Pipeline protesters ask judge to step aside

Two protesters who were arrested at Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline project in the summer and are facing jail time are asking the judge in their case to step aside over alleged bias.

Rita Wong, 50, and Mairy Beam, 69, who call themselves “land and water defenders,” gave submissions before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Affleck in Vancouver on Thursday.

They were taken into custody Aug. 24 for allegedly breaching an injunction that the judge had issued in March ordering that protesters not block the pipeline work site in Burnaby.

The two women, who are togo on trial on Dec. 3 and face a minimum of 14 days in jail, were among more than 200 people taken into custody and charged with criminal contempt of court.

They told the judge that while he hadn’t demonstrated actual bias, there was evidence of a reasonable “apprehension” of bias and that he should recuse himself.

The defendants said the court had repeatedly failed to apply wellsettled law, had used language that led to an apprehension of bias and had silenced freedom of expression.

A number of examples of the judge’s alleged shortcomings were given, including his decision to decline a so-called Gladue report for an Indigenous offender being sentenced in June.

Kat Roivas, the Indigenous offender, was called as a witness Thursday and said that the failure to order the report, which is commonly ordered for Aboriginal offenders on sentencing, indicated to her that the court did not respect her rights.