VANCOUVER / UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh AND səlilwətaɬ TERRITORIES — Tsleil-Waututh activist Will George was taken to jail at 9 a.m. this morning to serve a 28-day sentence for violating a court injunction when he blocked the entrance to Trans Mountain’s tank farm in January 2021. 

“Canada is sending me to jail because I was doing the work the colonial government failed to do — protecting my territory and my nation from a catastrophic oil spill,” said George. “Tsleil-Waututh Nation has worked for a decade to oppose the Trans Mountain pipeline, but Prime Minister Trudeau failed us, so I am left with no choice but to do whatever I can to stop it.”

George appealed the sentence by Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick and expects to appeal to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He also hopes to be granted bail before he serves his full sentence.

“I am thoroughly disgusted with our so-called justice system that would send an Indigenous person to jail for violating a court injunction that thousands of us violated on the very first day it was introduced,” said Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “This selective application of justice is used to target Indigenous land defenders because they are leaders in the movement to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline, and it’s appalling.” 
 

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Media contact:
Peter McCartney, Climate Campaigner
778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org