Legal Support Fund: Elder Fighting TMX Injunction

February 2nd 2024 - As of January 2024 the law firm that represented Jim Leyden has requested another $6000 dollars of legal fees, which he cannot afford. With the support of many funders and other donations he was able to pay his initial fees following his appeal, but now is in need of your help again. This was a significant win for Jim in his work to resist the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure as the Kwekwecnewtxw (Watch House) elder, and he intends to continue his organizing work with the Watch House going forward. Jim hopes that that people will support him as they can, and that those who are interested in supporting work through the Watch House reach out to Mountain Protectors on Instagram.

July 25th 2023 - The BC Court of Appeal overturned a criminal contempt conviction today for Jim Leyden, a 70-year-old Indigenous land defender who was convicted in June 2021 and sentenced to 45 days in jail for conducting an Indigenous ceremony in December 2019 outside the gates of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) tank farm in Burnaby. The Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for Leyden, who will appear in court on August 2 to schedule the new trial date. Support is still needed for this ongoing legal battle.

“This case is important not only because it draws attention to the insanity of continuing to pump dirty oil as it destroys our earth, but also because it highlights our right to practice Indigenous ceremonies and protect our lands without colonialist interference,” said Leyden. “Authentic reconciliation must recognize the right to protect our unceded and unsurrendered lands, something we’ve been doing for millennia.”

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Stem-may-kochx-kanim (Jim Leyden) is an Indigenous Land Defender and the Watch House Elder who since 2018 has been fighting against the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) on unceded Coast Salish territory, and holding the Trans Mountain Corporation responsible for the environmental and public health risks posed by their work sites in Burnaby, BC. He is also a longtime advocate and respected activist in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side

On June 14, 2023 he will be appealing his conviction for criminal contempt of court after conducting a peaceful pipe ceremony on December 2, 2019 at the site of TMX’s Burnaby Terminal. This ceremony was a part of his duties as the appointed elder of the Watch House (Kwekwecnewtxw) and his arrest represents a trend by the Crown to persecute and criminalize Indigenous Land Defenders for engaging in spiritual practices, ceremonies and land defence on unceded sovereign territories.

Now, Jim Leyden needs your help to cover $15,000 in legal fees for his appeal on June 14th!

The charge of criminal contempt stems from a sweeping, indefinite injunction granted to the Crown corporation overseeing the construction of TMX in 2018, which has since been used to criminalize any meaningful resistance to the pipeline. The injunction allows anyone blocking a TMX facility entrance or being within five metres of TMX property to be charged with criminal contempt of court. In practice, it has been used to arbitrarily punish specific classes or races of individuals protesting near TMX construction sites.

Despite the injunctions , Jim (Kanim) was not challenged by police officers on the day of the ceremony. In fact, two police officers even joined him and others in participating in the ceremony. It was not until weeks later, on December 28, 2019, that Leyden was charged by the Crown with violating the injunction, at the urging of private TMX security.

The conducting of ceremonies, including the chanupa (pipe) ceremony in question was a part of Jim’s spiritual role as the appointed Elder and peacekeeper at the Watch House, and occurred as a peaceful ceremony aimed at drawing attention to the ongoing environmental contamination by the TMX project. Now Jim’s Lawyer, Michelle Silongan, is arguing that Judge Fitzpatrick “erred in finding Mr. Leyden had the necessary mens rea [intent] for criminal contempt.”

The injunction had been updated at least twice since December 2019, including a recent and irregular waiver of the requirement for the RCMP to read out the injunction and allow the crowd to disperse, (which is a standard 5-step procedure in BC, as outlined in the Civil Disobedience and Contempt of Related Court Orders Manual from 2014) - another gross overreach which many present were not aware of.

Jim, who is Métis of Anishinaabe and Irish heritage, was appointed by traditional Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Elders to be the designated Elder to conduct ceremonies and carry out surveillance and monitoring activities from the Watch House (Kwekwecnewtxw). He says that stopping fossil fuel projects such as TMX is a necessary aspect of reconciliation for the Coast Salish nations on whose unceded territory Greater Vancouver is located. He has worked in all parts of the Indigenous community in Vancouver, and upholds these rights and relations though the courts refuse to recognize them. Meanwhile, the ongoing and potential future destruction of the land and environment by fossil fuels via the federal government owned TMX stands as a serious barrier to reconciliation efforts across Canada, which cannot be ignored.

Along with Stacey Gallagher, another Indigenous land defender, Jim was targeted in these arrests and convictions. Despite the presence of settler land defenders and two RCMP officers, which already suggests that the ceremony was legal under colonial law, Jim and Stacey were the only ones arrested for partaking in the pipe ceremony. The Crown’s harsh sentences for Jim and Stacey include some of the longest recommended jail sentences for a TMX injunction breach. Jim’s conviction is yet another example of Canada’s colonial legacy in action and the BC Attorney General’s Office complicity in this backwards and punitive approach.

The racism and injustice land defenders have to face does not end inside the courtroom. Prisons, with a population disproportionately composed of Indigenous and Black people, fail to meet basic human needs for incarcerated individuals. Jim, who suffers from pancreatitis and a heart condition, had serious health complications after being sentenced to jail time for a similar ceremony in 2018, which he has also appealed. He had received spider bites while staying in North Fraser Pretrial Center, which forced him to go to the hospital for serious health and heart complications that may have proved deadly if he had stayed in jail longer. These jail sentences are not trivial punishments, but examples of severe state violence against indigenous people.

Jim Leyden has since been sentenced to 45 days in jail for the ceremony he conducted in 2019. He fears even now that this sentence may have serious effects on his health, similar to his earlier experience in prison and may even be fatal. He hopes now that others can join him in standing in solidarity in his appeal, and in healing the harm that this project has done.

Please support Jim and support the right for Indigenous people to conduct ceremony by pledging $10, $50, $100 or $500 dollars towards this important legal precedent. Every dollar counts. Together we can stand for human rights and push back against colonialism and against the destruction of mother earth.

Credits and Further Reading:

How Canada is targeting Indigenous resistance to TMX – Briarpatch Magazine

Support fund for previous appeals