Five people charged with breaches of court orders in connection with protests at the Muskrat Falls site in October of 2016 have either been acquitted or had their charges withdrawn.
Defence lawyer Mark Gruchy says that means the five members of the Labrador Land Protectors are now free of the court process.
The charges were laid after Nalcor sought a court injunction to prevent people from entering or blocking the construction site.
Gruchy says the case hits a nerve, and he was first drawn into the issue following the detention of Beatrice Hunter.
He noted that the use of court injunctions in resource development disputes was effectively rolling back the clock on reconciliation.
— Brian Madore (@bmadorevocm) February 27, 2020
Meanwhile, members of the Labrador Land Protectors were at MP Seamus O’Regan’s headquarters in St. John’s yesterday supporting the pipeline protests and calling on government to treat Indigenous people fairly.
Robert Leamon, whose cousin, Justin Brake, was arrested while covering the Muskrat Falls protest as a journalist in 2016, says government continues to ignore court rulings regarding land ownership.
He says to see them being dragged through the court system is appalling. They’re thousands of dollars in debt because of it.
