B.C. trial to test whether RCMP violated press freedoms in arresting journalist

The lawyer representing award-winning photojournalist Amber Bracken in her lawsuit against the RCMP said police wrongly characterized Bracken as an “occupier” instead of the clearly-identified journalist that she was when they arrested at the site of a pipeline protest in northern British Columbia.

Sean Hern made the comments in opening arguments on day one of the scheduled five-week trial in B.C. Supreme Court, Monday in Vancouver. 

“Her job is to observe the occupation and document it for the public,” said Hearn. “[The defence’s] evidence about why she was allegedly not acting as a journalist when in the tiny house is solely because she was in the tiny house.”

Bracken was arrested on Nov. 19, 2021, and held in custody for four days after officers raided the small structure that was erected in defiance of a court-ordered injunction obtained by Coastal GasLink. 

Bracken and news outlet The Narwhal, who she was on assignment for at the time, are suing the RCMP for wrongful arrest, wrongful detention, and breach of Charter rights, including the right of journalists to gather and report information to the public.

Five Indigenous land defenders who opposed construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on traditional Wet’suwet’en territory, were also in the tiny house and arrested, as well as a documentary filmmaker.

Hern said both senior management at The Narwhal and the president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) had alerted RCMP leaders in the days and hours before the raid that Bracken was in the injunction area.

Hern then showed the court a photo of Bracken’s arrest as she emerged from the tiny house.

“Two professional grade cameras around her neck, a large bag, press tags at her side – clear evidence she is media in addition to her declaration of the same. And then in the subsequent [police] processing… she discussed that she had her letter of assignment from the Narwhal and CAJ identification,” he said.

Hearn said if there was any question about Bracken’s identity, RCMP commanders monitoring the raid from the nearby town of Houston and from RCMP provincial headquarters in Surrey could have just googled her name and discovered her ample credentials.

Defence counsel for the Attorney General of Canada representing the RCMP countered in opening statements that the Charter does not give members of the media the right to ignore court orders or the law. 

“Ms. Bracken’s detention followed a lawful arrest and was not arbitrary. Her work as a journalist does not immunize her from, or minimize the consequences of failure to comply with, the court order,” said Craig Cameron. “RCMP are under no obligation to give her preferential treatment.”

Speaking to the media before the trial began, Bracken said she was happy to see the question of whether her rights as a journalist had been violated before the courts.

“I think this is a case about the media as a whole, the press, standing together,” she said.