Awaiting sentencing, Tiny House Warriors tell court they acted for Secwépemc rights: ‘We’re not criminals’

Four members of the Tiny House Warriors are rejecting a Crown characterization of them as “criminals,” despite facing a possible six to 12 months in jail over a 2021 confrontation at a Trans Mountain work camp.

Prosecutors want the members of the Secwépemc-led resistance group put behind bars with sentences ranging from 187 to 374 days for their actions opposing the federally owned pipeline expansion in Secwépemcúl’ecw.

During a sentencing hearing in Tkʼemlúps (Kamloops) on Feb. 3 and 4, Crown prosecutor Anthony Varesi said the defendants “hide behind a mantle of protest in an attempt to legitimize their illicit acts.”

“Violence, intimidation, and destruction of property are not forms of lawful protest,” Varesi said during his opening submissions. “The accused before this court are not protestors — they’re criminals.”

But Mayuk (Nicole) Manuel, Isha Jules, Sami Nasr and Tricia Charlie insisted their actions advocated for their land, language, food sovereignty, and justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women. 

“We’re not criminals,” Manuel told the court. “We don’t want to end up in criminal court from incidents that arise from our land defence. That was never our intention; our intention was always non-violence.”

Prosecutor calls Warriors ‘unpredictable, violent, dangerous’

The sentencing hearings are the latest legal development after provincial court judge Lorianna Bennett found the four guilty last summer on charges ranging from assault with a weapon to resisting arrest, mischief, and causing a public disturbance. Bennett is now scheduled to make her decision on sentencing on May 2.

The charges stem from an incident in September 2021, when police arrested Manuel, Jules, Nasr and Charlie after three hours of heated, and at times physical, confrontations with Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) workers and security personnel.

The Tiny House Warriors have opposed TMX’s development on their unceded lands since 2018. That year, the group set up a number of small homes on wheels along Murtle Lake Road in “Blue River” — part of Secwépemcúl’ecw — near the future site of the temporary TMX worker camp.

Varesi alleged the Tiny House Warriors are “unpredictable, violent, dangerous,” and that the events that day were “solely to commit violence and damage Trans Mountain property.” He said Nasr did more than $65,000 damage to a company solar panel, with the day’s total damage to TMX property estimated around $80,000.

“I recognize that my actions escalated an already volatile situation,” Nasr told the court, saying they were motivated by the climate crisis and the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

“I don’t understand why B.C., its industries and representatives, struggle to respect Indigenous communities, roles and responsibilities,” Nasr said. “I witnessed TMX workers and RCMP officers demonstrate a dire lack of training and education in Indigenous rights.”

The right to “peaceful” protest are one of the “cornerstones of democracy,” Varesi said, “violence, intimidation, and destruction of property are not forms of lawful protest.”

He alleged Manuel was “the ringleader” who “initiated” the events that ultimately landed the four Tiny House Warriors members in court. 

The Crown is seeking a range of sentences for each defendant, with the biggest punishment aimed at Manuel, who faces 374 days in jail. Prosecutors also hope to see Jules sentenced for 360 days, Nasr for 284 days, and Charlie for 187 days.

Varesi said the longest sentence was recommended for Manuel because of her criminal record over protesting the “Sun Peaks” resort development on her Neskonlith territories in 2001, and later in 2018 when federal officials met TMX executives and Indigenous leaders at Thompson Rivers University.

“Really, nothing deters Nicole Manuel,” Varesi said. “She’s continuously before the courts.” 

‘An end to all of these abuses, to all this genocide’

In a statement read in court before sentencing, known as an allocution, Manuel said the Tiny House Warriors’ strategy has always been to avoid contempt of court charges — in this case, breaching TMX’s court-ordered injunction. 

That’s why the group built each tiny house on wheels, “so we can take it to sites that we still use … that we always used, and we set up a village at ‘Blue River,’” she explained.

“Through being brought up with the teachings of our Aboriginal title, it led me to get criminal charges. That was never our strategy to go in the courts that way.”

Manuel’s grandfather George Manuel and father Arthur Manuel were both prominent Secwépemc leaders who fought for Indigenous rights at national and international levels.

Her father, the former chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band, taught her to organize non-violent demonstrations, she told the court — calling the 2021 confrontation an isolated incident.

“My dad spoke about sleeping on our rights,” she said. “That’s the one fear us as Secwépemc have … we don’t want to get caught sleeping on our rights.”

Manuel argued asserting her Indigenous rights is essential because “if you don’t use your rights, then you’ll lose” them.

In addition to asserting title and rights, she said an aim of the tiny house village was for the group to practice Indigenous food sovereignty, and learn their language, Secwepemctsín, outside of a classroom.

Nasr’s defence lawyer Frances Mahon said the Tiny House Warriors’ village was a cultural opportunity to connect with their Indigenous identity, which they had not previously had a meaningful connection with.

“Their experience at the Tiny House Warriors was characterized by connecting with the land, the teachings and the culture of the other Indigenous youth and adults who wanted to live more traditionally off-grid,” said Mahon.

Similarly, Charlie’s reason for attending the Tiny House Warriors village was to get immersed in language and culture, her lawyer Cameron Matthee-Johnson explained, after having grown up disconnected from her family and Secwépemc culture.

“Our family is going to become fluent in the language, and that’s our focus,” Manuel said. “That’s always been our focus — the berries, the roots — we’re going to continue to stay focused on that.”

But all that changed when the temporary man-camp for TMX workers was set up adjacent to the tiny house village in the summer of 2021, the court heard.

“They started cutting (trees) and moving people out of the area,” said Manuel.

“We avoided any conflict. We understood that if (TMX) gave us notice of injunction, people would be arrested, so we avoided that.”

Joe Killoran, Manuel’s defence lawyer, told the court there is more to the Tiny House Warriors than their offences — referring to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s conclusion that Canada committed genocide.

After Varesi said that the legal right to “peaceful protest” is one thing that “separates democratic states from oppressive regimes,” Killoran replied: “I’m happy to have a discussion about a regime that commits an ongoing genocide, that aggregates its responsibilities under treaties, that it signs the UNDRIP, just ignores it,” said Killoran, referring to “Canada.”

Land defenders like the Tiny House Warriors are instead dedicated to “putting an end to all of these abuses, to all this genocide, to all this trauma,” Killoran argued. “If we want to talk about how a democracy stays healthy and vital, it is with organizations like the Tiny House Warriors.”

‘The Crown can’t have it both ways’

All four of the accused submitted Gladue reports, which are written documents prepared for the court ahead of sentencing that detail an Indigenous offender’s circumstances, and what impacts colonialism has had on their lives. The court can consider the factors listed in a Gladue report to determine what the offender’s sentencing may look like.

Varesi provided a victim impact statement issued from the Simpcw First Nation, part of the Secwépemc Nation. Signed by Chief George Lampreau, the statement outlines how Simpcw chief and council had approved TMX to pass through their territory of Simpcwúl’ecw. 

The statement reads that the events of Sept. 15, 2021 resulted in “serious and material” safety concerns for their community members employed at the TMX camp. It also states that the Tiny House Warriors are “a disruptive presence” in the Simpcw community, and that they set up camp in the territory without Simpcw permission.

As a result, Varesi said less weight should be given to the four Gladue reports, because the accused “have harmed other Indigenous Peoples” — a submission that was rejected by all members of the defence counsel.

Matthee-Johnson called Varesi’s submission “a fundamental misstatement” of how Gladue reports function.

“The vast majority of individuals who are affected by offences committed by Indigenous people, are in fact Indigenous people. That’s why community involvement in sentencing is so critical,” said Matthee-Johnson.

Killoran said that the Crown was recognizing unrecognized Indigenous land claims — in this case Simpcwul’ecw —  only for the purpose of punishing the Tiny House Warriors.

“Simpcwul’ecw has no status in Canadian law. So either Simpcwul’ecw has status and the Tiny House Warriors are protecting their territory, or it doesn’t, and neither does Simpcwul’ecw,” Killoran said.

“The Crown can’t have it both ways.”