Land Back movement leader flagged by police as 'violent'

Police flagged a prominent Haudenosaunee leader of the Land Back movement as "violent," according to court records from a recent RCMP operation to clear barricades from a road in northern B.C.

Skyler Williams was one of 30 people arrested over two days last week along the Morice River Forest Service Road, which stems from Houston, B.C., about 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver.

It was the third police operation in as many years against barricades aimed at stopping construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline, which would carry natural gas to a $40 billion export terminal on the coast.  

The RCMP ran Williams' name through two national police databases — the Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME) database and the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) — and found he was flagged as "violent" and an "escape risk," according to an affidavit filed by the RCMP with B.C. court. 

It is not clear which police force flagged him, when or why. 

Williams denies the allegation.

"The only days that any violence has ever come is from people with guns on their hips and badges on their chests," he told CBC News in a phone interview. 

"And that is not us being violent, that has never been us being violent in any way shape or form. That is not me."  

Williams has, over the years, faced several non-violent charges over land conflicts involving the people of his Haudenosaunee community of Six Nations reclaiming land. He pleaded guilty to one non-violent charge in 2008.

He is also currently facing non-violent charges including mischief and breaching an injunction from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for his involvement with a successful battle to shut down a housing development in Caledonia, Ont. 

WATCH | Footage of the RCMP raid:

Williams said the red flag on his name is not only wrong, but puts his life in danger. 

"It heightens the risk for us. Anytime we get pulled over, you don't know what the police interaction is going to be like," he said.

"This is typical of what happens to Indigenous resistance in this country."