(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Four members of the Tiny House Warriors arrested after confrontations at a Trans Mountain pipeline work camp in 2021 will not face any jail time.

On Friday, May 2, the judge overseeing the provincial court case, Lorianna Bennett, handed the land defenders conditional sentence orders (CSO) and suspended sentences, to be served in the community.

A CSO is “served in the community, instead of in jail, under the supervision of a probation officer,” a provincial government website explains, but comes with “strict conditions” that must be followed to stay out of prison.

“The toxic environment created by the accused and their actions that day caused certain Trans Mountain employees — regardless of their ancestral heritage — to feel vulnerable and unsafe,” Bennett said in court Friday.

The Tiny House Warriors are a Secwépemc-led resistance group opposing the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) project on the nation’s unceded lands.

In 2018, the group set up a number of mobile tiny homes along Murtle Lake Road in “Blue River” in Secwépemcúl’ecw, to disrupt both the pipeline’s expansion and a nearby temporary camp for its workers.

Police arrested the four defendants on Sept. 15, 2021, after they confronted TMX security employees at a Trans Mountain work camp near the Tiny House Warriors village.

“I don’t want anyone to feel ashamed of what they did on Sept. 15,” one of the accused, Mayuk (Nicole) Manuel, said outside of the courtroom at Kamloops Law Courts.

“We didn’t do anything wrong. It’s this court system that is wrong here.”

Manuel’s conditional sentence includes eight months of house arrest.

She told IndigiNews she’s relieved to not be incarcerated, but that it’s sad her house-arrest order will keep her from being out on the land this summer — a crucial time for harvesting roots, berries, salmon and deer.

“I’m going to be imprisoned in my home,” she said. “It’s really devastating, that part of it. I’m still removed from the land, from my food harvesting and culture.”

Sentences include community service, bans from TMX sites

Prosecutors had sought jail sentences ranging from 187 to 374 days for the four land defenders — Manuel, Isha Jules, Sami Nasr and Tricia Charlie — for their actions opposing the federally owned pipeline expansion in Secwépemcúl’ecw.

Manuel was given a 16-month conditional sentence to be served in community, followed by two years of probation. For the first eight months of her CSO, she will be under house arrest, requiring her to stay inside her home at all times.

Afterwards, for the remainder of her sentence, she must obey a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

During her probation period, the house arrest will be lifted, but Bennett also ordered that Manuel complete 250 hours of community service.

Meanwhile, Bennett handed fellow defendant Jules a nearly identical sentence, with two years on probation, but a CSO of 15 months. His house arrest and ensuing probation orders mirror Manuel’s, and he must also complete 250 hours of community service.

Nasr was given a CSO of one year, also to be served in community. They are restricted to 24-hour house arrest for the first six months, followed by the same curfew restrictions as Manuel and Jules for the remainder of their order. Nasr must complete 150 hours of community service.

Charlie was only given a suspended sentence with 36 months of probation, and must complete 100 hours of community service.

The sentencing orders also ban the four defendants from going within 30 metres of any TMX worksite or operations, or from interacting with any TMX employees in that buffer zone.

Initially, Bennett had fined the land defenders a $1,000 victim surcharge for damaging Trans Mountain pipeline property.

According to her, the accused caused nearly $80,000 of damage TMX property that day. She determined that more than three-quarters of those damages resulted from Nasr smashing a company-owned solar panel.

Instead, the land defenders requested an additional 50 hours of community service be added to their sentences. Bennett agreed, and she waived the victim surcharge.

Manuel, Jules, Nasr and Charlie were all arrested in September 2021 after three hours of heated, and at times physical, confrontations with TMX workers and security personnel.

During Jules’s confrontation with two TMX security employees, video evidence presented in court showed Jules punching one in the head, knocking him to the ground. The other guard testified Jules “sucker-punched” him in the head, causing him to fall and break four ribs.

“The level of verbal abuse and profanity — in particular by Nicole Manuel and Isha Jules — together with the vulgar gesticulations and actions by Mr. Jules was appalling and disturbing,” Bennett said, before issuing her sentences.

“Frankly, I was not surprised by the events and destruction that followed. It appeared to be an inevitable and predictable outcome.”

Judge rules land defenders ‘took things too far’

During the sentencing, Bennett said she found the four land defenders to be remorseful for their actions, based on information submitted in their Gladue reports, and their allocutions — statements they read in court before sentencing — in February.

“Deep down, you all mean well and you are all good people,” Bennett said. “It is evident to me that you care for each other and for your people, and you have a real and passionate cause.

“The problem is, that on Sept. 15, you took things too far. Your insult and injury had a very negative impact on others, who were simply there to do their job.”

She said Manuel’s intentions are legitimate, and noted that she is “very passionate about her cause” with the “potential to make people listen.”

“I think that you mean well. I think that you have the ability to make some positive changes,” Bennett said. “I think it’s important that the young people — your children — see those changes and watch you move forward in a more positive way and you carry on the work that you do.”

But she then pointed to Manuel’s criminal history, which includes one charge when she was a youth and eight as an adult, saying her record is an indicator that “she takes things too far.”

“If any of the four accused were actually hoping to raise awareness or get across an important message that day to anyone who they believed needs to hear it, they failed,” Bennett said. “All of you need to work on your delivery.”

She encouraged the land defenders to change their approach, saying that “people don’t listen when they are yelled at, threatened or intimidated.”

“If you continue on a volatile and aggressive path of protest, you’re likely to find yourselves back in court,” she warned. “Next time, facing further and more significant consequences.”

‘If we don’t carry on our way of life, the land is going to get destroyed’

Following the sentencing, Manuel and her mom Beverly thanked supporters outside the courtroom.

Although the land defenders got no jail time, Beverly said the sentences were still harsh — particularly the judge’s strict conditions around house arrest and probation.

“We have to gather our food out on the land — that’s how we take care of our land, is being out there,” Manuel’s mother said.

“You shouldn’t be restricted from doing that. Because if we don’t carry on our way of life, the land is going to get destroyed.”

She said “Canada” has already destroyed so much of the land in Secwépemcúl’ecw.

“It affected the water, it affected the animals, the huckleberries,” she said.

“I was just up in Blue River and I walked by those [TMX] fences. That’s what they did to our land, when they first came here. We never had fences on the land.”

Mayuk said, despite all four of the land defenders avoiding jail time, the court’s decision “doesn’t feel like a win.”

“Assimilation isn’t a win. Colonization isn’t a win,” she said. “I get reminded by that by all the young people, because the young people do want to decolonize. I’m following all of your lead to decolonize further.”

‘Indigenous rights defenders against the colonial settler state’

Her twin sister Kanahus — and fellow Tiny House Warriors member — described the court’s decision as a disappointment, saying the restrictive conditions are excessive.

“This is a case of Indigenous land defenders — Indigenous rights defenders — against the colonial settler state of Canada,” Kanahus said.

“We’re happy that they’re not put in shackles and taken away today. But we’re disappointed that the judge gave house arrest and long-term probation periods.”

Regardless, the sisters said the court’s decision will not deter them or the other Tiny House Warriors from defending the land, water and salmon, and for fighting for Secwépemc title and rights.

“It’s still a fight. Our people are still standing up,” Kanahus said.

“We all know the Canadian government is the one who purchased this pipeline to push this pipeline through, and are the same ones that run the colonial courts here as well.”

Mayuk said that one day, colonial powers will understand that Secwépemc land defenders are fighting for their title and rights, and for the ability to govern themselves — not for criminal intent.

“To us, this court system and this courthouse is foreign,” Mayuk said.

“Out there, the natural laws are what we have to remember — the natural laws that we’re fighting to protect, so the berries keep on growing, the roots keep on growing, the salmon keep on spawning, the deer keep on returning.”

She said Indigenous people need to “keep on speaking up,” even when it makes others feel “uncomfortable.”

In her message to other Indigenous land defenders, Mayuk encouraged them to continue to decolonize and rid themselves of “all this colonial mindset,” encouraging them to learn the laws of their Indigenous nation, not the laws of “Canada.”

“Don’t be restricted to what these laws are telling you,” she said. “We have our own laws, and we’re going to continue to defend it.

“Focus on our laws as Secwépemc, as people of the land. That’s how we ensure that there’s clean water for our future generations … That’s why we’re opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline."

— This story was originally published by IndigiNews

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