Trial wraps up for prominent Wet'suwet'en leader and pipeline opponents

A trial for three people accused of criminal contempt of court for blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline in November 2021 wrapped up Thursday.

Sleydo', also known as Molly Wickham, a Wing Chief of Cas Yikh, a house group of the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation; Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet'suwet'en family ties, and Corey Jocko, who is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, which straddles the Quebec, Ontario and New York state borders, each face one charge of criminal contempt of court for blocking access to Coastal GasLink pipeline construction in defiance of a court order. All three have pleaded not guilty.

The trial began in B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers, B.C., on Monday.

After calling seven witnesses over three days, the Crown said in closing submissions it has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the three accused had committed criminal contempt of court.

"Each of the three knowingly committed those prohibited acts by impeding Coastal GasLink and its contractors from conducting their work," Crown prosecutor Kurtas Welch told the court.

But defence lawyer Frances Mahon argued the Crown failed to prove that Jocko received sufficient knowledge of the injunction, and the extent of what was in it.

A video recorded by Coastal GasLink worker James Lank was shown in court as evidence that on Nov. 14, 2021, Jocko was made aware of the injunction.

In the video, a group of people are standing by felled trees blocking the Morice Forest Service Road, about 39 kilometres along.

Coastal GasLink workers approach the group and a worker reads a script to inform them of an injunction granted by the B.C. Supreme Court in December 2019 that bars anyone from impeding work on the pipeline.

In the video Jocko is present and is heard yelling while the worker is speaking, drowning out at times what the worker is saying.

Mahon said it is reasonable to conclude that Jocko's yelling was to avoid hearing the injunction order, but said the script the worker was reading to inform the people at the blockade did not sufficiently convey the injunction order.

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"We actually just don't know what the words of the script were and we don't know if they accurately conveyed the material terms of the injunction," said Mahon.

The Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline would run from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, B.C., through traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en. (Office of the Wet'suwet'en/CBC)

In the video the worker leaves what is presumably a copy of the injunction order in a clear plastic bag in the snow at the feet of the people at the blockade.

Mahon said there is no evidence that Jocko picked up the injunction or read it.

Jocko was arrested by RCMP in a cabin at a Coastal GasLink drill site on Nov. 19, 2021.

RCMP officer Ken Floyd knocked on the door of the cabin and read a script to inform the occupants of the injunction before they were arrested. Mahon argued the people inside the cabin were not given an opportunity to leave the cabin before they were arrested.

Justice Michael Tammen will read his decision on Jocko's charges on Friday.

He will reserve his decision on Sleydo' and Sampson's charges until after he hears an abuse of process application. They are alleging RCMP used excessive force while they were in custody.