What is the role of a journalist? It depends on who’s being asked, and the next of many answers could come from a superior court judge in British Columbia.
At issue: What was acclaimed photographer Amber Bracken doing in the Tiny House, a barricaded cabin on Wet’suwet’en territory, when police forced their way inside on Friday, November 19, 2021? They arrested Bracken, along with protesters and a documentary filmmaker, and held them all in custody for a weekend on charges of violating an injunction order that restricted access to a gas pipeline worksite. Bracken and The Narwhal, which had assigned her to cover the pipeline blockade, are now suing for wrongful arrest, arbitrary detention, and breach of the constitutionally protected freedom of the press. In court filings this fall, Bracken and The Narwhal stated that she was at the blockade “to document and observe the newsworthy events as they evolved.” The police responded that her “actions went beyond her role as a journalist.”
