipeline would transport natural gas from Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. to a processing facility in Kitimat.

It is more than halfway finished with almost all the route cleared and 200 kilometres of pipeline installed, Coastal GasLink has said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2021.