{"id":90588,"date":"2025-03-18T15:02:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T19:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=90588"},"modified":"2025-03-18T15:02:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T19:02:35","slug":"land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Land defenders appeal sentences, arguing judge erred during Trans Mountain pipeline trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Three land defenders who were convicted for opposing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) in Secw\u00e9pemc\u00fal\u2019ecw are appealing their sentences. During a hearing in \u201cVancouver\u201d earlier this month, a lawyer representing the trio asked the B.C. Court of Appeal to re-examine their convictions, arguing their sentencing judge had made a series of unfair errors against them during their trial. Benjamin Isitt said the appellants \u2014 Secw\u00e9pemc land defender April Thomas, Nlaka\u2019pamux land defender Red Deer Billie Pierre, and settler-ally Romilly Cavanaugh, a former TMX worker \u2014 were upholding Indigenous law when they were arrested. \u201cThey believe they had legal duties in these circumstances,\u201d Isitt told a three-judge appeal panel on March 3, \u201carising from Secw\u00e9pemc and Nlaka\u02bcpamux laws to protect the sacred… <\/p>\n

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By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Three land defenders who were convicted for opposing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) in Secw\u00e9pemc\u00fal\u2019ecw are appealing their sentences. During a hearing in \u201cVancouver\u201d earlier this month, a lawyer representing the trio asked the B.C. Court of Appeal to re-examine their convictions, arguing their sentencing judge had made a series of unfair errors against them during their trial. Benjamin Isitt said the appellants \u2014 Secw\u00e9pemc land defender April Thomas, Nlaka\u2019pamux land defender Red Deer Billie Pierre, and settler-ally Romilly Cavanaugh, a former TMX worker \u2014 were upholding Indigenous law when they were arrested. \u201cThey believe they had legal duties in these circumstances,\u201d Isitt told a three-judge appeal panel on March 3, \u201carising from Secw\u00e9pemc and Nlaka\u02bcpamux laws to protect the sacred... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nLand defenders appeal sentences, arguing judge erred during Trans Mountain pipeline trial - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Land defenders appeal sentences, arguing judge erred during Trans Mountain pipeline trial - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Three land defenders who were convicted for opposing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) in Secw\u00e9pemc\u00fal\u2019ecw are appealing their sentences. 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Benjamin Isitt said the appellants \u2014 Secw\u00e9pemc land defender April Thomas, Nlaka\u2019pamux land defender Red Deer Billie Pierre, and settler-ally Romilly Cavanaugh, a former TMX worker \u2014 were upholding Indigenous law when they were arrested. \u201cThey believe they had legal duties in these circumstances,\u201d Isitt told a three-judge appeal panel on March 3, \u201carising from Secw\u00e9pemc and Nlaka\u02bcpamux laws to protect the sacred\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-18T19:02:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/18\\\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/18\\\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Land defenders appeal sentences, arguing judge erred during Trans Mountain pipeline trial\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-18T19:02:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/18\\\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2273,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/18\\\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/18\\\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/18\\\/land-defenders-appeal-sentences-arguing-judge-erred-during-trans-mountain-pipeline-trial\\\/\",\"name\":\"Land defenders appeal sentences, arguing judge erred during Trans Mountain pipeline trial - 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