Canadian police had 'no authority' to search pipeline activists, says watchdog

Source: The Guardian

Canadian police had 'no authority' to search pipeline activists, says watchdog

Letter offers scathing criticism of police’s tactics against Wet’suwet’en people amid growing protest over gas pipeline

Tracey Lindeman in Ottawa
Thu 20 Feb 2020 21.12 GMT
First published on Thu 20 Feb 2020 20.48 GMT

Canadian federal police had “no legal authority” to make ID checks and searches on activists seeking to block a pipeline project on Indigenous territory, according to newly released correspondence from the force’s oversight body.

The nine-page letter written by Michelaine Lahaie, chair of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, offers scathing criticism of the police’s continued use of tactics against Indigenous people which she had previously warned against.

The document was released as Justin Trudeau’s government struggles to deal with a growing protest movement in support of the Wet’suwet’en nation’s fight against a controversial natural gas pipeline in British Columbia.

In recent weeks, demonstrations have sprung up across the country, blockading major railway lines and obstructing access to ports and government buildings.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/canada-pipeline-protests-no-authority-search-protesters