(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Delays continue to pile up for a criminal contempt trial involving protesters against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, who were supposed to begin opening statements this week in Kamloops. 

Romily Cavanaugh, Henry Sauls, April Thomas and Jocelyn Pierre with the Secwepemc Unity Camp to Stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline allegedly breached a court-ordered injunction against obstructing access to the company’s worksites on Oct. 15, 2020, around Mission Flats Road during work hours.

The four are defending themselves, but only Pierre and Sauls (also known as Secwépemc hereditary Chief Sawses) were able to attend court on Jan. 17 for the five-day trial, leading to an adjournment until the first week of April by justice Shelley Fitzpatrick.

Cavanaugh, who is from the Lower Mainland, was not in attendance as she is dealing with a family member’s medical situation while Thomas reportedly has COVID-19, the court heard.

In court on Monday, Sauls and Pierre also requested an application for a stay of proceedings over inadequate disclosure of documents, but justice Fitzpatrick denied that because no written submission had been made and Thomas confirmed last week disclosures were received two months ago.

Fitzpatrick said disclosures have been an ongoing issue that have already been addressed numerous times, adding the Crown can only disclose what police have provided to make a case. 

The trial, along with a separate one involving members of the Secwepemc protest group, was delayed twice last year with the defense successfully applying to adjourn proceedings, raising issues over disclosures and complications from wildfire season in the summer and flooding last fall.

While Monday’s proceeding has been adjourned a third time, the other trial remains scheduled for March.

The Secwepemc Unity Camp to Stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline set up an encampment along the beach of the Thompson River in October 2020 near Trans Mountain’s worksite off Mission Flats Road just west of the Domtar pulp mill.

From that site, workers were feathering the twinned pipeline under the Thompson River to a spot near the Kamloops Airport — a project that has since been completed.

Video posted to social media at the time showed what appeared to be Cavanaugh and Sauls tied to a fence at the worksite entrance and Thomas and Pierre climbing on excavation equipment across the road.

— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.

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