Amnesty International is calling for the “unconditional release” of a British Columbia Indigenous leader found guilty of contempt of court, calling him “the first-ever prisoner of conscience to be recognized” by the organization on Canadian soil.
Chief Dsta’hyl, who represents one of the clans of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, is also called Adam Gagnon.
He was arrested in 2021 for violating a court order prohibiting interference with the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The Indigenous leader was later placed under house arrest by the court.
Amnesty International says the leader has been “unjustly criminalized and deprived of his liberty.”
The organization says the court order is unfair because it prohibits activities that should be protected in Canada by the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This is the first time that Amnesty International has recognized a “prisoner of conscience” in Canada. The organization is calling for “the immediate and unconditional lifting of his house arrest” and an end to the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders “in the context of a global climate emergency.”
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