Stand response to findings that B.C. government institutions collaborated to monitor climate advocates, protests, and treaty negotiations

səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territories (VANCOUVER, B.C.) – Responding to news of the RCMP’s surveillance of Indigenous land defenders and climate advocates focused on resource projects, Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner, Kiki Wood, said:

“We are deeply concerned by the Tyee’s revelation that the B.C. government’s Critical Incident Secretariat, supported by the RCMP, continues to spy on “climate action initiatives and Treaty negotiations”, as well as Indigenous land defenders and climate advocates connected to oil and gas projects.

Peaceful protest is a right under Canadian law, and Orwellian-style monitoring by government institutions and policing units with a history of violence and unlawful conduct has a chilling effect when Canada is failing at all its climate and emissions reductions commitments, both globally and domestically. 

Stand.earth strongly condemns this kind of opacity and urges the B.C. government to disband the CRU-BC and be fully transparent about any surveillance of climate advocates and land defenders.” 

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Notes for Editors:

The Tyee exposé

Canada’s protest law

Stand’s previous release about environmental and climate activists being spied on

Contact

Kiki Wood, Senior Oil and Gas Campaign Director, stand.earth, Kiki@Stand.earth