Dsta’hyl, a hereditary chief of the Wet’suwet’en Nation of northern British Columbia, recently became the first person in Canada to be named a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. The organization defines prisoner of conscience as “any person imprisoned or otherwise physically restricted (for example, through house arrest), solely because of their … conscientiously held beliefs.”
The designation arose after Chief Dsta’hyl was convicted of criminal contempt and sentenced to a 60-day jail sentence to be served under house arrest by Justice Michael Tammen of the B.C. Supreme Court. The conviction pertains to actions nearly three years ago — violating an injunction that prohibited anyone from impeding Coastal GasLink’s construction of a natural gas pipeline through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.
