4 min. read
I was arrested while reporting on Wet’suwet’en opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline in November, 2021.
And this year, I’ve spent weeks in court as The Narwhal and I pursue our press freedom lawsuit against the RCMP. I’ve had good reason to reflect on the fundamental rights we are fighting for.
It started with a simple pitch — I had asked co-founders Emma Gilchrist and Carol Linnitt: “Any interest in partnering to do some reporting out there?” I’d been documenting the RCMP sending officers to enforce Coastal GasLink’s injunction for years, once even for The New York Times.
I sent that pitch because I knew The Narwhal would be the publication to really get it. They agreed to fund my trip, and I was grateful. I had no idea how lucky I was to be working with a team who would go on to support me through some of the worst moments of my life.
That support hasn’t faded — and neither has my faith in The Narwhal. We can only keep telling critical stories about resource extraction in Canada because more than 7,400 members regularly pitch in to support this work. Today, I hope you will join them.
I knew that trip would be difficult. I had no idea it would end with me staring down the barrel of a police gun, let alone being arrested and kept in custody for four days, or to become a headline myself. I could not have known we would still be wrestling with the effects nearly five years later.
Police filmed my arrest as they took my cameras, then my notebook, my audio recorder and my credentials. With my hands tied, I could not do my work. I felt helpless and unheard.
But Narwhals (both staff and readers like you) leapt into action. Carol and Emma jumped to get me and my urgent reporting out of jail. Reporter Matt Simmons drove to the RCMP station to advocate for me — and also made the long trip to Prince George to pick me up and dust me off, days later.
I was shaken. At the same time, I was buoyed by the response from so many Narwhal readers. We needed that community of support then — and we need it now, too. Will you help The Narwhal keep sending journalists to cover the most important stories affecting the natural world in Canada?
Wet’suwet’en opposition was not the first clash between industrial aspirations and Indigenous relationship to land — and it won’t be the last. Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is clearing the way for more major infrastructure in the name of sovereignty, including a potential new pipeline across British Columbia.
These issues, and the urgent need to be able to report completely on them, could not be more timely.
The Narwhal is invested in following stories from the halls of power in Ottawa and across the nation to the forests, mountain ranges and coastlines where communities feel the impacts.
Photojournalism requires physical presence. As the eyes and ears for the public, my job is to help you better understand what it’s like to be there — accurately, before it can become anyone’s spin. To get the time I needed to do this work, I’ve had to be scrappy. The Narwhal, as a non-profit, is scrappy too.
And, as one of our newest members put it: “I think reporters deserve to work without being arrested for doing their jobs.”
As a longtime freelancer I’ve gotten a peek into many different newsrooms, and felt the pinch of seemingly ever-shrinking budgets. The Narwhal is a rare and special breed, for its willingness to pursue gritty journalism — and genuinely support the journalists who do the work.
Today, I’m asking you to become a member so we can keep fighting for a free press, and keep publishing on-the-ground stories just like this. From experience, I know just how much your support matters — and it matters now, more than ever.