Arrested Friday while covering a demonstration against a pipeline project in northern British Columbia, journalists Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano were preparing to spend a third night behind bars on Sunday.
Their arrest by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) sparked outrage in the Canadian media, which unitedly called for their immediate release.
“I’ve heard that Amber is doing fine physically, but she’s shaken up,” said Carol Linnitt, co-founder of news site The Narwhal, which employs photojournalist Amber Bracken. Michael Toledano is a freelance documentary filmmaker and reporter.
The details of the arrest were quite dramatic.
Carol Linnitt, co-founder of The Narwhal, in an interview with Press
The RCMP applied a British Columbia Supreme Court injunction, issued in December 2019. This prohibits protesters from blocking the passage of workers on the Coastal GasLink project, a 670-kilometer TC Energy pipeline that crosses the lands of the Wet’suwet’en people.
Contradictory versions
In a statement, the RCMP said they discovered in a logging road near the municipality of Houston “obstructions, barricades, two structures resembling buildings as well as a pile of burning wood directly around a drilling site. “.
According to the RCMP, the officers asked the demonstrators to leave the scene or face arrest. Faced with their refusal, they were handcuffed to the wrists of eleven people, including “two individuals who subsequently identified themselves as independent journalists”.
Four more people were arrested a few dozen kilometers away.
An individual who identified himself as a journalist was not arrested and was escorted out of the area after the end of operations.
The RCMP
Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano were first detained at Smithers. On Saturday evening, they were transferred to Prince George, where they are expected to appear on Monday.
According to Carol Linnitt, the arrest of the two journalists is particularly worrying. “We have taken all the necessary measures […] to make sure Amber is clearly identified, ”she said. She said the photojournalist’s equipment was tagged and that she was carrying a letter attesting to her posting.
The co-founder of Narwhal also ensures that the RCMP were notified of the presence of Amber Bracken, and that the newspaper received an acknowledgment from the police force. “Everyone expressed their shock and frustration [au Narwhal], she says.
Immediate release requested
The Narwhal demands that the two journalists be immediately released and that no charges be brought against them.
A demand shared by the Canadian Association of Journalists (ACJ) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), whose coordinator for Canada and the United States, Katherine Jacobsen, said she was “alarmed” by the arrests .
“It’s very disturbing,” said ACJ President Brent Jolly in an interview with Press. “Maybe that would be normal in China, or in Russia, in police states where journalists are arrested and regularly detained,” he said.
It’s a sad reality that we face more and more [au Canada].
Brent Jolly, President of the Canadian Association of Journalists
He mentioned in particular the protests against the cutting of trees in the forest of Fairy Creek, on Vancouver Island, where the RCMP has obstructed press freedom, he said.
Support from the mainstream media
Brent Jolly will send a letter signed by several major media outlets across the country on Monday morning, including Press, to the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, to demand their release.
“The RCMP must be held accountable for its repeated violations of Canadian media rights,” it reads. As Minister responsible for RCMP oversight, we call on you to take immediate action to correct the actions of the RCMP and to ensure that in the future, journalists’ right to report will be protected in this country. ”
According to Carol Linnitt, the way authorities are handling the case of Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano will set a precedent for journalists across the country.
“Journalists respect the role of the police, but we also have to make sure that the police respect the role of journalists,” summarizes Brent Jolly.
With The Canadian Press