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News > Canada

Canada: Braided Warriors Calls for Release of Stacy Gallagher

  • Police officers watch over protesters, Vancouver, Canada, March. 4, 2021.

    Police officers watch over protesters, Vancouver, Canada, March. 4, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @pieglue

Published 5 March 2021
Opinion

She was charged with criminal contempt for violating an injunction that prohibits people from obstructing Trans Mountain pipeline’s routes.

Canadian citizens on Thursday took to the street in Vancouver to demand the release of environmental activist Stacy Gallagher who was sentenced to 90 days in jail for protesting against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

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The rally was organized by Braided Warriors, an Indigenous organization that promotes the respect of Indigenous rights and sovereignty in the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, and Musqueam territories. 

Protesters blocked and forced the shutdown of Hastings St. and Clark Drive, an intersection connecting Vancouver's port. Although the protest was carried out peacefully, the Police held in detention four people who were released on a promise to appear in court. 

Gallagher, 58, along with Indigenous elder Jim Leyden, was charged with criminal contempt for violating an injunction that prohibits people from obstructing Trans Mountain pipeline’s routes. In 2019, she staged protests in Burnaby city where the pipeline system ends.

On June 18, 2019, Canada's Government approved the Trans Mountain Expansion Project that seeks to increase pipeline capacity to 890,000 barrels per day by adding another pipe in 1,150 kilometers between Strathcona County, Alberta, and Burnaby.

In February, the Braided Warriors also demonstrated near two insurance companies that backed the pipeline extension. The protest lasted for three days before being disbanded by police.

"The sacred fire is lit at Clark and Hastings port blockade. We demand that charges laid against Indigenous land defenders be dropped, and the colonial systems that criminalize Indigenous peoples be dismantled," Braided Warriors tweeted.

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