Secwépemc hereditary chief loses bid to avoid jail for causing Trans Mountain work delays

One of eight people convicted of criminal contempt for disrupting construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in October 2022 will not be granted a suspended sentence after a judge rejected his request that his time spent at a residential school should count as time served.

Henry Sauls, a Secwépemc hereditary chief who goes by the name Sawses, was arrested on Oct. 15, 2020 at a work site in Kamloops.

During a sentencing hearing this week for him and five other TMX protesters, the judge was asked to consider the 72-year-old's traumatic childhood.

Sauls' lawyer, Benjamin Isitt, said his client viewed the years he spent at the Kamloops Indian Residential School as "incarceration" and that should count as time already served.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick acknowledged Sauls' childhood may have been traumatic, but ruled that had no impact on his decision to break the law when he violated an injunction, approved in June 2018, protecting a TMX construction site off Mission Flats Road.

After Fitzpatrick sentenced him to 28 days in jail, supporters in the Kamloops courtroom shouted, "That's wrong. There's no justice here," and "Shame on you."

Crown prosecutor Neil Wiberg had recommended a sentence of 29 days because, unlike other peaceful demonstrators who walked away on their own, Sauls had to be carried away from the protest site by police.

On Friday, the judge also ordered 59-year-old Romily Cavanaugh, a former TMX engineer who lives in Vancouver, to spend 32 days in jail.

She was sentenced to one extra day because she also refused to walk away from the protest site on her own.

Three more days were added to her sentence because she had zip-strapped herself to a fence and police had to cut her loose. Fitzpatrick rejected Cavanaugh's request to serve her sentence in three segments between February and June to accommodate her work schedule.

Protesters to appeal their convictions

Speaking outside the courthouse, Isitt said both his clients are challenging their convictions.
 
"We will be asking the Court of Appeal to review the decision and accept our submission that it was wrongly decided on the basis of the judge's analysis," Isitt said. 

"We think that's a very strong submission and we'll be arguing it strongly in front of the Court of Appeal and, if necessary, up to the Supreme Court of Canada."

Two more protesters convicted of criminal contempt last year, April Thomas and Jocelyn Pierre, won't be sentenced before May 1.

They have commissioned reports examining how their Indigenous background is impacted by prosecution. This has become standard following the Supreme Court of Canada's Gladue decision, which dates back to 1999.

• A Gladue report changed his life. Like many other marginalized offenders, he didn't know it was his right

One of the four women sentenced earlier in the week has been granted bail as she also appeals.

Miranda Dick, the daughter of Henry Sauls, was arrested on Oct. 17, 2020 during another protest in Kamloops.

Dick, Susan Bibbings and Laura Zadorozny were each sentenced to 28 days in jail.

Heather Lamoureux, who lives in Vancouver, will serve an extra day because when she was arrested police had to carry her away.

At the start of this week's hearing, some supporters refused to stand up as a customary sign of respect for the judge when she walked in.

They were escorted out of court by sheriffs.

Fitzpatrick also threatened to ban certain supporters from the courtroom when they kept singing after she demanded silence.