This is the first part of a series covering the Fairy Creek Blockades and those working to protect the land. We recognize this is a departure from SAD’s typical content, but have chosen to publish these stories in allyship toward the protestors and Pacheedaht First Nation.

Indigenous Land Defender targeted by Police at the blockades

August 9th, on International Indigenous People’s Day, was the one year anniversary of blockades being established to protect the Fairy Creek watershed (Ada'itsx.) in Pacheedaht Territory. This unique rainforest is the last intact unprotected old growth watershed in Southern Vancouver Island, outside of parks. On this anniversary, Fairy Creek Headquarters were raided by the RCMP and the RCMP ERT (militarized police) dropped in with ATVs by helicopter to take over Heli Camp. 

Since last year, thousands of people have cycled through the blockade camps in Pacheedaht and Ditidaht Territories, building performance art-like blockades and cosy, hobbit-like bush camps. People work with relentless determination, day and night, hiking with backpacks full of chain and cement and digging into unyielding logging roads with pic axes. As of August 13th 2021, 597 arrests have been made including people from age 13-82 since the RCMP began to enforce a court-ordered injunction won by Teal-Jones Forest Products. Press freedoms have been fought for in court, and won. A deferral put forward by local First Nations has been confirmed, and blockaders say it falls short of protecting the watershed and surrounding areas adequately. A version of a SWAT Team known as the RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT) have conducted night raids on the blockades, allegedly harassing and kicking people and there have been deeply disturbing allegations of police targeting Indigenous land defenders with violence at the blockades since the arrest of Kati George-Jim (xʷ is xʷ čaa,) in Caycuse on May 20th 2021. There have been several cases where loggers have violently attacked blockaders but no charges were brought against them. 

“What it seems like is that the police are targeting Indigenous people,” says Noah Ross, a lawyer working with The Rainforest Flying Squad, a volunteer-run organization most affiliated with the Fairy Creek blockades. “There is a recurring pattern where when police encounter people who have reasonable mistrust in the police, people who have had bad experiences before, there has been more police violence and more heavy-handed tactics. Another worrying thing is that police are specifically targeting these individuals when they’re in non-arrestable situations.”

Veronica Martisius from the BC Civil Liberties Association states “Continuous reports of Indigenous peoples being targeted with police violence and harassment is extremely disconcerting during this day and age of so-called reconciliation. The police in Canada were created to help clear the land of Indigenous peoples to make way for colonial expansion and resource extraction, the harms of which we are bearing witness to on an almost daily basis. The events unfolding on unceded Ditidaht and Pacheedaht territories is but one manifestation of this ongoing assault. State sanctioned attacks on Indigenous lives and ways of knowing and being must stop for our collective survival on these lands.”

Shy-Anne Gunnville (35) is an Afro-Indigneous Cree Métis land defender from Red River Saskatchewan who dedicates her time to anti-racism work. Shy-Anne came to Fairy Creek to fight for the land and her family as both have been heavily impacted by colonialism. She says she wants to show her daughter that she has a powerful voice and that she must fight for the things she believes in.

Standing at 5 feet tall and living with a neurological disease that affects her mobility.  Shy-anne has found innovative ways to navigate the terrain of the blockades. As the logging roads are not suitable for her wheelchair, Shy-Anne’s friend Water carries her on his back to go to the frontlines.

On July 24th, Shy-Anne and Water were invited to a picnic with elders, at a bridge past the police access control point in Pacheedaht Territories. She was hopeful that after her arrest at Waterfall Camp (where she said officers knelt on her chest, her shoulder, and her stomach after she tried to protect Water from police aggression) attending this action would provide a more gentle environment. Shy-Anne and others were denied access and driven away from the area by police, but they returned, determined to continue the picnic. When blockaders charged the police line, Shy-Anne said a white male RCMP officer punched her in the head and started yelling at her “Get your hands off my gun.”

“My heart sank. I was so scared because I remember hearing all of the horror stories of the wellness checks… ...the first thing [the police] yell is something like that to take the onus off them, to give them permission to be able to shoot someone.”

Shy-Anne says an officer hit her head against a van, grabbed her braids and tried to throw her to the ground while she saw Water being choked.  

A video by Global TV shows the incident, but the headline focuses on protesters cutting down trees by the road and doesn’t make mention of police brutality towards an Indigenous woman. 

“I just remember being attacked again and again. And I felt in those moments I had to fight for myself, I remember kicking and throwing my arms out, doing anything I could to protect my body.” 

“An RCMP officer looked at me and said ‘If you move again, I will fucking taser you. There was a baton out at one time. All these things are flashing through my head, thinking there's no way I'm going to be alone. I was with males, so if I was arrested, I wouldn't have been put in the same paddy wagon. In those moments I was scared for my life, so when I saw the RCMP officers coming at me, telling me that I was under arrest, my first instinct was to run to safety… and that's what we did… we hid in the forest for four hours until we escaped.”

“My interactions with the RCMP have been very racist. I've been targeted as an Indigenous woman. I feel that I have been treated with little dignity nor respect in any of my arrests.”

In contrast, Shy-Anne shared her experience of having disabilities within the movement. “Within my third day of being at Fairy Creek, I had an accessible bathroom built for me, I had handicap parking, I felt that even though I wasn't as able bodied, as many of the people that are here that I still mattered, and that people still wanted me to be here.” 

“It feels like we're in a war most of the time at Fairy Creek, with these colonial systems. we shouldn't be having to fight industry, the RCMP, or any government in order to keep our natural resources.”

When asked about protocols for protesters with disabilities, BC RCMP Responded:

Safety and respectful treatment of all persons is important to maintaining public confidence in this challenging operation. We have been providing medical assessments at several points during the removal and arrest processes, and to date we have not received any complaints or reports of injuries since enforcement began on May 17, 2021.

Shy-Anne’s first court date is October 18th.  

You can read the police statement about July 24 here.