Land Defenders Rally in Support of Kati George-Jim

Eighteen of us land defenders rallied for a flash protest at BC Attorney General Niki Sharma’s office, called by Kati George-Jim, currently on trial for opposing lumber company Teal-Jones’ logging of old growth forest on Vancouver Island back in May 2021.

The trial was scheduled to start yesterday, but was automatically adjourned after the defence raised constitutional questions revolving around the provincial government’s jurisdiction (or lack thereof) pertaining to aboriginal affairs. And while this may appear a frivolous legal argument to some, I’d say it is no more so than claims made centuries ago by an overseas monarch taking the land from a rival overseas monarch by force, who took it from indigenous inhabitants caught in the crosshairs.

The purpose of the demonstration was to secure a meeting with the Attorney General to call for all charges to be dropped. We went inside the building at 910 Government Street, but struggled to find the correct floor, which we would find out later had been locked down the moment we stepped inside the building. Which is why the security guard didn’t as much as bat an eyebrow when we stepped into the lobby holding signs and banners.

But we would not give up so easily. The office of the Attorney General also operates from 1001 Douglas Street, where we did get a reaction: the security guard almost immediately called the police. We stepped out at our leader’s request while she interacted with security, and later VicPD. After a lengthy standoff, it turned out the office was used by lawyers working under the Attorney General, and while it was a decent target for disruption it wouldn’t get us the meeting we wanted.

So in the end, we weren’t defeated by the strong headwinds and the cold, but the meanders of provincial bureaucracy, trying to figure out a path to the office we meant to occupy. This, I say, is the most terrifying weapon in the government’s arsenal. And then officials wonder why we block intersections instead.