Coastal GasLink blockade participant recounts ‘joyful’ life at Wet’suwet’en camp [Video]

A woman who was arrested at a blockade of construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline told court Thursday that her time at the camp was “joyful.”

Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan woman with Wet’suwet’en family ties, was questioned by defence lawyer Frances Mahon about her time at the blockade and events after her arrest in November 2021. 

B.C. Supreme Court in Smithers is hearing an abuse of process application brought forward by Sampson, Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), and Corey Jocko. 

Justice Michael Tammen found the three guilty in January of criminal contempt of court for breaking a 2019 injunction against blocking work on the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline. 

Coastal GasLink was building the 670-kilometre pipeline to carry natural gas across northern British Columbia to a terminal in Kitimat, B.C., for export to Asia. The company signed benefit agreements with 20 elected band councils along the project’s route in 2018, but several Wet’suwet’en …